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21 September, 2022

The ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ guide to Greater Palm Springs

By Alexandra Coulton

If you love Hollywood drama as much as we do, Olivia Wilde’s film Don’t Worry Darling is sure to have come across your radar by now.

From on-set romance to unhinged video messages and reports of actors spitting on each other, we can’t get enough of this movie and we haven’t even seen it yet.

Behind-the-scenes drama aside, Don’t Worry Darling is a utopian psychological thriller with an all-star cast including Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, Chris Pine and Wilde herself.

However, Wilde’s chosen utopia for the film, Greater Palm Springs is a star feature in itself, with its unique desert oasis, plethora of mid-century modern architecture and bursts of colour sitting surreally in a landscape of mountains and palm trees.

If you’ve got clients keen to check out such an iconic spot, check out this Palm Springs guide inspired by the filming locations of Don’t Worry Darling.

The Kaufmann Desert House

Kaufmann House (supplied by: Visit Greater Palm Springs)

Playing the home of the Victory Project’s leader, Frank (Chris Pine), this is one of the film’s star locations. Even though you can only peer at this spectacular private residence from the end of its driveway, its design aesthetic is undeniable.

In 1946, architect Richard Neutra created this stunning blending of steel, glass, and Utah stone as a desert getaway for Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr., a Pittsburgh department-store magnate and architecture connoisseur.

The home remains one of Neutra’s most famous residential works (out of more than 300 homes he designed) and a featured stop on every Palm Springs architecture tour.

Canyon View Estates

Canyon View Estates (supplied by: Visit Greater Palm Springs)

While Frank lives in the Kaufmann House, Jack (Harry Styles) and Alice (Florence Pugh) are in the environs of Azul Circus in the Canyon View Estates, a community of condominiums in the city’s South End.

Built in the 1960s by architects Dan Palmer and William Krisel, these clusters of villas sit around a shared pool, spa, and green space. The embodiment of upmarket suburban living, they have floor-to-ceiling windows, stone fronts and the geometric-patterned concrete blocks that are a trademark of Palm Springs.

Palm Springs City Hall

Palm Springs City Hall (iStock/Laser1987)

The plaque outside this concrete stunner reads like a dream team of mid-century modern design: Swiss-born master Albert Frey, E. Stewart Williams, Robson Chambers, and John Porter Clark all had a hand in creating the building’s signature style.

One of the most influential elements was the creation of a screen wall at the front of the building, made of metal tubing cut at angles and stacked in rows, the wall acts as a visually arresting shield against the desert region’s intense morning sun.

Another eye-catching element is the portico overhang with its large central opening that allows a handful of palms to grow through.

Palm Springs Visitors Center

Palm Springs Visitor Center (supplied by: Visit Greater Palm Springs)

Located in a historic Albert Frey designed building, the Visitors Center is representative of Palm Springs’ wealth of mid-century modern architecture and offers information and assistance on where to stay, play, dine and shop.

Originally a gas station constructed in 1965 for Esso, the building’s extraordinary wing-shaped roof grabbed the attention of visitors as they entered the city from the north, with Mount San Jacinto looming behind.

Its change of use came only in the 1990s, when it was converted into an art gallery and was then taken over by the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism.

The Volcano House

Volcano House (Lance Gerber via Visit Greater Palm Springs)

Arriving at the climax of the movie’s trailer and the building that stands in as the Victory Project’s mysterious headquarters, the Volcano House truly belongs in the world of Don’t Worry Darling.

In the trailer, we see just beyond the eerie dunes that make up the Mojave Desert’s Devils Playground, a glaringly white dome rises up out of the ground. Alice and an army of red-clad Project workers ascend the mountain, as well as the circular road that leads to the 2,200-square-foot house designed in 1968 by architect Harold James Bissner Jr.

For this location, the crew ventured a couple of hours north of Greater Palm Springs to the Mojave Desert community of Newberry Springs.

There, atop a 150-foot cinder cone, sits the iconic Volcano House, a saucer-like structure that appears to have materialized from another planet or dimension.

La Quinta Resort & Club

La Quinta Resort (La Quinta Resort & Club via Visit Greater Palm Springs)

Not only did Olivia Wilde shoot scenes for Don’t Worry Darling at the La Quinta Resort & Club, but the cast and crew also stayed there.

Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the rugged Santa Rosa Mountains, the legendary La Quinta Resort & Club is the longest-running resort in the Palm Springs desert area and one of only two resorts in the country for which a city has been named.

Spanning 45 vibrant acres, its’ verdant grounds are accentuated by beds of colourful flowers; orange, lemon, tangerine, tangelo and grapefruit trees; cypress trees and cacti; sparkling pools and picturesque courtyards, all framed by towering palms.

The historic property offers a variety of distinctive accommodations including 617 guestrooms, 161 villas, 41 climate-controlled swimming pools and 53 hot spas.

La Quinta Resort also boasts championship-calibre golf and tennis facilities, award-winning dining, expansive spa and fitness facilities, a variety of boutiques and shops and some of the region’s top indoor and outdoor meeting spaces.

Featured image: Canyon View Estates (supplied by: Visit Greater Palm Springs)

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Canyon View Estates Chris Pine Don't Worry Darling Florence Pugh Greater Palm Springs Harry Styles La Quinta Resort & Club Olivia Wilde Palm Springs City Hall Palm Springs Visitors Center The Kaufmann Desert House The Volcano House