The Glamorous Gardens of Tommy Tomson

Often called the “Landscape Architect to the Stars,” when Tommy Tomson arrived in Hollywood in the 1920s, his own glamorous good looks got him a screen test. He decided to become a landscape architect instead, and throughout the 1930s and 40s designed the landscapes for such stars as Joan Bennett, Robert Montgomery, Joan Crawford, Tyrone Power, Charles Boyer, and Henry Fonda. He also designed the landscapes of the places frequented by the stars, such as Santa Anita Racetrack, the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, the Brown Derby, Union Station, and the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Tomson also did extensive work in the Coachella Valley–in addition to the landscape and piano-shaped swimming pool for Frank Sinatra’s first house in Palm Springs, in 1946, with his brothers-in-law Cliff and Randall Henderson, Tomson helped found the city of Palm Desert, creating the overall site plan and street layout and the landscapes for the Shadow Mountain Club and many private residences.

Architectural historian Steven Keylon is Vice-President of the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation and serves on the Board of Docomomo-US/SoCal. He is a founding member of the Stewardship Council of The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Keylon is past president of the California Garden & Landscape History Society, and since 2017, has been editor of their journal Eden. He is the author of The Design of Herbert W. Burns, and The Modern Architecture of Hugh Michael Kaptur, and co-author, with Tracy Conrad and Steve Vaught, of Tom O'Donnell: Generous Spirit of Palm Springs, all published by Palm Springs Preservation Foundation.

$15

Things To KnowAll ages
This is an indoor activity
Wheelchair accessible
Parking and handicap parking available
No smoking or e-cigarettes

Important InformationModernism Week Theater is located at the south end of the hotel’s central atrium
Ample free public parking is available. Enter underground parking at Hyatt on Palm Canyon Drive or in the multi-level public garage across from the Palm Springs Art Museum.
The organizer of this event is Modernism Week CAMP Theater Activity.

Check-in Location Modernism Week Theater At CAMP
Hyatt Palm Springs
285 N Palm Canyon Dr
Palm Springs, CA 92262View Map

Photo Credits: Julius Shulman photography archive, 1935-2009, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 2004.R.10.; Steven Keylon; Palm Springs Historical Society; TCLF {"locationAddressVisibility":"visible"}