Event Hotels | Palm Springs Preferred Small Hotels

We’re in the Orange! We got off to a great start in April with a toe-in-the-water, scaled-down, sold-out Modernism Week, and in May you can wade into Palm Springs well above your knees.

Mornings bring bright-blue, sunny skies, a back-drop for our majestic mountains, with crisp to perfection temperatures. When the sun drops behind the mountains, millions of stars light up the night and you’ll be falling into the cool, cool, cool of the evening when it’s time to hit the town.

So, let’s jump right into all of the wonderful and crazy fun options available to make this one of the most memorable times in your life.

Quick note: *means I have been here and it was fabulous!

Ongoing Events

Fridays and Saturdays: Illusions Drag Queen Show, Pete’s Hideaway – Located just behind Pete’s Hideaway in Wendy’s Hideout. But make sure to have cocktails and a nosh at Pete’s, too. The bar they’ve branded as “the Cheers of Palm Springs” has a new chef!

Saturdays: Saturday Night Flight at PS Air Bar “Boarding time” is 5:00 p.m. Located inside Bouschet is the kitschy PS Air that gives you Mad Men on a plane feels. The three-hour “flight” is described as “Great Music, Fine Food, Classy Cocktails, First Class Service, Naughty Stewardess”

Naughty Stewardess at PS Air

*V Wine Lounge – all dressed up in 1960s kitsch, this terrific, large wine bar offers unusual wines for you to try. They also have a rental space for private parties. There’s a huge patio, too, as well as live music Monday and Saturday evenings.

Saturdays: Not Your Grandma’s Bingo at Chill Bar from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. The name says it all.

*Sundays: Palm Springs Drag Brunch, Roly China Fusion. Located on the North End of Palm Springs. It’s dim sum and it’s delicious. They accommodate vegans, too. And the show is outstanding. Rosemary Galore and her queens work hard for the money!

Me and the drag queens at Roly

Oscar’s: Home of the Sunday “T” dance, the most raucous dance party in PS (which is on hiatus because…pandemic), also has some fun shows:

5/1 Sherry Vine, 5/1/2021 5:30-9:00 p.m.

5/6 Open mic event with former American Idol vocal coach, Michael Orland every 4th Thursday @ 5:00pm.

5/28 & 29 Tiffany Takes Over 7:00 p.m. “Sharing her ‘rocktails, favorite food, and doing an acoustic set.”

Sundays: 11:00 a.m. & 12:30 p.m. Bitchiest Brunch that is, as they put it, “Serving Attitude”

Check out Wang’s in the Desert for the Ladies: Hunk-O-Mania Friday’s & Saturdays. Ticketed event starts at 10:00 p.m.

*PS Underground – outstanding, themed dinner shows with some of the best talent PS has to offer. Their unique take on entertainment and their gourmet food is more than worth the price of the ticket. Multiple events during May.

Being “Atmosphere” behind the scenes at PS Underground’s A Night at The Chi Chi

*Wednesdays thru Sunday: Melvyn’s Ingleside Inn’s Casablanca Lounge is back! From 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. the iconic lounge is where all the celebrities go to sing with resident maestro Mikael Healey. You gotta play dress up, but how fun is that! For rezzies: 760-325-2323

*Sundays: Jazz fans should definitely carve out 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Palm Canyon Roadhouse. Band leader and solid jazz player Mikale Karr leads the pro jazz jam featuring the best of the best at this unlikely R&R venue.

*5/2 Vintage Market 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on the first Sunday of every month. It’s a great walk-about, surrounded by all things vintage.

One-Time and Pop-Up Events

5/14: Green Dragon Dispensary – 353 S. Palm Canyon, 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.

All born out of the pandemic, up-and-comers PerfectPint760, SmokeyLips BBQ, and The Best Cookie PS have teamed up with Green Dragon to offer a cure for the inevitable munchies. Grab some deliciousness after you shop, and take it home for later.

Perfect Pint760, BBQ Lips & Best Cookie in PS @ Green Dragon Dispensary courtesy of Perfect Pint760

Also if you go to any of our hotels or enjoy our recommendations, please be sure to tag us with your photos on IG, or @palmspringspreferredsmallhotel (yeah, it’s a lot to type, but we appreciate it!) #PSPSH

It’s September in Palm Springs! That means the days are in the low-ish 100s and the nights are in the mid to high 70s and all of the misters are going strong. Restaurants and entertainment venues are mostly back from their August vacations and are gearing up for season. Some will soft open, just long weekends, and others will be back in full swing. Just make sure to check the website and if you can, make a reservation because I don’t want you to be disappointed, and I can’t list all of them here. Okay? Thanks for understanding, you’re the best.

In other Palm Springs news, the controversial Marilyn Monroe statue will move to its intended location, next to its current location, in Downtown Park. The street will not reopen, so it is basically a giant walkway to the Palm Springs Art Museum. Yay tax dollars! Eh, we get some things right. Like inclusion. And sanctuary. And a damn fine time! Read on for what’s going on in September.

The big event: The Dinah

Sept. 25-29: The Dinah. Lesbians finally get their weekend in Palm Springs with the 33rd annual Dinah weekend. From their press release: “A must-attend queer party destination for everyone’s bucket list. Lauren Jauregui, Iniko, KiNG MALA, Lauren Sanderson, Whitney Peyton, Lucy & La Mer, and Sherrelle Holmes have been announced as headliners for the 33rd edition of the world renowned festival. Celebrating the power of queer expression, these incredible vanguards are bringing their empowerment anthems and true self-revolution to The Dinah stage. And breaking boundaries is all these exceptionally gifted rule-breaking and genre-bending queer artists are set out to do.”

Fun around town and dinner shows

The Purple Room — The Purple Room is back from hiatus, and so is Michael Holmes’ The Judy Show. Make sure you stay through Sunday night so you can see it. It’s my favorite show in town and I could see it 100 times and still laugh. Do your best to book in advance, it gets sold out really quick.

PS Underground — The most creative dinner show you’ll ever attend with an incredibly themed menu by Chef Dave. Some of the desert’s hottest performers get together under the direction of Michael Fietsam and each show is its own beautiful bubble in time. It’s a pricey ticket, but well worth it. Especially if you enjoy a bottomless wine glass with your food and entertainment.

PS Air Bar — It’s an airplane! No, it’s a bar! No, it’s a restaurant! No, it’s a movie theater! No, it’s a live entertainment venue! Stop fighting! It’s all of these things in a very cozy space that actually looks like the interior of an airplane with more leg room. Actually, you know those 1960s and ’70s movies where the interior of the airplane has a lounge with stewardesses serving business men in first class? Well it’s like that, but the stewardesses are drag queens, and you never have to leave the ground. Unless you want to.

Crystal Fantasy: Crystal Fantasy Psychic Weekends and free reiki healing circle Sept. 7 and 15

Tequila Tuesdays at Zin American Bistro

Village Fest and Free Thursday evenings at PS Art Museum. Check out their other events too — they’ve really upped their programming.

PS Air Museum – It’s a very cool museum and absolutely worth a self-tour. Check out some of their events too.

Saturdays: Night Swim at Palm Springs Surf Club

The Drift Hotel — Not only a great place to stay downtown, but they’re stepping up their game with weekly events that aren’t just for guests. They’ve also been known to host comedy nights. Thursdays: 7 to 10 p.m, Jueves de Drift. Saturdays: Savasana at The Drift.

Entertainment

PS Cultural Center has so much going on they had to make a landing page listing all of the things. September brings us Cinema Diverse and all of the LGBTQ+ filmmakers who made the cut this year. There are a few world premieres again this year, and it is running for two weekends, one coinciding with The Dinah.

Revolution Stage Company’s 2024/2025 season starts in October with Cabaret Riot. Cabaret Riot is a brand new game show offering by the Company to identify the next hit cabaret star, who will then have their own show at the theatre. Once a week, for four weeks, contestants will present a 15-minute set of story and song, and the audience will vote the winner through to the finale held on the fifth week. Expect a lot of surprises, including guest judges and entertainers from the valley. Best $15 you’ll ever spend. Full bar, comfy theatre seating, and a dance floor.

Tours

Desert Tasty Tours — Coming back for the 2024/25 season, this daytime food tour takes you through three blocks of historic downtown Palm Springs, stopping for delicious food and sweets (mostly local) along the way. Guides will also tell you the fascinating history of old Palm Springs. Tell them I sent you.

Sept. 4 — Art Walk of Backstreet Art District. It’s off the beaten path on the way into Cathedral City, right where you’d think an artist’s haven might be — down a less traveled road and adorable. Always the first Wednesday of every month.

The Windmill Tour — Everyone I know that has been on this has said it was great. I have no idea why I haven’t done it yet.

Palm Springs Historical Society — They were closed for the summer, however they still did private tours. They have so many of those you’ll have to come back again and again to do them all. In fact, you should do that.

See you under the misters!

May Events: Let’s Get This Party Started!