Desert Fashion Plaza

Desert Fashion Plaza

Location	Palm Springs, California
Address	123 N Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92262
Opening date	1968
Closing date	Late 1990s/Early 2000s
Developer	Home Savings and Loan Association
No. of stores and services	196
No. of anchor tenants	3
No. of floors	1

Desert Fashion Plaza, formerly Desert Inn Fashion Plaza, was a shopping mall in Palm Springs, California with anchor stores I. Magnin, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Gucci.

History

The site of the Desert Fashion Plaza was a former resort hotel named the Desert Inn opened by Nellie Coffman, an early pioneer of Palm Springs. By 1955, the Desert Inn ended its operation, sons George Roberson and Earl Coffman sold the Inn to actress Marion Davies. Davies had plans for the Inn, but this never came into fruition due to her failing health. In 1960, Davies sold the property to Samuel Firks and George Alexander for $2.5 million. Alexander had a lofty vision of what would take the place of The Desert Inn; including a commercial mall, 1,100 parking spaces, a convention center, a 450-room hotel, and even the city’s first skyscraper. This momentous plan was never to be completed as in 1965, Alexander and several members of his family were killed in plane crash just outside of Palm Springs.

The Desert Inn was eventually sold for Home Savings and Loan Association and started construction in 1966 on a multi-million shopping mall called the Desert Inn Fashion Plaza, keeping the word “Desert Inn” to the mall. The shopping mall was opened by 1968 with Joseph Magnin Co. being the main and only anchor in the mall. By 1985, the mall started a major expansion building a hotel called Maxim's de Paris Suite Hotel (now the Hyatt Regency Hotel). I. Magnin, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Gucci became the new anchors. Desert Inn Fashion Plaza was renamed as Desert Fashion Plaza, dropping the Inn word. Declining of the Desert Fashion Plaza started when Palm Desert Town Center (now called Westfield Palm Desert) was opened in 1983, two years before Desert Fashion Plaza was expanded, another problem was started in 1992 was after I. Magnin left the mall due to the location not being a good place for the store to be, more store tenants started moving away to new places for their business to still go on. Desert Fashion Plaza closed the doors around the late 1990s or early 2000s. Saks Fifth Avenue closed its doors in 2002, making it the last anchor store at the mall.