On TripAdvisor’s 2025 list of top attractions in the Coachella Valley, the Sunnylands Center and Gardens appears at No. 10—but it’s the No. 1 pick of many locals, as Independent readers voted the 59-year-old estate built by Leonore and Walter Annenberg as the Best Outdoor Venue and Best Public Gardens in the Best of Coachella Valley poll.
The 200-acre site has hosted famous personalities and gatherings (which the Sunnylands website identifies as “convenings”). Numerous presidents have visited, including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama, who hosted China’s Xi Jinping for a 2013 summit there. On July 11, 1976, the lavish destination hosted the wedding of Frank and Barbara Sinatra, close friends of the Annenbergs.
But Sunnylands’ popularity among local residents and tourists has little to do with this storied past.
“We do have a real strong tie to the community,” said Michaeleen Gallagher, director of the Sunnylands Center and Gardens, during a recent interview. “So when they choose the award, we feel great. We’re always looking to partner with different groups in the community to make sure that we’re reaching groups that a lot of times don’t get reached out to. So, having that noticed, and having people appreciate that, is really an honor for us.”
Gallagher said Sunnylands’ current programming was developed through a lot of communication with different community groups.
“With my team in education, (which is the department) that does the programs, I have them thinking more in terms of a community center rather than a formal museum setting,” Gallagher said. “That opens up a lot more creative flow for everyone. We do partnerships with artists, and with Raices Cultura in the east county, and Nickerson-Rossi Dance. The (outdoor) space that was designed by James Burnett has opened up such opportunities. It’s such a beautiful space, and it has such a unique feel to it, that I think programming there takes on a different, elevated kind of feel.”
The Burnett-designed area is now the main location on the estate for any activities drawing large crowds, while other locations provide quieter, more contemplative surroundings.
“The space that Nickerson-Rossi dance uses is on the west side … where the large turf area is,” Gallagher said. “The palo verde trees frame it, so it kind of creates a stage atmosphere for different types of programming. It’s where we do yoga, and where we do tai chi. During peak season, 460 people show up to do yoga, so on Fridays, we are packed. If we have a focused program, that’s the space that gets used.”
Sunnylands worked with Raices Cultura, an arts and culture organization based in the east valley, on their recent Dia de los Muertos program. In March, Sunnylands will partner with the Idyllwild Arts Academy on a music program, and the organization has an ongoing series of collaborations with the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
“We do two series of films, with one when we first open (for the season in September), and then the other one is the last programming we do before we close (for the summer).”
Sunnylands provides additional value to local organizations by making their facilities available to support activities and gatherings.
“There’s a lot of stuff that we’re doing behind the scenes,” Gallagher said. “We’ve done some programming, post-pandemic, for teachers dealing with trauma from that experience in pandemic classrooms. We have provided space for other groups that need privacy to be able to come on days when we’re closed, so they can utilize that space.”
The organization also actively participates in regional environmental initiatives.
“We have monitoring programs for migrating, and local, monarch butterflies,” Gallagher said. “We have a team that goes out every week (to) track that and report … to a national database. We do the same with birds. We’re doing walks and tours every week, pretty much year-round. The birders come even when we’re closed in the summer, just to continue to document, and we made some significant documentations of the birds that are coming through the area. Everything from vermilion fly catchers … to bald eagles. Great blue herons have started to come in increasing numbers and nest on the property. We’re getting what’s known as a rookery of great blue heron every year.”
The main exhibition inside the center, on display through June 2027, is Curating Canopy: Trees at Sunnylands, an exhibition of photos as well as multimedia components such as music and lighting. It has been a passion project of Gallagher’s for some years.
“I actually carried (the idea) around for several years before we considered doing it as an exhibition. I wasn’t sure how it would work,” Gallagher said. “But David Loftus, who is a renowned photographer, had been working at Sunnylands, and we saw the work that he was doing and the way he photographed, and thought that might be a way that we kind of break this up.”
Sunnylands worked with JCRR Design (John Crummay and Robin Rout) to create an “immersive space” for the exhibit, which examines the trees the Annenbergs and their landscape architects carefully selected for the estate.
“I remember when I first walked in (the exhibit space) after they had started putting up the wall images,” Gallagher said. “They had the music playing and some lighting going, and it was just such an emotional space to walk into. It really is immersive, and we’re finding that people are responding incredibly well to it. … We have stumps and a bench made out of Virginia live oaks that we had to replace (on our grounds), so there are places to sit in there. … We’ve moved out of our traditional exhibition gallery with it, and so that’s been really lovely.”
The catalog Gallagher created for the exhibit opens a valuable conversation about the considerations and challenges involved in maintaining such an expansive arboretum.
“Sunnylands was built in the ’60s based on, like, a Philadelphia mindset,” Gallagher said. “This is a blow-sand desert. It’s a fragile ecosystem, and we have an historic site that we want to maintain here, but we also have a changing climate. We have challenges that we’re going to be dealing with for decades to come—and that’s something that we have to be really transparent about, and be able to talk about, because it’s a living collection. … These trees have a finite amount of time. We’re going to have to make decisions. Are we going to put the same trees back? Where does historic preservation sit (as a priority)? Where does adaptive reuse sit, and where does sustainability sit? … Not everybody’s going to agree with decisions that we make, but we still want to be able to talk about it.”
Most of the activities offered at Sunnylands are free of charge, giving visitors a series of options to experience and appreciate all of the history, nature and beauty that exist there.
“You can come to Sunnylands in a very formalized way—come to a certain program, a workshop, a family day—and participate that way,” Gallagher said. “Or it’s a space that is very free-flow, too. You can come in, and we have audio tours that you can listen to, and they’ll guide you through the gardens. We have a garden guide that has all of the plants available, and you can download that on your phone, so you can really self-direct in that space as well. We’re really open to people experiencing the gardens in a way that works for them. … We noticed after the pandemic that people just wanted a place to come to, and sit and be.”
Sunnylands Center and Gardens, at 37977 Bob Hope Drive, in Rancho Mirage, is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. Learn more at sunnylands.org.