History
WOULDA, COULDA, SHOULDA
Projects That Never Came To BeBy Stuart Ackley
(Ed. Note: The following article is part of a series of historical essays on Rancho Mirage in celebration of the Chamber's 50th Anniversary in 2005)
In the years before the incorporation of the City of Rancho Mirage, all development projects were subject to the approval of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. Many times, a developer would bring his project to the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for approval before taking it to Riverside for the county's formal approval. Chamber Directors often found themselves driving to Riverside to speak in favor of developments at the Board of Supervisor's public hearings.
Not all proposed development projects were approved or built. Many never made it past the Chamber Board. Even some projects that were approved by the Chamber and the County of Riverside never saw the light of day.
An interesting project that was approved in 1968 but never built was the Magnesia Falls Coach Club, a 300 acre, 506 space mobile home park with golf course, spas, swimming pools, a 14,000 square foot clubhouse. This was the largest single development that had ever been proposed in Rancho Mirage. The main feature of the Magnesia Falls Coach Club was to be the Seattle Space Needle type of structure, soaring 10 stories high, home of a skyroom restaurant and cocktail lounge with 360 degree views of the valley and the Santa Rosa Mountains. Today, this property is the Blixseth Estate and Porcupine Creek private golf course, near the top of the Magnesia Falls Cove.
Rex Thompson, a large, cigar-smoking man in his 50s, was a successful Southern California developer who had developed Blue Skies Village with Bing Crosby in 1954. He had several mobile home developments in Las Vegas, Yosemite, Galveston, Texas, and Borrego Springs. Thompson teamed up with land owner Gil Garfield, President of Rancho Mirage Properties, Inc., of Beverly Hills to build the $3.5 million ($20.5 million in 2003 dollars) luxury development. Garfield's company purchased the land ten years earlier from entertainer Art Linkletter and former state treasurer Ronald Button, who subdivided much of the Magnesia Falls and Rancho Las Palmas area when he first bought the property in the early 1940s.
Thompson, as the point man of Magnesia Falls Coach Club, looked for support of community groups to help the project move forward. In May 1968, he brought his plans to the Chamber's Board of Directors, who readily approved as Thompson was offering to set aside 30 to 40 acres of land for a community park. The chamber had been trying and failing for six years to get the county to designate a regional park in Magnesia Falls.
The chamber announced the special "town hall" meeting for June 10, 1968 and encouraged all Rancho Mirage residents to attend the meeting. Thompson was introduced and described the Magnesia Falls Coach Club as a luxury mobile home development, with average lot sizes of 7200 square feet upon which only "double-wides" would be allowed. The residents and business owners listened as Thompson assured them that only adults would be permitted to live in the project and that most of them would only be part-time residents. They would allow Rancho Mirage residents to hold 'associate memberships' in the Club for $125 per year per couple that would allow them the use of the club's amenities and facilities.
The unveiling of the Magnesia Falls Coach Club drew great publicity and support from Rancho Mirage. The three Rancho Mirage community groups: the Chamber of Commerce; the Rancho Mirage Women's Club; and the Rancho Mirage Community Association all heartily endorsed the project to the Riverside County Planning Commission. Many individuals wrote letters and telegrams of support. The Planning Commission approved the plan.
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors set a public hearing on the project for August 1968 because of one objection by Ronald Button. Button's objection to the project came because he mistakenly thought that the increase in population from 506 mobile homes would overburden the one-year-old Rancho Mirage Elementary School with school-aged children.
Thompson got the word out that he needed the three community groups to come to Riverside and tell the Board of Supervisors that they supported the Magnesia Falls Coach Club. He covered his bets by offering a "free ride in an air-conditioned charter bus and a box lunch" to anyone who wanted to go to the meeting. More than 60 people took advantage to the luxury-liner charter bus, while a few dozen more took their own vehicles to Riverside for the public hearing.
Eleven persons spoke in favor of the project, including Thompson, who clarified for all that the coach club was for adults only and that children would only permitted as guests, thereby not impacting the population at Rancho Mirage Elementary. Button arose to speak, and to everyone's surprise he told the Supervisors that he supported the project, especially since he could see that it had the overwhelming support of those who lived in the community. He apologized for not understanding that the club was "adults only", and encouraged the Supervisors to approve the development, which they did on a vote of 3-1.
Thompson told the newspaper The Daily Enterprise after the vote that construction would commence by mid October.
There were delays, but the Chamber was assured that the project would happen. The Chamber reported in their December 1968 annual report to members that construction would begin by February 15, 1969.
In reality, the project lost steam and excitement. Gil Garfield of Rancho Mirage Properties wasn't sure that a mobile home park was the best way to maximize profits from the land. It is speculated that he decided not to proceed, and settled with Thompson to drop the project. The land remained barren for nearly 30 years, before Mr. Tim Blixseth developed it as his private estate.
