Palm Springs desert resorts a hot ticket for visitors: '50s kitsch, new resorts bring a new generation to the desert.

Visitors heading to Palm Springs on I-10 win glimpse the growing commercial areas of the Inland Empire fore approaching the outskirts of the desert resorts. A technique windmill farm, generating electricity for the area, is one of the first signs that you've entered another region. But before you reach the resorts and spas of the desert, you'll come to Cabazon, once a sleepy town where a small Indian casino once was the lone outpost along the windy stretch of road. Now that small roadside stop is turning itself into a full-fledged resort.

The new $250 million Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa is under construction and expected to open by year's end. Set on 44 acres, it will feature high-end accommodations, the largest casino floor west of Las Vegas, a luxury health spa, convention facilities, a retail area and pool areas as well as first-class dining and entertainment. The 23-story hotel topped by a penthouse restaurant and lounge will be hard to miss on the road to Palm Springs.

It's a testament to the rejuvenated Palm Springs market that the Morongo project is a welcome addition to the desert mix of luxury resort living.

The desert was a winter playground for Bob Hope and pals like Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny and Clark Gable. Many purchased homes in the valley and today lend their names to major thoroughfares throughout the area. But they weren't the first to enjoy the varied charms of the Coachella Valley.

The area's first residents were the ancestors of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians who inhabited the Indian Canyons--the largest natural fan palm oases in the country.

By the mid 1800s, government surveyors had mapped the area and its natural hot springs mineral pool--now the site of the Spa Resort Casino in downtown Palm Springs-and established the first wagon route through the surrounding hills. The first inn opened in 1909.

Today, the area known as Palm Springs is really a collection of eight communities-Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage. Though they blend together seamlessly along Highway 111, they also each have a distinctive feel.

Indian Wells, for instance, is comprised of four resorts and a golf course: Hyatt Grand Champions Resort and Spa, Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa, Miramonte Resort and Indian Wells Resort The Golf Resort--designed by Ted Robinson--provides golfing facilities for all the others.

"It's an area everyone can grow into," said Mike Dominguez, vice president of sales and marketing for the Palm Springs Desert Resorts.

"Meeting planners understand there are eight communities and one destination."

That's a message the visitor bureau is trying to get out to the leisure visitor, too.

Palm Springs enjoyed a heyday through the '50s, but later fell on hard times as air travel took visitors to more exotic places.

Now, many of the long-time resorts have completed renovations, new resorts and spas are spw up and its airport has added service from more cities since 2001. All of that--along with a cultural fascination with all things '50s--has made Palm Springs a playground once again. Only now it has a classic mixture of boutique hotels and expansive resorts mixed in with vacation club options.

"We had a nice start to the season this year," Dominguez said. "There's ah uptick in business."

Part of that uptick can be attributed to travelers who more often gravitate to regional airports in a post-9/11 world. Palm Springs now has direct jet service from Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles, making it a quick getaway for the regional traveler. And there are 21 million people in the regional market who are less than a day's drive away.

A recent survey by Florida marketing firm Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell indicated that 34% of domestic travelers say they'd like to visit Palm Springs.

That's a far cry from just a few years ago. "Palm Springs has tremendous recognition value," said YPB&R partner Peter Yesawich.

"Resort development produced a lot of promotion and awareness of it as a destination," he said.

Visitors of ah earlier era carne for the sun, the golf and the entertainment

Today, young and old come to explore the desert by jeep, off-road vehicles or hiking trails. They come to shop along Palm Canyon Drive (Highway 111) in the heart of downtown Palm Springs or at the Cabazon Outlet Mall. They come to gamble at places like the Spa Resort & Casino in downtown Palm Springs, Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage of the Trump Casino in Coachella. And they come for family entertainment like Knott's Soak City Water Park, tours of the windmill farms (the world's only such opportunity), the Air Museum, date farms or jeep eco-tours in the desert. They come for top-rated restaurants like Wally's Desert Turtle in Rancho Mirage, Brazilian grill Picanha Churrascaria in Palm Desert or the Deck Restaurant & Sky Bar in Palm Springs.

Nightlife is abundant, ranging from headline entertainment at the Indian casinos and piano bars to sports pubs, jazz and high-energy dance clubs like Costas at Desert Springs or The Nest--equally famous for celebrity watching.

"It used to be golf and tennis was all we talked about; now there are 30 of so other things to do," Dominguez said.

To be sure, golf and tennis are still mainstays of the desert resorts, with no fewer than two dozen courses along with half a dozen golf schools and clinics and a dozen public tennis courts--plus those onsite at the resorts.

But now there are also horseback riding centers, motorcycle rentals and rock climbing.

Today, change is the name of the game. Last year's Givenchy Resort & Spa is now called Le Parker Meridien Palm Springs. New owners are turning the property into a 140-room oasis with ah upgraded spa, restaurants, pool and 10,000 square feet of meeting space.

The Palm Springs Riviera Resort & Racquet Club--with 50,000 square feet of meeting space--has turned itself into a Tahitian-style resort, while at the other end of the valley the Miramonte Resort & Spa has a 7,800-square-foot private mansion tucked into its 121 acres of Tuscan-inspired elegance. Groups can arrange yoga and tai chi on the piazza with a personal fitness expert.

There's a 300-room Sheraton and convention center in the works in Cathedral City and the Palm Springs Convention Center is slated for an expansion to begin next year. Arnold Palmer opened a restaurant in Indio and The River retail and entertainment complex in Rancho Mirage has added a much needed evening entertainment option for groups with perennial restaurant favorites like Prego and The Yard House, a 12-screen cinema, Borders Books, Bath & Body Works and a host of other popular retailers.

"The River is amazing for dine-arounds," said Brett Jarvis, a Laguna Beach conference planner.

"Palm Springs is a great value these days," he said.

Even the venerable Palm Springs Aerial tramway got a recent facelift and now sports the world's largest rotating tram car that take riders from the desert floor to the 8,516-foot Mt. San Jacinto State Park and Wilderness in about 20 minutes. There, visitors can hike, bike, ski (in season), picnic or even camp.

"The renovations and expansions, spas and retail have brought a new, hip culture to Palm Springs," said Charles Ahlers, president of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau.

Miramonte Resort debuted its new spa, The Well in May to sell-out crowds. The $3.5 million, 12,000-square-foot spa features water treatments, massages and outdoor pools. For fun, it features a Tuscan mud and clay body painting party and massage for couples that's clothing optional.

Hyatt Grand Champions, the JW Marriott and other major destination resorts have upgraded as well---all with a unique twist, whether that be at the pool, in the spa or in the guestrooms.

The desert resorts still boast some remnants of their rural past, too. The Living Desert is part zoo and part botanical garden in Palm Desert where you can explore native plants and exotic animals or take off on hiking trails. The Oasis Date Garden in Thermal, south of Indio, will teach you the finer points of choosing dates (the edible kind) and the whimsical Big League Dreams Sports Park in Cathedral City lets kids of every age live on their childhood dreams at replicas of classic baseball parks.

But the cities don't forget their early Hollywood connections. Palm Springs hosts two major film festivals each year and dozens of other specialty film festivals focused on niche markets. At Palapas of Araby Cove--a 14-acre interactive artists' village--demonstrations, workshops and tours are offered daily. Each Thursday, a Village Fest street fair is held on Palm Canyon Drive.

Group planners looking for the ultimate in unique events might consider the Desert Adventures Jeep Ecotours, which will transport your group to an old Indian Village deep in the Indian Canyons for a special event dinner.

Other popular and unique outings include walking tours that showcase '50s architecture and celebrity tours that showcase homes of the stars a la Beverly Hills and Bel Air.

But the ultimate resort experience might just be basking at the pool, enjoying the crystal clear view of the surrounding mountains and sipping a favorite beverage.

Other cities can offer desert resorts. But other cities can't offer mountains, desert, world-class golf and tennis, Indian heritage and trendy shopping and dining in as compact ah area as Palm Springs. And that's what makes it a perennial favorite.

For a different look at the desert, ambitious souls can make the several hour trek up Route 395 or out Interstate 15 to get to Death Valley, where they'll find the resort at Furnace Creek. The ranch offers both resort lodging and motel-style facilities as well as camping and RV facilities and will give desert-lovers a real taste of what it's like to live at the lowest spot in the Western hemisphere.

Or, you can simply head for home on I-10 toward Los Angeles and points north, I-15 toward Las Vegas or back to the airport of your choice. Wherever you head, Southern Californians are sure you'll be back to explore more of the unique aspects of the Golden State.