The journey to Death Valley is as much about the ride as the destination. Head west from Las Vegas, and you pass by Pahrump strip malls and casinos before hitting miles of open desert. Aside from the dreamlike vision of the luminously abandoned Amargosa Opera House and Hotel, it’s a long ride through sand and sky. Go north and pass silver sage and Joshua trees, Air Force bases and prisons, as well as alluring roadside kitsch such as Nevada’s only Big Boy franchise (now closed), the burger-slinging souvenir stand of the Alien Café, and the Stateline Saloon’s cold beers and pool tables.
Either direction takes you on a winding path through an austere yet breathtaking landscape. Some hills are smooth, warm sand piles like half-risen dough, others are jagged shards of stone breaking through the earth. Plains are stretches of sand ripe for Zen contemplation or fields of wildflower color. A few miles into the National Park lands, the road twists and what at first seems to be a mirage rises up: rows of palm trees surrounding a Spanish castle, its tower silhouetted against the clear blue sky.
This is the Inn at Death Valley, built in 1927 by the Pacific Coast Borax Company, which saw the area’s stunning natural beauty while digging enormous holes in it. Six years later, the U.S. government established Death Valley National Monument (later expanded and redesignated as Death Valley National Park, with a subsequent act adding “Homeland of the Timbisha Shoshone” and returning 7,800 acres to the tribe).
Soon, an increasing number of visitors rode the railroad out from the coast and took touring cars through the desert to bask in the sun and silence. In 1933, the Borax Company bought a nearby ranch and developed it into another tourist destination. Today, the two properties have been combined — along with pools, tennis courts, and the world’s lowest-elevation golf course — into the Oasis at Death Valley.
General manager Anthony Beckerley says the Ranch is “geared toward families, golfers, and guests who are looking for a comfortable place to stay after a full day exploring the park,” while the Inn is designed for “guests who want a quieter, more relaxing stay” and “provides a more refined experience.”
Part of that experience is early-20th century American history. “By the 1950s, the Inn had become a popular getaway for celebrities and other well-known guests, and it still reflects that old Hollywood feel to this day,” Beckerley says. Among the golden age luminaries who visited were Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert, John Barrymore, and Jimmy Stewart. Socialite Slim Keith — who would marry into British aristocracy and Hollywood royalty, as well as being one of Truman Capote’s legendary swans — actually began her career here.
About 10 years after the hotel opened, Nancy Gross drove up in her yellow Packard convertible and checked in. One of the heads she turned was that of movie star William Powell, who dubbed her “Slim,” became a lifelong friend, and introduced her to the exalted social circle she would rule for a half-century.
Even if the crowd today is more cargo pocket than bias cut, the Inn remains a place of handcrafted finishes and old-school glamor. It’s easy to imagine weekend leading men lounging in the off-lobby library with its velvet sofas and oak tables set for chess games. Or a swim-suited starlet sashaying over to the enormous, mosaic-tiled pool. The pool is fed by Travertine springs, so it stays at about 85 degrees; the springs also provide water for the hotel’s gardens.
About a mile down the road, past the “elevation sea level” sign, is the Ranch, a collection of tiny, white-fenced guest cottages around a Mission-style town square. There’s an ice cream shop with black-and-white floors and a soda fountain serving root beer floats and chili dogs worthy of ’50s Frankie and Annette fantasies. If you prefer your American iconography from further back, the Last Kind Words Saloon simulates the Wild West of the late 19th century. Red wallpaper, faux-gaslight chandeliers, and everything from portraits of Billy the Kid to framed pantaloons ornamenting the walls: It’s an ideal setting for a glass of bourbon and a bowl of bison chili after a long day.
Of course, the real attractions of Death Valley are found in the landscape. Beckerley says the annual Dark Sky Festival each February is a big draw, adding “the reappearance of Lake Manly and the super bloom have drawn large crowds hoping to see the special phenomena.”
Seeing the spectacular doesn’t require a unique occasion, just choosing a landmark. The Artists Palette trail got its name from the dazzling array of color stippling its rock formations, formed by the deposit of volcanic minerals. The salt flats of Badwater Basin, which stretch for 200 square miles, offer a surrealistic vision of glowing white extending toward the shadowy cliffs of the Black Mountains. The glowing hills and shady tunnels of Golden Canyon lead to the scarlet cliffs of the Red Cathedral rock formation.
If some of these otherworldly places seem curiously familiar, it may be because of Death Valley’s ties to another Hollywood classic: Star Wars. A number of the planet Tatooine scenes in the 1977 and 1983 films were shot here: Obi-Wan Kenobi roamed the Mesquite Flats sand dunes, Luke Skywalker brooded over his destiny on Dante’s View, and Jabba the Hut held court in Twenty Mule Team Canyon.
“Death Valley is a unique place to visit. Its beauty is something that needs to be experienced,” Beckerley says. Perhaps you’re on an early morning hike up Zabriskie Point to watch the morning light glow above the canyon ridges and salt flats. Or maybe sitting in a lobby bar’s leather club chair, sipping an old-fashioned, as you gaze past the rows of palm trees, past the Snow White gardens and Gatsby pool, toward the sun sinking behind the peaks of the Panamint Mountains.
Regardless where you take it in, Death Valley is always a stunning view.
