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In
Palm Springs in the California desert and Las Vegas in
the Nevada desert, landowners, anxious to sell
building sites, and resort owners, equally anxious to
draw the coin into their palaces of pleasure, are
waging the most bitter feud in their history.
Palm
Springs is strictly a winter resort with all the
larger hotels closed from the middle of May until
November. The temperature in the California desert
retreat reaches 115 degrees in mid-summer. On the
other hand, it is only just more than 100 miles from
Hollywood, whereas Las Vegas is almost 500 miles away.
But, and in this the promoters feel they have the
distinct edge, gambling is wide-open in Nevada, and
moneyed filmites love to gamble, whether it is on the
horses or at the roulette and dice tables.
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So
far the city fathers of Palm Springs are not too
worried. The resort has just ended its biggest season.
Real estate is booming; prices are terrific. But there
are any number of people - tens of thousands of them
every year - willing to pay from £2 a day in a modest
"Motel" to £15 a day for a room at one of
the swanker hostelries*. So far as building goes, Palm
Springs is the number one choice. Bob Hope, Jack
Benny, Frank Sinatra, Daryl Zanuck, the William
Powells, and 20 or 30 other wealthy film people have
built and maintain their large estates with
appropriate gold-plated fittings.
 There
is the famed Racquet Club where the elite gather for
cocktails and a spot of tennis and gossip. The
mountain trails for horseback riding are unsurpassed,
and the beauty of the entire region is breath-taking.
Also, the winter climate is health-giving.
On
the other hand, Las Vegas makes no pretence of being
anything but a wide-open town of the West where bars
and gambling tables are open 24 hours a day.
A
few years ago gangster Bugsy Siegel was the prime
promoter in building the Flamingo in Las Vegas, a pink
and white and purple layout three miles from Las Vegas
proper on the Los Angeles highway. It has prospered so
well that some months ago Wilbur Clark, one-time
gambling king, built - with £1,750,000 he raised from
sources best not too closely investigated - The Desert
Inn. Clark gave his place an even bigger opening than
Bugsy Siegel. Celebrities and newspaper reporters were
flown in from all over the country and film stars by
the car and plane load were given a free
weekend.
Says
Clark of the battle of the resorts: "I'll show
everyone that Las Vegas is the most fabulous place in
the world."
*
GBP£2 equals approximately USD$3.70, and GBP£15 is
around USD$27.90. Current hotel rates in Palm Springs
average from $50 to $200.
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