Kimberly Pierceall« April 2007 | Blog Home | June 2007 »
May 30, 2007
Who wants to take me on a dune-buggy tour of the Dumont Dunes?
I didn't observe a map as closely as I should on the Web site for Barstow's Bureau of Land Management office -- they indeed manage permits for the Dumont Dunes but the actual area isn't in Barstow, it's about 30 miles north of Baker. See below.
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 4:32 PM, May 30
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Inspired by travel site Jaunted.com and their movie set travel section I bring you local tours to see the Inland sights from new releases:
* * *
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Dumont Dunes: For two days in August 2006, Disney filmed the Barstow dunes (CORRECTION: the dunes are 30 miles north of Baker but managed by the Barstow Bureau of Land Management office) depicted as the end of the world and nearly final resting place for Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and his land-ridden ship.
The Inland Empire Film Commission and Bureau of Land Management get a credit after the film.
* * *
Downtown Palm Springs: The setting for many a 1990s teen-targeted show, the strip was shut down for filming last year.
The Parker: The hip-modern boutique hotel that looks like it could be the set for a much friendlier non-violent A Clockwork Orange has also been filmed for a possible Bravo reality show.
Indian Wells: The show may be set in Palm Springs but the residential neighborhood shots are straight out of Indian Wells where, according to the census, 46.2 percent of its 3,816 residents in 2000 were at least 65 years old. Only 95 were between 18 and 25 years old.
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 6:45 AM, May 30
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Hidden Palms, the CW network's summer teen drama set in Palm Springs, premiers tonight at 8 p.m. PST. Could it eventually do for the OC and Laguna Beach what the weekly drama and reality show of the same names did for their SoCal geographies to bring fans curious to see the real places where their favorite characters hang out? Maybe. If it stays on the air.
Early reviews have been less than stellar and most use the typical buzzwords to describe the setting: old, gray, retired.
"Set in the retirement haven of Palm Springs, we follow the adventures of Johnny Miller (Taylor Handley), who was the perfect son and student," before his dad committed suicide, according to a review by Susan Young of InsideBayArea.com.
"He's gone through a stint in rehab and been whisked off to Palm Springs -- where the heat, he's told, drives people crazy," according to a Variety review.
"Frankly, I didn't even know there were teenagers in Palm Springs, let alone an entire social strata of Paris Hilton wannabes and O.C. refugees," according to Rob Salem of the Toronto Star.
Salem went on to question the creator, Kevin Williamson, about why he chose Palm Springs:
"I have gone to Palm Springs a lot in the last few years ... You know, the thing about it is, it's this swank little Dean Martin place that has turned into this retirement community, but what I've noticed over the last three years is it constantly goes under a renaissance."It's always going through a change, every 10 years or so. And one of the things that I noticed on one of the visits in the last couple years is there are all these gated communities that have just popped up, seemingly overnight. There's high schools. You see teens skateboarding down the street.
"I don't know ... It's just I've never seen Palm Springs portrayed on television. It's a very interesting world. It's very surreal in a lot of ways. I sort of feel like it's this man-made oasis, and it's plopped down in the middle of the desert, where there's a bit of a facade going on. You could lift the rug or the grass, so to speak, and there's just desert underneath.
"I thought it was just an interesting world and sort of a great dramatic place to set up a story like this."
For more about shows that have been filmed in Palm Springs and to test your pop culture aptitude, check out the story about Hidden Palms and a quiz about other local shows from the P-E's Vanessa Franko.
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:32 AM, May 30
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May 29, 2007
People will do plenty to attract tourists, but sink ships? Not an impossible dream for folks in North Carolina's Eastern Carolina Artificial Reef Association.
They are seeking a ship's owner who wouldn't mind their vessel being sunk on purpose to add to the reef created by boats sunk of natural causes. Then that reef will naturally build itself up for divers and researchers to inspect the "underwater universities" according to the Associated Press story.
Any takers?
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:33 AM, May 29
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May 25, 2007
Alas. More people are going to Jersey City than Palm Springs for Memorial Day Weekend according to Priceline.com.
Maybe it's the nearly 100 degree weather.
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:31 PM, May 25
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May 24, 2007
Of the $538 million that tourists spent in Temecula last year, $214 million of it went toward "arts, entertainment and recreation" -- a rather broad category but one that I'm fairly certain is dominated by the Pechanga Resort and Casino.
But a couple other interesting nuggets emerged from the report conducted by Dean Runyon Associates : one out of three Gen X-ers and Millienials reported drinking more wine. For now, about half of regular wine drinkers are over 50. And Californians made more than 50 million visits to casinos in 2005, 16 percent of the amount of trips nationally.
Dean Runyun also conducts an annual survey of statewide tourism impacts.
Check out my story on the business page today to read more about Temecula tourism.
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:40 AM, May 24
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May 21, 2007
One tourism agency just isn't enough. In the Coachella Valley where there's already the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention and Visitors Authority which intends to market the entire valley and its nine cities to tourists, each city is now fending off the others in an attempt to get more of those visitors in their city.
Listing off the names of new hotels being developed in Palm Springs and elsewhere, Rancho Mirage's Mayor Dana Hobart said during a speech: "Rancho Mirage revenue is under attack."
And to protect that revenue, the city plans to hire a marketing director with an annual salary between $80,436 and $97,716. That's in addition to already paying the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention and Visitors Authority to tout the area.
Palm Springs employs the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism, and Indian Wells and Palm Desert have marketing employees dedicated to encouraging visitors to visit.
It's every destination for itself.
- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:12 AM, May 21
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May 18, 2007
The iconic and cursive Palm Springs sign that welcomed drive-in tourists to town has been uprooted and will soon be replaced.
By what? Another iconic sign costing $172,600 designed to be an appropriate backdrop to vacation photos.
So far the lettering is being stored in a city office while they decide what to do about it. E-Bay? Museum? Selling it to one of the many mid-century modern architecture fans so it could be the ultimate living room wall art?
What do you think should happen to the sign? And are you going to miss it?
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 10:28 AM, May 18
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Sometimes inconviences must be endured in the name of tourism, such as ...
Slow drivers oggling the San Jacinto Mountains from Highway 111.
The sound of loud music wafting into your house from nearby concerts.
And now the closure of part of downtown Palm Springs so TourismTV can film the area unobstructed and then broadcast said filming to future tourists.
Palm Canyon Drive will be closed to car traffic between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. next Tuesday, May 22.
The company is using the same crane-camera used for Titanic and Pirates of the Caribbean and a piece of equipment with those credentials demands space.
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:20 AM, May 18
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May 17, 2007
The Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention and Visitors Authority has snagged the annual U.S. Tour Operator Association conference that will bring 700 or so to the desert Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, 2008.
Tourism officials don't consider it just any ol' conference because the folks attending are the same people who create ready-made travel packages and tours later sold by travel agents to tourists.
Hosting it in the Palm Springs area gives officials unabashed free advertising during the three-day conference.
Robert Whitley, president of the association, toured the valley in a white limo Wednesday to decide which hotel property would host it. He said breakfasts, lunches and dinners are usually sponsored by countries -- Egypt, Canada, Finland, etc. -- but the real nitty-gritty of the conference isn't food and mixers.
No, there won't even be exhibits and free bottle openers; just pre-arranged meetings between destinations and tour operators for 12 minutes each.
Kind of like speed-dating but with suits.
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:50 AM, May 17
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May 16, 2007
Just as the Palm Springs region ramps up its advertising blitz to convince San Franciscans to visit, CBS 5 in San Francisco has given them one more reason: We've got water! Gallons of it! We desert gluttons are swimming in our misted sidewalks and man-made shopping mall rivers!
Check out their report here.
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 10:55 AM, May 16
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May 15, 2007
So fellow reporter Vanessa Franko got me thinking about the Airline Passenger's Bill of Rights recently -- you know the thing that everyone demanded shortly after camera-phone ready passengers with cable news networks on speed dial rightfully exposed their less-than-friendly experiences sitting for several hours on planes that sat motionless on runways.
Now, Vanessa didn't have to sit on the runway for several hours (she waited about 1 1/2 hours).
And they didn't give her a "Good things come to those who wait!" brochure as outlined in their "Customer's First" plan, which may have done more harm than good if distributed to angry passengers.
Plus she managed to be in Las Vegas when she missed her connecting flight so the airline sprung for her hotel room. Not too shabby.
But she did end up missing most of a work day because they put too much fuel on the plane and had to de-fuel it. Had they not, she'd have likely flown seamlessly from D.C. to Las Vegas where she'd catch her flight to LA/Ontario International Airport and be in bright and early -- although jet-lagged -- on Monday.
That, or something similar, likely happens everyday and that, in all its long-windesness -- is why I was thinking about the airline passenger's bill of rights -- wondering why its still sitting in a Senate committee.
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 6:07 PM, May 15
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May 14, 2007
How many words does it take to extol the virtues of the Coachella Valley?
Apparently 1,500.
An almost 10-inch square-shaped "Give in to The Desert" brochure from Alaska Airlines that will be appaearing in San Francisco, Seattle and Portland to advertise the area uses 1,428 words (by my own count) and lots of capital letters. Here's an example:
"Nestled in the scenic Coachella Valley in Southern California, the Desert Resorts of the Palm Springs Area lure families, newlyweds and singles with brilliant year-round sunshine, acclaimed resorts and a full complement of amenities found in the resort communities -- Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage."
... just in case you didn't know where the "Desert Resorts of the Palm Springs Area" are nestled.
But the best line took just four:
Golf. Sun. Spa. Repeat.
The Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities (9 words) spent $200,000 while the Palm Springs International Airport, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, Palm Desert and La Quinta wrote checks for $50,000 each -- grand total $450,000 -- to partner with American Airlines and Alaska Airlines to offer vacation packages to folks in strategic markets.
The two-night packages seem like a good deal: San Francisco to Palm Springs from $264 per person. Seattle or Portland to Palm Springs from $376. The fine print says that those prices involve staying at the Wyndham Palm Springs and require you travel between May and September 16. Other hotels might cost more.
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:01 AM, May 14
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May 10, 2007
Just a day after JetBlue CEO, founder and Chairman David Neeleman spent hours speaking with shareholders in New York (and via Web cast), the company's board lopped off his CEO title and replaced him with David Barger, the company's president.
The move seems to be a reaction to the disastrous customer relations crisis that left passengers sitting on airport runways for hours on Feb. 14 and thus left JetBlue without any love on Valentines Day.
Nonetheless, Neeleman handled the crisis uncharacteristically by taking responsibility quickly and saying he was sorry, a lot. He still seemed genuinely apologetic Wednesday:
"We were really looking forward to the first quarter of this year, it was going to be a banner quarter ... All of you know what happened on February 14. There were a series of events that happened that caused us to really disappoint a lot of our customers ... we really let them down on that day."
He may not be the CEO anymore but here are a few more nuggets he talked about during Wednesday meeting where he also talked about growth opportunities in LA/Ontario International Airport
What did he think about:
Competition?
"Our biggest competitor is Delta. Delta has made kind of a concerted effort as of late to push in New York particularly in JFK."
Profitability?
"We will be profitable in the second quarter ... It always seems like we’re playing from behind which is unfortunately the case this year."
Future in three years?
"The vision for JetBlue in the next three years has a lot to do with the price of oil."
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 10:15 AM, May 10
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May 9, 2007
When someone in a two-hour meeting starts to address "the 800 pound gorilla sitting in the middle of the table," chances are that shortly thereafter, words will be fired.
That's what happened at the normally staid Palm Springs Airport Commission meeting Wednesday.
Here's a little background: When Palm Springs abruptly fired Richard Walsh, the director of aviation at Palm Springs International Airport, on April 23 a few questions remained -- namely why.
When I read the news via fax, I called a couple members of the airport commission who had no idea anything had been done. Palm Springs City Manager David Ready said he sent the announcement in "the only way to communicate" -- namely e-mail and fax.
The members who had heard, had little idea why. Ready offered this as an explanation:
"We had conflicting management styles and so I made this decision."
Nancy Doria, airport commission member, didn't get the e-mail or the fax and was none too pleased.
"I for one do not appreciate the way it was conveyed," she said. "I feel we were not given the full story by the city of Palm Springs."
A few of the airport's airline's seem less than pleased too.
A letter dated April 16 from SkyWest Airlines (see page 24) to Richard Walsh was included in an agenda packet for commissioners to review and said the company, as well as Horizon Air and US Airways had "deep concerns regarding the design layout of the new regional airline terminal," and requested "a temporary stop to the terminal project and an immediate meeting to resolve the issues that make the current terminal layout dysfunctional."
Pretty damning.
Except that Mookie Patel, manager of the airport's airline affairs and corporate real estate for Alaska Airlines, e-mailed three commissioners to say that Walsh resolved the issues SkyWest and others had in less than two hours.
A printed copy of the e-mail was given to me by commission chair Robert Elsner. Here's some of what it said :
"It was not the intent of any of the carriers serving PSP to have the Airport Director removed ... With the departure of Mr. Walsh, the airlines are very concerned(sic) with the future leadership of the Airport."
Ready said the SkyWest memo, "has nothing (to do), not one iota, with the change in directors."
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 4:11 PM, May 09
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Don't know where to take the kids for summer vacation? Time to ditch the park ranger and sweaty college student in the furry character costume and give 'em a taste of doomsday.
China is seeking tourists to frolic (and shop for souvenir spoons, perhaps?) in one of its declassified nuclear bases built in 1958. For the first time the Chinese government is opening it up to the public.
But no, it's not your only opportunity to revel in all that is atomic.
Las Vegas has had their own Atomic Testing Museum since 2005. Oddly, the photo on the main site resembles an eery tunnel in the basement of the old Riverside Press-Enterprise newsroom. Alas, we never had our own museum.
If you do end up visiting China's declassified nuclear facility maybe before checking out the Olympics set for next year, be sure to behave and save the loud throat-clearing for a local movie theater visit.
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 6:12 AM, May 09
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May 8, 2007
Two weeks without travel commentary is two weeks too long.
What did we miss while I was preparing for and recuperating from the Coachella Music & Arts Festival?
From the Department-of-Obvious-Press-Releases: "While most resorts are raising their rates in the summer," the Hyatt Grand Champions in Indian Wells is doing the exact opposite! The press release fails to mention the going rate of temperatures in the Coachella Valley during that time which hover somewhere between "Get me air-conditioning, stat!" to "Are my thighs fused to the driver's seat?"
Palm Springs area hotels typically drop rates during the summer.
The San Bernardino Convention and Visitors Bureau fresh from choosing 10-year-old Katriona Kennedy to be the voice of its animatronic bear -- hired Wayne Austin, former general manager of the Lake Arrowhead Resort, to be its president and chief executive officer.
Temecula hosted wine tours for attendees of the annual International Pow Wow. (That's the name the Travel Industry Association gave it, folks.) Here the OC Register talks more about the event that brought in thousands of tour operators, travel writers and destinations trying to sell themselves, including the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention and Visitors Authority. (Ignore the odd racist ranting in the comment section below the story.)
In other news:
The Hotel Zoso in Palm Springs filed for bankruptcy
Palm Springs fired the director of the Palm Springs International Airport
-- KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
kpierceall@PE.com
Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:42 AM, May 08
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