The Movie Colony
Frank Sinatra’s Twin Palms · Movie Colony East
Buying or selling in The Movie Colony?
Old Hollywood within a short walk of Palm Canyon Drive.
The Movie Colony is a small, exclusive neighborhood of around 170 homes immediately east of North Indian Canyon Drive, beside the Uptown Design District’s shops, cafés, galleries, restaurants and bars. The larger Movie Colony East extends east of Avenida Caballeros toward Sunrise Way and contains roughly 700 homes, with walking distances to Uptown varying by address. Old Las Palmas lies west of Palm Canyon Drive, with Vista Las Palmas beyond.
Spanish estates, ranch houses and private gardens.
The Movie Colony contains Spanish estates, ranch houses and custom modernist homes, with pools, courtyards and guest accommodation. Walls, hedges and established gardens screen many properties from the street. Movie Colony East also includes bungalows and postwar ranch houses.
Typical features
- Private pools and outdoor living areas
- Walled gardens and gated entries
- Courtyards and sheltered patios
- Guest houses and casitas
- Mature landscaping
- Mountain views
Useful property details
- Architect and original owner
- Year built and architectural style
- Historic designation
- Documented celebrity or studio-era provenance
- Renovation and permit history
- Lot size, orientation and guest accommodation
A residential retreat for Hollywood’s studio-era stars.
Residential development began in the 1920s and grew through the 1930s and 1940s. The nearby El Mirador Hotel, which opened in 1928, helped draw actors, entertainers and studio figures to this part of Palm Springs. Their homes gave The Movie Colony its name.
Development continued eastward and through the postwar years. The neighboring area formerly known as the Ruth Hardy Park neighborhood adopted the name Movie Colony East in 2012.
From Spanish Revival to desert modernism.
Spanish tile roofs and enclosed courtyards reflect the neighborhood’s early estates. Later modernist homes introduced walls of glass, deep overhangs and decorative breezeblock screens.
Styles and features
- Spanish Colonial and Mediterranean Revival
- California ranch houses
- Midcentury and custom modernism
- Hollywood Regency ornament and formal entries
- Courtyards and indoor-outdoor living
- Decorative concrete screen blocks
Architects with documented work here
- John Byers
- William F. Cody
- E. Stewart Williams
- Donald Wexler
The names behind the neighborhood’s Hollywood history.
The Movie Colony
- Cary Grant
- Jack Benny
- Dinah Shore
- Tony Curtis & Janet Leigh
- Harold Lloyd
- Darryl Zanuck
- Gloria Swanson
- Estée Lauder
Movie Colony East
- Frank Sinatra
- Bob Hope
- Bing Crosby
- Carmen Miranda
- Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé
- Donald Wexler