On one of my last visits to the desert's architectural marvels, last February, and on a typically pink-sky-like, warm end of afternoon, little was I expecting what awaited me behind this collection of pristine walls, south of Palm Springs. The tour I subscribed to was promising a door-to-door visit in a community of houses, set in between the city and its magnificent canyons and golfs. What could have been a very good tour of midcentury architecture quickly became a mind-blowing historical discovery of very fine single family houses, topped with the meetings of the enchanting individuals living in them. The very specific qualities that made the tour quite exceptional and exquisite were all coming from the same architect: A. Quincy Jones. The quality of the white brick walls, the filtration of the sun through louvers, the opening toward the pool and the mountains, the patios (!), all these tiny but spectacular details were what made the houses unquestionably above your average midcentury home. 

Built in 1965, the Country Club Estates are made of one-storey houses, all centred, though alternating in layouts, around a simple communal pool - nothing too fancy or showy here. 

It is more the quality of life, and its fitting slow pace, that are enhanced and marvelled at here. The feeling is not one of being encloistered, as such a layout would suggest but rather inside a landscape, furthermore augmented by the San Jacinto mountains further behind. You find yourself in a close community that is open. Accessing the homes through narrow but bright white little streets, you are then met with the greenest of green grasses, inviting you to the communal area, which mostly consist of an Hockneian swimming-pool and some pristine lounge weaved chairs. Even though the community's living rooms are a few foot away, they seem to be kept at reasonable distance, and one doesn't feel to burdened by this close neighbourhood. It was overall a strong, powerful and moving visit, proving that you do not need to live in the desert in a private and gated mansion, you could live just like right here, in the middle of a circle, with appeasing views and charming neighbours, much like a fun tribe would.