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In 1925, Palm Springs was little more than a sleepy desert village.
The prestigious Humphrey Birge family, owners of the Pierce Arrow Motor
Car Company, then the "Rolls Royce" of America, liked the
calm beauty of the scenery and built a Spanish-style estate at the foot
of the magnificent San Jacinto Mountains. Here they lived for some ten
years until the demise of the matriarch of the clan, and the property
was then sold to Ruth Hardy, a lady from Indiana, who changed the face
of the town and of the Inn itself. She transformed the estate into a
20-room hotel, and it was a very special one indeed. You did not call
for a reservation, you had to be invited, and if Mrs. Hardy did not
consider that you measured up to her standards, you were simply told
there was "no room at the Inn".
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She proceeded to operate the Inn as a private club,
closing six months of the year. She personally supervised every
facet of the operation. The small restaurant was for hotel guests
only and if you were invited by one of the guests, you had to
have Mrs. Hardy's approval. The Inn had no liquor licence so
guests brought their own alcoholic spirits. What is now the
Library Room was then the salon where guests assembled before
dinner for their "happy hour". The Inn hosted the "Who's Who"
of show business, finance and politics. Guests included Howard
Hughes, Salvador Dali, Norman Vincent Peale, Spencer Tracy,
Mrs. L.M. Giannini from the Bank of America family, etc., etc.
Ruth Hardy became an important figure in Palm Springs.
She was a City Councilwoman, responsible for having the trees
on Palm Canyon Drive lit, and subsequently a park in town was
named after her. The Ingleside Inn enjoyed a reputation as the
favorite gathering place for the rich and famous.
In 1965, Ruth Hardy passed on and the Inn was sold to a regular
guest from a San Francisco banking family. Winston S. Cowgill
III had hopes of maintaining the tradition that Ruth Hardy had
built; however, Mr. Cowgill was an owner in absentia and over
the next ten years the property fell into a state of disrepair.
In 1975, New York businessman, Melvyn Haber, visited Palm Springs
as a respite from his hectic life in New York. Mel Haber came
upon the Inn while strolling around town and fell in love with
it on the spot. He bought it in April of 1975, completely renovating
the entire property and created Melvyn's Restaurant and the
Casablanca Lounge and continues to cater to leaders of industry,
show business and politics.
We believe the Ingleside Inn will prove as attractive to you
as it did to the famous diva Lily Pons and her husband Andre
Kostelanetz, who came for one night and stayed 13 years.
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The Ingleside
Inn at the very Beginning
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