It’s not as if Palm Springs didn’t already have more than its share of gay guesthouses — though we can hardly blame them — then comes word the city has just added another. Pura Vida becomes the SoCal city’s 24th resort. An eight-suite boutique in the Warm Sands neighborhood, the facility (a rarity in Palm Springs, it is not clothing-optional) comes with amenities from breakfast to poolside cocktail hour. Go to VisitPalmSprings.com for more information.
On the other side of America, Key West’s famous (notorious?) Island House is celebrating its phenomenal longevity — 35 years — with the “35 and Fabulous” sweepstakes. Now through Sept. 5, you can register on Island House’s Facebook page to win a special anniversary rate of $13 (what they charged the first night of operation back in the bicentennial year of 1976) for one night next June 12.
Taos is rolling out the red carpet — should be a rainbow carpet — for its second annual Taos Pride Festival. The town on New Mexico’s Enchanted Circle, famous as a winter ski resort, welcomes its gay guests Aug. 19–21 for a weekend-long celebration. Among the attractions are queermedian Vickie Shaw, a free “Pride in the Park” family-friendly festival followed Saturday night with The Gayest Drag Show Ever. For more information, visit TaosPride.com.
For those who want to go further to enjoy a vacation, the Villas Veritas — gay director Franco Zeffirelli’s former estate on the Amalfi Coast, which once hosted celebs like Liz and Dick, Maria Callas and Laurence Olivier — has undergone an extensive renovation. For more, visit InVillas.com.
— Arnold Wayne Jones
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition August 12, 2011.
