The La Quinta Resort and Club is located in the
Coachella Valley, 140 miles southeast of Hollywood’s. In the early
days of Tinseltown, it was the distance that made this desert oasis so appealing
to writers, actors and directors.
Owned by Walter H. Morgan, the resort opened on
February 4, 1927, and soon caught the attention of Hollywood’s elite. Of
course, it helped that Morgan frequently paid the stars personal visits to talk
up the resort and its Spanish-style casitas. Bette Davis, for one, was sold.
While filming Jezebel, she would breeze by reporters at the end of the week,
exclaiming, “I’m off to La Quinta.”
Famed director Frank Capra once said, “It was a
wonderful green oasis in the middle of the desert, and it was absolutely
private.” It was at La Quinta where Capra put the finishing touches on the
script of It Happened One Night, which won the 1934 Oscar for best picture.
Capra returned to La Quinta to work on numerous other projects, including You
Can’t Take it With You and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Irving Berlin was inspired to write one of the most
famous songs in history while celebrating the holidays at La Quinta. Seated in
his casita, gazing out at a typically sunny Palm
Springs day, Berlin nevertheless was moved by this
un-winter-like scene to pen “White Christmas.” The first verse (cut from the
famous Bing Crosby version) begins, “The sun is shining, the grass is green, the
orange and palm trees sway. I’ve never seen such a day.” Because the next line
had to rhyme with “day” and neither La Quinta nor Palm
Springs fit that bill, Berlin substituted “In Beverly Hills L.A.”
