A local venue known for its themed dinner shows has become a staple of the desert’s celebration of all things midcentury modern.
PS Underground is one of the most frequent hosts of events at this year’s Modernism Week, offering fans of the midcentury modern era chances to immerse themselves in the beauty of jazz music, old media and classic Palm Springs.
“We got involved in Modernism Week about eight years ago,” said PS Underground co-founder Michael Fietsam. “This is when we were still kind of a pop-up venue, and we were bouncing around from location to location. At that time, Modernism Week was looking to bring in more social events, and several of the Modernism Week board of directors (members) were familiar with what we were doing, and they thought it would be kind of fun to see whether or not tickets for that would sell.”
PS Underground’s first Modernism Week event was a big hit.
“We did a show called ‘Nod to Mod,’ and it was a historical trip through the ’50s and ’60s, both culinary and musically, and people just really responded to it,” Fietsam said. “It was unique and different, and something that Modernism Week hadn’t offered before, so we kind of created our own little niche.”
The demand for more social events grew as the years went on, and PS Underground began producing numerous Modernism Week events.
“From that year on, every single year, both the fall preview of Modernism Week and then Modernism Week itself in February, we have been doing events,” Fietsam said. “Two years ago, we decided to do two events for February, because a lot of people wanted to buy tickets to more than one show while they were here in town. … This year, we’re doing four completely different shows for Modernism Week.”
One of PS Underground’s Modernism Week shows—“Sitcom,” which includes table games, sitcom theme music and food that Fietsam described as “an upscale version of what you would eat in front of the TV on a Friday night”—is already sold out. Here’s how Fietsam described the three shows that had availability as of this writing.
“Queens of Soul and Jazz” (7 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 15, Monday, Feb. 16, and Tuesday, Feb. 17): “About three years ago, we met Patrice Morris when she came here to cover for a performer who was ill, and she just blew the house away. Patrice Morris does a lot of R&B, gospel, Motown and soul music. She toured for the last 18 years with The 5th Dimension, but she has worked with all sorts of famous performers, from Michael Jackson to Peabo Bryson and Taylor Dayne, and she just brings the house down. It’s going to be a raucous evening of entertainment. She’ll be performing along with a live band. The food will have a little bit of a soul influence to it—the nod to soul.”
“Palm Springs Holiday” (7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 18, Thursday, Feb. 19, Friday, Feb. 20, and Saturday, Feb. 21): “This is more of our classic Rat Pack-style midcentury show, and it is based on performers who lived and worked here in Palm Springs from the 1940s through the 1960s. It’ll have everyone (including) Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney, Betty Hutton, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald. We’re setting it in a fictitious nightclub, and the food will be upscale representations of foods that were on menus in Palm Springs from the 1940s through the 1960s. The Chi Chi Club, The Doll House, Lyon’s English Grille—those are the kinds of restaurants from which we’re gaining inspiration for the food.”
“Bacon, Beehives and Bubbly” (11 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 22): “The Modernism Week board of directors loves our traditional bacon brunch that we do, so we thought, ‘How can we put a spin on that for Modernism Week?’ This particular show features bacon in every course, and the ‘Beehives’ are for beehive hairdos, so it’ll be music from the girl groups of the 1960s, and champagne.”
Fietsam said PS Underground shows provide authentic entertainment and have a goal of stimulating all of the senses.
“It’s all live performance with live musicians and live singers,” Fietsam said. “We don’t do drag impersonations or anything like that. … We pride ourselves in making sure that the overall experience is something that is all five of the senses.”
Fietsam said that when it comes to these historical-leaning events at PS Underground, research is as important as rehearsal.
“We did a show called ‘Plaza’ for the Plaza Theatre, where we did a lot of historical research on making sure that each one of the performers who we featured were actually focused in a nightclub at one point, in Palm Springs, during its heyday,” he said. “We did research on each one of the restaurants, the history of them, when they opened, when they closed, and what their signature dishes were—and then we elevate that experience.”
He provided an example involving The Doll House, the aforementioned restaurant included in “Palm Springs Holiday.”
“We never reveal menus in advance. People … won’t know what (the food) is until the chef comes out and describes each course, how he’s made it and why it inspired him with the particular theme.”
PS Underground co-founder Michael Fietsam
“We heard this story about how Frank Sinatra and a whole group of his friends came in one night when Peggy Lee was performing, and they were loud and boisterous, so Peggy Lee just started singing quieter and quieter and quieter, and actually, the conversations around the table became quieter and quieter—and that’s how Peggy Lee got her signature, quiet, slow way of singing songs,” he said. “Some of those stories, we sometimes will impart along with the food and the music.”
Fietsam said PS Underground’s chef, David Horgen, keeps attendees happy and intrigued.
“We have a full-on kitchen, fully licensed, a fully hosted bar, and we’re deemed just like a regular restaurant, although all we do are these more unique, immersive dining experiences,” Fietsam said. “We never reveal menus in advance. People, when they purchase their seats, can list dietary restrictions, but they’re not purchasing this show based on if it’s going to have chicken à la king. They won’t know what (the food) is until the chef comes out and describes each course, how he’s made it and why it inspired him with the particular theme.”
Fietsam said he’s proud of the “unique element” that PS Underground has provided to Modernism Week fans.
“What we’ve developed over eight years and 16 different seasons for Modernism Week is people wanting to come back year after year, and they build their schedule around what shows they want to see at PS Underground, and fill in the rest,” he said. “That’s kind of fun. We see people, and they’ll raise their hands: ‘This is my sixth Modernism Week with you,’ or, ‘This is my fourth.’ It becomes like a club a little bit.”
PS Underground is located at 1700 S. Camino Real, Suite 2, in Palm Springs. Tickets to all of PS Underground’s Modernism Week dinner events are $225, and include a four-course meal with live entertainment. Tickets to “Bacon, Beehives and Bubbly” are $130, and the menu is bacon-focused, so vegan options are not available. For tickets and more information, visit modernismweek.com.