Palm Springs makes a prominent appearance in a recent episode of HBO Max’s fabulous comedy series Hacks.
The show’s central character is legendary standup comedian Deborah Vance (played by Jean Smart), who again becomes a huge star when she’s forced to reinvent herself after her Las Vegas residency suddenly comes to an end. On the aforementioned episode, she’s supposed to come to Palm Springs for a “House of Vance” event at Pride—but she gets delayed while she’s in Berkeley to receive an honorary doctorate, leaving her company’s pissed-off chief operating officer, Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins), to deal with the gay men disappointed due to her absence.
This is just one of many prominent appearances the Coachella Valley has made in the country’s zeitgeist as of late. Kelly Ripa and her husband, Mark Consuelos, can’t stop talking about their love of Palm Springs on their syndicated Live With Kelly and Mark talk show; in fact, Visit Greater Palm Springs has reportedly set aside $1 million in an effort to get the show to tape a few episodes here this fall.
Entertainment Tonight is reporting on what Kim Kardashian wore to Janet Jackson’s concert at Acrisure Arena. The words “Coachella Valley” have been relevant in the team-sports world thanks to the Coachella Valley Firebirds’ second-consecutive run to the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup finals, and Acrisure Arena’s hosting of both Los Angeles Lakers pre-season games and top-notch NCAA basketball teams in the late-November Acrisure Series.
Finally, Palm Springs is the setting for a possible new Hulu series inspired by The Golden Girls (!) called Mid-Century Modern, produced by six-time Emmy Award winner Ryan Murphy, and starring Matt Bomer, Nathan Lane and Linda Lavin.
Yep. Our li’l Coachella Valley is becoming incredibly popular. The folks behind big events, like Modernism Week and the Palm Springs International Film Festival, deserve a lot of credit for this; so do the people at the Oak View Group, the company that built Acrisure Arena.
But they’re not the only ones.
The Coachella Valley is chock-full of people who work hard every day to make this a better place—and a number of them have been covered by the Independent in recent weeks. (These pieces are all in our July print edition.)
• Kevin Fitzgerald looked at some of the people, such as those on DAP Health’s harm-reduction team, working to decrease fentanyl-related drug-overdose deaths.
• Haleemon Anderson told the story of Shoes for Students, a program of the Foundation for Palm Springs Unified School District that provides kids in need with new shoes—in a school district where more than 97 percent of the kids are considered “socioeconomically disadvantaged.” (No, that’s not a typo.)
• Melissa Daniels wrote about the efforts of the Joslyn Center to better serve the aging population of autistic adults.
• Charles Drabkin explained how the LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert has partnered with a local chef to develop recipes so clients at the Center’s food bank can properly prepare the food they receive.
Without these amazing individuals and organizations, the Coachella Valley would not be a place where—just to use one example—Kelly Ripa dreams of living.
Note: This is a slightly edited version of the editor’s note that appeared in the July 2024 print edition. Much of this column was originally published online in the June 20 Indy Digest.
