It was a German immigrant who published the first newspaper in Palm Springs, modest though it was.
Otto R. Adler, born in 1870 in Germany, arrived in Palm Springs in 1913 with his wife, Louisa, and immediately became a village entrepreneur and civic leader. In addition to opening a store, a hotel and the village’s first newspaper, he became the first fire chief of Palm Springs’ rudimentary volunteer fire department.
Upon his arrival in Palm Springs, there was only one small place where the growing community could buy supplies, so he established a small grocery store out of a tent. He soon built a larger store and an adjacent hotel, the Red Front Mercantile Store and Hotel, which was north of the Desert Inn on the west side of Main Street (now Palm Canyon Drive, in the block that today houses Blaze Pizza and West Elm).
To augment his businesses, he established the Red Front Store News, a four-page, three-column-wide paper, which debuted on Aug. 1, 1914, making it the first newspaper in Palm Springs.
The two inner pages consisted almost entirely of promotions for and sales at Red Front Mercantile Store. Those pages noted that the 1914 Red Front summer sale consisted of women’s union suits, men’s suspenders, towels, bulk cookies, Red Front coffee, cob pipes (your choice—5 cents), buggy whips, lamp chimneys and more. An ad on the back page highlighted the Red Front Hotel: “Open Every Day. One Block West of Post Office, Two Blocks North of Sanitarium. Screen Tent Rooms—50 cents. Open Air Dining Room, Chicken Dinner—50 cents. Meals at all Hours.” In reference to Adler’s German heritage, the two words “Deutsche Kueche,” meaning German cooking, accompanied the meal sign.
Only two issues of the Red Front Store News are on file with the Palm Springs Historical Society. While it was not a public newspaper with general advertising, but more of a promotional paper for the Red Front businesses, it still filled a void, and the front and back pages covered the goings, comings and highlights of the citizenry.
For example: “Edward Bunker, the genial and thoroughly competent blacksmith and auto mechanic, is building a new garage. We wish him every success.”
And: “Sorry to hear Mr. Bisbee lost one of his valuable mules this week, just as he began shipping grapes and needed him. ‘Inconsistency your name is mule.’”
This tidbit featured an Agua Caliente tribe members: “Mrs. Lee Arenas, who has been under doctor’s care for the past three weeks, is on the road to recovery since adopting common-sense methods of regaining her health.” Another tribe member was mentioned in this notice: “Albert Patencio and family are enjoying the mountain air in Banning.”
This brief item highlights the difficulties of travel at the time: “Mr. Palmer and family from Fresno are here, not from choice, but they lost their ‘bearings’ and stripped their ‘gearings’ on their way from Fresno to Blythe.”
Numerous local names were mentioned in each issue, from Dr. Welwood Murray (who had been ill and left for Beaumont for the summer), to others getting their figs shipped on wagon loads to market in Los Angeles. Adler counted on locals who were looking for their names and “newsy” tidbits to also peruse the ads—and give him more business.
The Red Front Hotel’s name was changed to the La Palma Hotel, and it grew into a charming two-story building with a shady tree-covered courtyard, and stone pillars out front. It was one of the first village businesses to remain open in the summer.
Adler was always active in civic affairs, serving on an early version of the chamber of commerce, and helping with the development of Palm Springs. He was also the head of the volunteer fire department, and while his newspaper would become historic, it was his fire-prevention efforts that went a long way in protecting his adopted town.
One of the first orders of business for the Palm Springs Volunteer Fire Department was to get the necessary equipment. They would need a handcart, which would rely on manpower to get a water tank on wheels to the conflagration. A group of Palm Springs property owners led by Adler met on April 28, 1921, and decided a donation from each of the 58 properties would raise the $850 needed for such a fire protection cart. Not all of the 58 owners chipped in, but enough did, and the committee raised the money for the cart; it was stored in a shed on the corner of Andreas Road and Palm Canyon Drive. This cart, along with 12 volunteers, formed the foundation of the Palm Springs Fire Department. Fire Chief Otto Adler installed an electric siren on a pole in the downtown area between his Hotel La Palma and Bunker’s Garage, so that the dozen or so volunteer firemen were alerted when they were needed.
In 1928, Adler began to bow out of his Palm Springs affairs, and leased the La Palma Hotel to Randall Sparks. Adler and Louisa initially moved to Venice, Calif.
The Red Front Store News had ceased publication, but a new paper with more staying power came into being around the time Adler left the valley. Banning resident Carl Barkow, publisher of the Banning Record-Gazette, was a visionary who recognized the possible growth in Palm Springs. With Walter Johnson as editor, they began publishing what was originally a weekly newspaper. The first issue of Johnson and Barkow’s The Desert Sun came off the press on Aug. 5, 1927, and is still serving the Coachella Valley.
That first issue called for local involvement with this notice: “The Desert Sun wishes to print all the news of Palm Springs. This can be made possible by the cooperation of ‘Palm Springers’ living here and by those who are absent on their vacations.”
As for the La Palma, Ray Bryant took over the operation from Sparks and ran the hotel, dining room, and Ray’s Waffle Shop next door. The La Palma Hotel location later became home to the El Rey Hotel and then the famous Chi Chi Club before it was renovated into the Desert Inn Fashion Plaza, which was later torn down and replaced by the newer shops.
Louisa Adler died in 1933 and was buried in Palm Springs. Her grave marker in the Welwood Murray Cemetery has one of the most unusual epitaphs: “Louisa Adler 1873-1933. Died of Grief Caused by a Neighbor. Now Rests in Peace.” One of the walking tours provided by the Palm Springs Historical Society called “Cherished Legacies” visits the cemetery and points out her headstone, but the back story behind the intriguing and cryptic epitaph is apparently unknown.
Otto Adler had moved to Idyllwild, where he died on April 5, 1949. It was noted in his obituary that he was prominent in the early life of Palm Springs. He is buried next to Louisa in the Welwood Murray Cemetery.
Sources for this article include A Look Into Palm Springs’ Past by Elizabeth W. Richards (Santa Fe Federal Savings and Loan Association, 1960); Desert Memories: Historic Images of the Coachella Valley by The Desert Sun (2002); the California Digital Newspaper Collection at the University of California, Riverside.
