Oh, boy, aren’t you in for a treat! TREAT, I say! In days of yore a crazed photographer, fresh from dropping $500 on developing fees, would corral his friends and loved ones in an enclosed, darkened space. Sure, he might lure them in with tales of booze or women of questionable moral character but as soon as they entered the room, spying the pull-down projection screen, they knew their fate: vacation slides.

Today, few souls actually still make slides (but like civil war reenactors, vinyl record connoisseurs and Cleveland sports fans, there will always be some who trudge on long past the time when that activity make sense, God bless them) so the ritual of the slideshow have passed, making it harder to justify casual imprisonment. No, we are stuck firmly in the age of digital photography. Although now we have portable devices (iPhones, laptop computers, plywood boards with favorite photos entombed beneath shellac) this is a weak replacement. Mostly because of the lacking of the dark and enclosed space. It is harder to get your neighbor to look at the twentieth photo of the same stretch of sand if he can easily make a run for it.

It’s a shame, isn’t it? I mean, these things brought people together, created bonds. Sure they were the bonds that often accompany Stockholm syndrome but were better people because of it. Want to get it back? Here’s how. Lock yourself in a dark room. Perhaps you could even fool yourself one day and go in there “on accident”. Then proceed to click through every damn picture on this site. Read every attempt at humor with the soul killing lilt with which it was intended. Bask in every ill-framed shot, every slightly out of focus panorama, and, most of all, every single picture that makes you wonder why the hell you are being subjected to this. Do this all with the forced smile that your forefathers wore upon finding their fate sealed oh those many years ago. It will be good for you. I promise.

The following pictures are of eight houses we toured with the folks at the Palm Springs Modern Committee. Much thanks to them and all of their hard work. This was an incredible tour. The homes were breathtaking and the people lovely. I really hope to do this again.

Below you will find a few pictures of our starting off points: The Orbit In Hotel (some during a storm) and the Palm Springs Visitors Bureau. It used to be a gas station. No, really. Wow.

Thanks for dropping by.