Needing a place to park his airplane, architect Cliff May was in luck. May, "well-known designer of desert homes, was down in Palm Desert again last week, this time flying his plane from Los Angeles, landing at Desert Air Park, his purpose to join Mr. and Mrs. Roy L. Nafziger to go over the plans for their new Palm Desert home."
Nafziger was a prominent businessman and founder of Interstate Bakeries Corporation, which after his expansions and acquisitions would become Hostess Brands. He could afford to hire May, and May could fly and park his plane at Desert Air Park.
The air park, which over its history had several names, was invented by Henry "Hank" Gogerty, a prominent Los Angeles architect best known for designing more than 350 schools and
industrial buildings in Southern California as well as numerous historic buildings in Hollywood, including the Palace Theater and the Hollywood Studio Building.
Gogerty first came to the desert in 1936, buying 10 acres at the end of the sandy Rio del Sol, now Bob Hope Drive. Searching for a quiet winter retreat, as he recollected in a 1980 Palm Desert Historical Society interview, "a quiet place where cars wouldn't be whizzing by." Gogerty began building a house on the property on Thanksgiving weekend of 1939 and ate Christmas dinner in it. He named his outpost Rancho Hankaru. Soon, he was buying adjoining acreage, eventually amassing some 600 acres.
Expanding his holdings in 1945, he purchased 320 hundred acres of empty desert and created a long grass runway so he could fly instead of drive to the desert and began catering to aviation enthusiasts. The easy hop from Los Angeles made for regular visits from the flying elite.
The Limelight-News reported, "Opening of the first privately operated airfield in this district took place last week at Rancho Mirage, where Edwin Stephens and Norman Granger have leased 180 acres and put in a landing strip 3,200 feet long. This new field will be open to any aircraft with temporary servicing available.
"Henry Gogerty, from who the field was leased by the two local men, has great plans for designing an air park there. Gogerty, being a well-known Los Angeles architect, is drawing the plans himself to beautify the 180-acre field in the immediate future."
The Mirage Air Park offered elementary flight instruction, safe tie-downs for your plane, gas, oil and minor repairs. Lessons were by appointment every day but Tuesday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and without appointment 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
After developing the air park, Gogerty saw a hospitality opportunity. Early accommodations were modest, consisting of war-surplus barracks that Gogerty had trucked in from Beaumont. An initial clubhouse, called the Desert Air Resort, followed, featuring an oversized trapezoidal swimming pool with high diving boards, a restaurant and bar.
The Limelight-News covered the development. "Today we made a tour of Mr. Hank Gogerty's Mirage Air Park, and we will never be the same. Perhaps I should give a little background to this, so that you can understand our reaction. When I moved into our town in mid-July, I was somewhat amazed to see what looked like a squatter village going under the high sounding title of Mirage Air Park. All I could see was a group of grey buildings beside two air strips, However, each morning I was awakened much too early by the sound of constructive mayhem. Finally it began to dawn on me that a great deal was going on.
"Through the odd occurrence of my missing safe having been delivered to Mr. Gogerty's front yard, I met … the foreman on the job. He offered to show us through the buildings and we quickly accepted.
"Girls, wait till you see them. They are the kind of apartments dreams are made of. One or two rooms, a lovely modern kitchen, showers with each room and plenty of closet space. The choice in interior decoration is perfect and although the furniture had not yet arrived, the description along with the evidence of what has already been done, made me sure that it will be as lovely as the rest.
"Outside they are charming too. Very modern, with big windows, pastel plaster and woodwork, and altogether but stunning. Other details which dimly penetrated our dazzled female minds were a large well and pump equipped to irrigate the whole area, a proposed hangar for the visiting planes, a pool for us water-babies and other marvelous details to make life as easy as possible … the first units will be ready for occupancy in two to three weeks. Would that I were in position to be No. 1 tenant. Line forms to the right."
The airpark was a delightful novelty. Small planes landed and taxied up to the rows of parking aligned around the pool. Pilots and passengers walked off the plane to the restaurant or lodgings.
Further developing the notion, Gogerty leveled more land for parking and built the Desert Air Hotel, which opened in early 1951. The hotel's cottages and pool became so popular with aviation-minded celebrities like Bing Crosby, Gene Autry, Marilyn Monroe and Edgar Bergen that a second, longer runway was added, crisscrossing the first in the shape of a giant pair of scissors, when seen from the air.
Palm Springs Life noted, "On busy weekends, the field could get genuinely crowded: during its peak, as many as 100 visiting airplanes might be parked at the Palm Desert field over a holiday weekend. The marketing leaned directly into that draw, with advertisements from the period inviting guests to "fly in" or "drive in … The Desert Air Hotel was a hot spot, catering to the affluent who would visit the desert area. Celebrities which included Jimmy Stewart, Sophia Loren, Gene Autry and Howard Hughes often flew into the Desert Air Hotel. Even Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon traveled through the airport."
Soon Gogerty was stagging barbecues, horseback rides and themed parties. One upcoming event in June 1954 was covered by the paper: "The desert night will resound with the sweet strains of Hawaiian music and the flickering candles on the low tables around the pool will reflect the stars overhead. Pig and yams roasted in a pit lined with lava rock, tropic drinks in bamboo cups, 500 guests in Island garb with leis of fresh plumeria flow in for the luau will make a spectacular scene. Competing in interest with the continuous show of music and dancing will be the arrival of aircraft … as close to 60 planes … will set down on the grassy landing field at this unique air hotel … it will be a fabulous affair for everyone who is still here, and you will be surprised to find how many are, will be there … while advance reservations have been heavy the chances are you can still get in …"
Although the hotel would close during the sweltering summer months, the airpark would remain open, serving as a mid-valley private airport.
In 1968, Gogerty sold the property to a group of investors who intended to expand the property into the Desert Air Country Club. The group built a series of condominiums and a club house. The rising property values resulted in redevelopment into the Las Palmas Resort & Spa, and some of Gogerty's original acreage is now the Eisenhower Health medical center.
Tracy Conrad is president of the Palm Springs Historical Society. The Thanks for the Memories column appears Sundays in The Desert Sun. Write to her at pshstracy@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: The Mirage Air Park brought celebrities, presidents to the desert
