Hey, west coast vintage Airstream owners: there’s a Modernism show happening in February 2010 in Palm Springs, and they want YOU to show up!
Modernism Week is an annual event in Palm Springs, CA, filled with exhibits, presentations, and house tours. The Ace Hotel is planning to show vintage Airstreams along a promenade that winds through the hotel property, and sell tickets to tour the trailers at $10 per person. If you’ve got a restored vintage Airstream up to 26 feet in length, they want to hear from you.
Other than open houses at rallies, it’s not that often that vintage Airstream owners get to show off their trailers. Classic car shows are a dime a dozen, but classic trailer shows are a lot more scarce.
Of course, coming to events like this can be expensive for the owner. Fuel alone for me to tow our 1968 Caravel to Palm Springs would run about $200 round-trip. The hotel is offering to share 1/3 of the receipts from tours with the trailer owners to help defray the cost. No telling how many participants there will be on the tours, but they do plan to offer four tours on Saturday, February 20, at 10:00, 11:00, 1:00, and 2:00. I wouldn’t count on this to cover my fuel, but it’s better than nothing — which is what you usually get for displaying your Airstream.
The hotel has reserved a room for each vintage trailer, so participants won’t be actually camping. You can stay in the hotel instead, at no cost. From the website, the Ace Hotel looks like an interesting and fun sort of place.
Participating owners are asked to bring a “fact sheet” to hand out to people on the tour, and are encouraged to make a poster board display with information about the trailer and its restoration. Also, if you’ve got a vintage trailer to sell, you can make it known during the event, which would probably yield some offers.
If you are interested in participating, email Christy Eugenis for an application. You’ll need to give some info about your trailer and include interior and exterior pictures. Deadline is January 15, 2010.
The Denver WBCCI Unit has scheduled the 2010 “Denver Modernism Show” on August 27-29th as one of our Unit events for 2010. Some members have attended and more recently participated in this show over the past few years. A nice time for the design aware!
“but it’s better than nothing — which is what you usually get for displaying your Airstream.”
I personally got much value out of some of the observations attendees made when my ’67 Overlander was on display at two of the TX Vintage Airstream rallies:
“Your bathroom is so … green! Was that the original color?” [Yes]
“{sniff sniff} I smell bacon! You actually cook in a Vintage Airstream?” [Yes]
Trip expenses can be covered in different ways – A smile on my face covers a lot of bills.
Tom
Catching up on lots of good blog readings and read with much interest about a trip to Labrador. Might be something to visit about at the Chinese New Year and maybe even at Palm Springs?
Who knows what lies around the bend???
Cheers!
Hey Rich (& others) –
And the house tours will also likely be well worth the trip!
Modernist houses are loaded with great layout and design ideas – very ahead of their time and yet retro at the same time (HEY! That sounds like Airstreams . . .)
Zach
This sounds like a fun one, too bad we’ll miss out.
I’ll be prepping work to sell at the Alumapalooza booth, printing wedding invites on an old letterpress in the garage, and tackling various other projects. But my spirit will be at the ACE – imagining Sinatra humming as he walks through the trailers, and Julius Shulman’s camera shutter capturing the whole scene in crisp black and white.