Former hotel with fire-breathing dragon now an Indian Wells landmark
For 35 years right before becoming structurally redesigned to a Mediterranean Tuscan-concept, the Miramonte Resort & Spa had an Asian structure and was recognised as the Erawan Back garden Resort.
1 of its ideal identified capabilities was a fireplace-respiration dragon sculpture that sometimes brought firefighters out when the flame obtained as well massive.
The luxury hotel officially opened Dec. 21, 1962, when the town was nonetheless about six a long time from incorporation.
The hotel compensated homage to Thai architecture, with swooping roofs motivated by Thai temples, and visitor lodging all with Asian-themed décor. It was named for Bangkok’s entire world-acknowledged Erawan Lodge — a person of the to start with modern accommodations in Thailand, crafted to accommodate the growth of intercontinental air vacation.
The resort on the southwest corner of Highway 111 and Indian Wells Lane was focused as the city’s fifth historic landmark on April 27 by the Indian Wells Historic Preservation Basis.
The Erawan Garden Lodge in Indian Wells was created for about $3 million and intended by Willard C. Kruger of Santa Fe, New Mexico, who traveled with Thomas McMillan, president of the hotel company, to Bangkok “to stay at and study” that hotel’s attributes.
The resort drew famous people this kind of as Desi Arnaz, Bob and Dolores Hope, Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner, Arnold Palmer, Steve Garvey and Greer Garson, to title a several.
The Erawan opened in Indian Wells in December 1962, with an event that drew attendees “dressed to the nines,” in accordance to the Indian Wells Historic Preservation Basis.
In 1996, the Erawan was closed right after it was purchased by Marcus Lodges & Resorts. It reopened a yr afterwards as the Miramonte Resort & Spa. It has modified ownership a couple of more situations in excess of the yrs, with Lowe advancement and residence management organization buying the Miramonte out of foreclosure in 2020. Lowe is now in the closing phases of an approximated $18 million refresh.
A place to get in touch with household
Many with own memories of the Erawan attended the determination, including the son of John Garvin, the hotel’s executive vice president and basic supervisor when it opened right up until about 1966.
Garvin, who put in a lot of his existence in the hotel organization, moved his loved ones from Los Angeles to Indian Wells around 1961 when McMillan asked him to be aspect of the Erawan, his son Roger Garvin recalled. The two gentlemen had served jointly in the Navy, he stated.
His moms and dads also made a excursion to Bangkok to look at its Erawan.
The family lived at the Indian Wells hotel, in the manager’s quarters, Roger Garvin recalled.
“We lived on the next floor, ideal previously mentioned in which the foyer was, for the initial couple of a long time,” said Garvin, who was about 10 several years aged when they moved to Indian Wells, and now lives with his wife in La Quinta.
“Then, they rented us a dwelling right guiding the lodge … and we lived there,” he mentioned.
“I don’t forget that it took a prolonged time to develop the lodge,” he mentioned, and the family lived in Rancho Mirage when it was beneath building. “My dad was on the design website each day.”
He remembered the opening party with Hollywood celebrities and well-known specialist athletes, and previous President Dwight D. Eisenhower coming by.
When it opened, the Erawan Garden’s primary creating involved resort offices and integrated 11 visitor models, a spacious eating space, cocktail lounge, 6 outlets, and two banquet rooms accommodating up to 250 people today, according to details from the Historic Preservation Foundation.
The important guest accommodations had been organized in a few 17-unit and 5 10-device structures spread out on Asian-themed landscaped grounds with on-web site parking accommodating 202 cars.
Fuel tiki torches adorned every single of the bungalow structures. Though right now the Thai-motivated structure could be viewed as an instance of “cultural appropriation,” at the time the layout responded to the Hollywood-influenced, well known demand from customers for novelty, preservation users explained in the historic determination method.
The hotel design was much unique from now, but Garvin stated the ground strategy is a lot the same.
“The pool is in the identical position and the (guest area) bungalows are in the exact same area, but that is about it,” he claimed.
“The décor at the Erawan was Asian … but there was also a Hawaiian impact,” Garvin claimed.
Improvement in Indian Wells was sparse at the time.
“There have been properties powering the hotel, but alongside (Freeway 111) there was very little,” Garvin recalled. “There was either sand or date groves – loads and lots of date groves – but pretty different” from right now.
‘Impressively elegant’
The Erawan neighbored the Desi Arnaz Western Hills Hotel, now the Indian Wells Resort Hotel, built by Arnaz, and Eldorado Country Club, the place previous President Eisenhower and initial lady Mamie Eisenhower lived portion-time.
Like Indian Wells, neighboring towns Palm Desert and La Quinta ended up however unincorporated.
Several who attended the historic commitment ceremony shared particular stories of ordeals at the Erawan, such as some who recalled Santa Claus and his dwell reindeer checking out the lodge to mark the Xmas time in the early several years.
Developer Dick and Jan Oliphant have been among the these who attended. He served on the Town Council for several years, and was mayor 1984 to 1992.
“Jan and I went to the hotel’s November 1st (1962) smooth opening. It was magnificent but chaotic with several celebrities from the new music planet in attendance,” Oliphant wrote in the perseverance system.
“The carpet was not finished and there have been workmen almost everywhere. The bar and dining place were comprehensive. Anyone was dancing and having a excellent time,” he wrote.
“Indeed, the hotel’s features ended up special. I’ll in no way forget that fireplace-respiration dragon on the west conclude of the dining home and people large palm-formed fans swinging about the room’s complete duration. That hotel was impressively stylish,” Oliphant stated.
When escalating up in the Coachella Valley, a trip to the Erawan was generally a address, Indian Wells Mayor Pro Tem Donna Griffith claimed.
“I keep in mind fondly, looking at in awe, the hearth-respiratory dragon. Some people normally referred to the lodge s a Polynesian model, when in simple fact it was Asian-themed with beautiful murals, silk wallpaper, artwork and back garden topiary,” Griffith reported.
As a teenager in the early 1980s, Griffith wrote in the method that she acquired all over town in her 1962 Volkswagen Bug and would regular the Erawan pool.
“The pool experienced the coolest purple bridge more than the centre, connecting it from facet to aspect. I constantly felt transported to an exotic locale when I was on the Erawan grounds. It definitely was an oasis in the center of the valley, a area well-identified to locals and site visitors from afar,” she mentioned.
Historic Preservation Basis President Adele Ruxton grew to become engaged to her husband of 46 yrs at the resort.
“Edward Ruxton proposed relationship to me at the Erawan Backyard in May 1964,” she recalled. “It was fairly a shock. We married on December 28, 1964. The relaxation is heritage.”
The other four Historic Preservation Basis landmark designations in Indian Wells are:
- Range 1: Cavanagh Adobe, designed in 1922
- Number 2: Beck Adobe, crafted in 1932
- Number 3: Desi Arnaz Western Hills Resort (now the Indian Wells Resort Hotel), constructed in 1957
- Number 4: Crank-Garland home, built in 1961 by architect William F. Cody for actress Beverly Garland and her husband Fillmore Crank
Desert Sunlight reporter Sherry Barkas addresses the metropolitan areas of La Quinta, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert. She can be achieved at [email protected]. Adhere to her on Twitter @TDSsherryBarkas
