Rancho Mirage Retro

Rancho Mirage, a tony town about 10 miles east of Palm Springs, has quite a bit of mid-century modern architecture.

The building in the photograph above is probably the most famous mid-century building in Rancho Mirage, strong competition for the Elephant Car Wash sign, albeit the two are a world apart in design and function. Most people call it the old Charthouse building because the Charthouse restaurant used to occupy it.

Architect Ken Kellogg designed the the half-under-the-ground building in 1978 for Charthouse restaurants. Check out Ken's website, it's nothing less than fabulous. He was an innovator of organic architecture, which is a blending of the natural world with human development.

The building has changed ownership several times during the last few years. The restaurants that open there have been nothing to rave about, which is often why they close. That corridor has had a lot of ill fortune lately with the closing of Bing Crosby's and Ruby's Diner, which closed further east.