Desert Fashion Plaza
 The mall during demolition | |
| 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 originally a resort hotel named the Desert Inn opened by Nellie Coffman, an early pioneer of Palm Springs. By 1955, the Desert Inn ended operation when sons George Roberson and Earl Coffman sold it to actress Marion Davies. Davies had plans for the Inn, but they never came to fruition due to her failing health. She sold the property to Samuel Firks and George Alexander for $2.5 million. Alexander had a lofty vision for the site, including a commercial mall, 1,100 parking spaces, a convention center, a 450-room hotel, and the city’s first skyscraper. This plan was never completed since Alexander and several members of his family were killed in a 1965 plane crash outside of Palm Springs.[1]
The Desert Inn was eventually sold to the Home Savings and Loan Association. They started construction in 1966 on a shopping mall called the Desert Inn Fashion Plaza. The mall was opened in 1968 by Joseph Magnin Co., the mall's only anchor store. In 1985, the mall went into a major expansion of the eastern portion, including 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 Desert Fashion Plaza. Decline started when Palm Desert Town Center (now called Westfield Palm Desert) opened in 1983, two years before Desert Fashion Plaza was expanded. Issues compounded in 1992 after I. Magnin left. Subsequently, other store tenants followed. Desert Fashion Plaza closed its doors around the late 1990s or early 2000s. Saks Fifth Avenue pulled out in 2002, making it the last anchor store at the mall.[2]