Day Tripping in a Sea of Orchids

Wondering what to do this summer and looking for something new and different? How about free? Tucked away in the high desert town of Landers is a treasure trove of beauty at Gubler Orchids.

They offer free personal tours of the facility - 3 massive green houses filled with thousands and thousands of orchids.

The Gubler family has been growing the exquisite flower for three generations, originally in Switzerland back in 1918.

A son moved the operation to California to chase the American Dream and in 1954 started selling orchids out  of his station wagon. They've come a long way from that station wagon!
Today Chris, grandson of Heir Gubler, continues the legacy, along with his sister, Heidi. Their expertise from three generations of growing orchids is evident as you wander the aisles of the greenhouses in Landers filled with beautiful, phenomenal hybrids.

The family has the Landers location, and farms and greenhouses in other California locations totaling over 155,000 square feet of greenhouses in production. The Landers site is open to the public and free to visit.

 

If you're into growing orchids yourself, the facility has a complete line of orchid essentials, such as orchid food and mixes at bargain prices. Plus, lots of excellent, free advice.



Gubler's also has an Orchid Festival every year. This year it's happening Saturday and Sunday, October 5th & 6th from 10am -5pm each day. You can find out more about Gubler's and directions at www.gublerorchids.com.

Studio 55 Opens in Palm Desert

Joe Graziano is living his dream. After three and half decades in the agricultural business in Oregon, he is now a working artist. Earlier this year he opened Studio 55 on El Paseo in Palm Desert where he creates and exhibits his acrylic paintings and glass work.  

“My wife thought I was insane and that it was a wild, crazy idea,” says Graziano, “but having been an entrepreneur for thirty plus years, she was used to me coming up with ideas and dreams.”

Graziano and his wife, Hannah, moved full time to the Coachella Valley about a year ago, after snow birding for three years. At the time he wasn’t thinking of opening a gallery, but when he was moving his paintings from one storage space to another, he started thinking about his new neighborhood including El Paseo, one of the premier art gallery locations. His entrepreneur stripes kicked in and he decided instead of putting his paintings in storage, he would open a studio where he could share his art with the public.

Graziano says he’s not the type to analyze ideas to death. His philosophy in life has been to “go and do it rather than dwell on it, study it and wear it out until you don’t want to do it anymore.” So it wasn’t long before he found a storefront and his idea became a reality.

Situated in a plum spot adjacent to The Gardens, on the southeast corner of El Paseo and Larkspur, Studio 55 offers visitors more than an exhibition gallery. The space is Graziano’s main studio and where he can be found most days working on his next creation.

“People can come and talk to me,” he says. “It’s a win win for me because if it’s quiet, I’m in my own wonderful world just creating my art and loving it and having a ball. And if people come in and want to engage in conversation and give me feedback, I’m all ears. So it’s a wonderful exchange.”

A self-taught artist, Graziano developed an appreciation for contemporary abstract art after years of visiting museums and galleries around the world. He first picked up a paintbrush in 1996 and created his first painting, “Pallet,” which now hangs in Studio 55.

Graziano works with acrylics, and glass, separately and together, and has also recently starting making fountain pens out of exotic wood. He enjoys the diversity of his work. “For me it’s about having different vocabularies. Some people speak different languages, and that’s kind of how I feel about my art. It’s multi-lingual.”

“For me, it’s hard to be an artist and live in a vacuum. I can live in my own world and think everything I do is wonderful, but to have somebody else appreciate and be excited about my work energizes me and turns the wheels in my head about the things I want to create.”

Studio 55 is at 73-655 El Paseo, Suite E, Palm Desert. 760-565-8267. Hours: Monday thru Thursday 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Friday & Saturday 10:00 am – 7:00 p.m. Sunday 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Joshua Tree Captivates in New Film About James Dean

One of the co-stars in Matthew Mishory’s new film about James Dean is not an actor, but a place: Joshua Tree.

“We wanted the desert landscape to be a sort of character in the film, to set a mood and tone,” says Writer/Director Mishory about Joshua Tree 1951: A Portrait of James Dean.

Starring James Preston as James Dean, the film is shot in black and white with stunning high noir imagery and captures a time in Dean’s life before he became a Hollywood icon. It screens twice during the final weekend of the Palm Springs International Film Festival - Saturday, Jan. 12, 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 13, 1:00 p.m. at the Annenberg Theater. Mishory and Edward Singletary, Jr., one of the producers and actors in the film, are expected to attend the screenings.

During pre-production research, Mishory learned Hollywood studio executives had sent Dean to the desert to tan before the East of Eden shoot. He liked the idea of making a James Dean film that was not set in New York, and not entirely in Hollywood either, but set partially in the desert. So he moved Dean’s desert trip up a few years and wrote his script with Los Angeles and desert locations. 

“We went to the desert and were inspired to make the film,” says Mishory. “People often ask which parts of the film are factual and which parts are more fictionalized and it’s usually the opposite of what people think. The sequences in the city are almost entirely taken from the history and recollections of the people who knew him. The sequences in the desert become a symbolic and an emotional landscape.”

Searching for an isolated desert landscape, one of Mishory’s producers knew of the Zircon Circus ranch outside of Joshua Tree National park. The compound had a series of small structures - a little house and garage – that were contemporary of the period. Built in the 40’s, they already had the bones of a desert motel, so the production’s art department went in and nipped and tucked here and there to finish the transformation.

 “We stayed on that ranch for the duration of the shoot in the desert and we shot at locations on the ranch and locations on unincorporated land that has incredible vistas,” says Mishory. “There’s one shot from a hillside where you can literally see for miles and miles and there’s nothing there but desert.”

For Mishory, the film screening at the Palm Springs International Film Festival is like coming full circle. “It’s quite literally in our backyard of where we shot the film, and some of the crew was staying in Palm Springs as we were shooting the movie. It’s kind of a homecoming for the film so we’re very excited for these particular screenings.”

The film also stars Dan Glenn, Dalilah Rain, and Edward Singletary, Jr.

Mishory’s is already at work on his next project, a film called Disappear Here. A political thriller, it’s a star vehicle for James Duke Mason, son of Belinda Carlisle, lead singer of the Go Gos and grandson of the great James Mason of Lolita and other Hollywood movies of the 50’s and 60’s.  Duke’s father Morgan Mason who produced Sex, Lies and Videotape came out of retirement to produce the film.

Writer/Director Matthew Mishory