Palm Springs Life Magazine’s Karen R. Graninger takes a look at The Monkey Tree Hotel’s resurgence as a Palm Springs hotel experience. Re-opened in early 2016, The Monkey Tree Hotel is a historical 16-room midcentury property designed by Albert Frey in 1960. Husband and wife owners Gary and Kathleen Friedle bought it in 2015, and reimaged the hotel “for athletes, by athletes.”
“Right now, we cover swimming, biking, running, hiking, and pumping iron,” says Gary Friedle, a triathlete himself. “We support all of those activities here. There's plenty of space in every room to store your bikes. In the future, we look forward to hosting yoga retreats as well.”
Gary’s triathlete experiences and the body’s need to recover led him to install Palm Springs' only Scandinavian spa consisting of a sauna, hot tub, and cold plunge pool at the hotel. The idea is to cycle through the heat to the cold. Your body retains the heat, and then releases it during the cold portion of the cycle, which relaxes you. Toxins are also flushed from the skin's pores.
The Monkey Tree is tucked away near the famed spot of the former Palm Springs Racquet Club. Karen notes that another point to keep in mind while at The Monkey Tree is that you’re walking in the footsteps of the pop cultural elite when you stay here, such as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Eric Clapton, the Beatles (except Paul), the late Gilda Radner and Gene Wilder, Bob Hope, Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. Karen also mentions that it was even the secret service guarded rendezvous for the one of the rumored trysts between Marilyn Monroe and JFK and asks the walls to please talk.
To read Karen’s original article and view the accompanying pictures, courtesy of Palm Springs Life Magazine, please visit: http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/Desert-Guide/May-2016/Stay-Fit-in-Midcentury-Style/
Also, to view the accompanying video, please visit: http://www.viddler.com/v/a0e440e8
