Find nostalgia and intrigue at the Caliente Tropics Resort with Sanchos, a bright, festive Mexican eatery that opened mid-May, and Le Fern, a revival of the 70s style “fern bars,” opening soon.
Sanchos and Le Fern join The Reef, the popular tropical-themed bar and restaurant adjacent to the resort’s large swimming pool.
“We don’t call it a Tiki bar. The Reef is a ‘tropical libation sanctuary,’” said proprietor Rory Snyder. “Tiki people are very particular about what Tiki is and is not.”
Sancho’s has the “bones” of the former Sambo’s Pancake House and plays off the 1964 history of the former coffee shop that operated there through the mid-80s. The chain closed because of financial woes in 1984. The restaurant site has been through several different iterations since.
“Sancho’s is a play on the name,” said Snyder. However, the term is Mexican slang for another stereotype. “I love the bright Mexican colors, the Jimmy Buffett vibe; it’s my alter-ego from the browns and tans.”
Diners will find such Mexican favorites as enchiladas, tacos, burritos and tortas for lunch, with omelets, breakfast burritos, huevos rancheros, churro French toast and eggs dishes for breakfast. The bar libations focus on tequilas, mescals and beer collections.
Next to Sancho’s is Le Fern, a cool, dark, tropically-inspired bar with midcentury drop lights, carved Tiki heads behind the bar, live plants and the Caliente Tropics’ original carved wood door.
“A la 70s, fern bars have always fascinated me,” he said. “It’s my generation. The term ‘yacht rock’ coined about 10 years ago, is the music of Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Steely Dan. It has a huge history. Think TGIF’s as a typical fern bar.”
Catering to more feminine tastes, fern bars were inspired by the early feminist era when women, earning their own money, began going to bars where they felt safe to go alone.
“Typically, the drinks were sweeter, like Grasshoppers, Pink Squirrels, and modified Mai Tais,” said Snyder. “BLTs, cheese sandwiches, Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame were on the menus.”
Le Fern will also offer more modern fresh produce libations such as lime, basil and other juice and herb concoctions. Club sandwiches, cheese fondue and other 70s throwback eats are on the menu.
Snyder is the genius behind the concept of the restaurants tying together three of Palm Springs’ well-known genres – tropical, south-of-the border, and fern bars (as another aspect of midcentury revival).
Although Snyder has been the restaurant proprietor at Caliente Tropics Resort for the past five years, he has actually been producing successful events there – live bands, symposiums, pool parties, etc. – for 13 years. While his background sounds like a hodge-podge (his words), the evolution of his career and personal interests makes perfect sense for what he is doing now.
Originally from Chicago, as a retail manager for Best Buy electronics, he was transferred to California to open locations in the Orange County market. By 1989, then in his late 20s, he left the electronics world, took a course in bartending and began his restaurant hospitality career in OC.
Locally he was a popular mixologist at Trio Restaurant and Wang’s in the Desert, creating craft cocktails before they were a “thing.” His signature Palm Springs Punch became the city’s official libation.
At the same time, his interest in the Tiki culture grew as he began collecting Polynesian artwork, artifacts and furnishings. While at Trio, he became friends with SHAG store owner and artist Josh Agle and his partner Jay Nailor, further whetting his appetite for midcentury and other highly stylized artwork.
He co-authored “The Cocktail Compendium” with SHAG in 2013, the same year he created his second annual event, Mod Palm Springs, which celebrates midcentury style with a Tiki twist.
Snyder’s retail background served as a springboard for learning more about Tiki culture’s history, purchasing high quality items from the now-closed Oceana Gardens. His marketing is geared towards “die-hard Tiki people” from throughout Southern California, inviting associates from Tiki Central to the resort’s grand reopening, for example.
“Tiki people came and brought their friends,” he said. “Most of my clientele are in their 40s to 60s.”
Beyond nostalgia, Tiki enthusiasts will be intrigued by the layers of Palm Springs’ tropical-inspired history that line the walls, ceilings and floors at Caliente Tropics Resort with artwork, architecture and artifacts, providing an immersion experience that goes far deeper than first-glance kitsch.
“You have to know the history of Tiki first-hand before doing something campy with it,” said Snyder. “You have to know what you’re doing.”
Snyder noted the late architect Donald Wexler’s use of the motif in his Twin Palms and Royal Hawaiian Estates. He also cited the former Don the Beachcomber’s Restaurant and Waltah Clark’s clothing store in downtown, as well as the Caliente Tropics Resort and its sister, the Tropics Hotel in Indio, as examples of this genre’s popularity after World War II when GI’s returning home from the Pacific theater brought their romantic dreams of the tropics and Tiki bars with them.
With groovy places like The Reef, Sancho’s and Le Fern, Tiki culture is here to stay and riding a new wave of popularity.
Sancho’s
Open 8 am – 2 pm
Le Fern
Open 4 pm – Midnight
The Reef
Open 1 pm to Midnight weekdays; 11 am to Midnight, weekends
At the Caliente Tropics Resort
411 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs
(760) 424-8241
www.thereefpalmsprings.com
