Lunch & Black History Tour with Deiter Crawford

Saturday, March 9
12PM
TICKETS

James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center
480 W Tramview Rd, Palm Springs, CA 92262

This tour will introduce you to Black pioneers of Palm Springs whose talents and perseverance overcame the prejudices in the city. This activity has a price of $150 per person and includes transportation and lunch by Mica’s Soul Kitchen. Tickets are limited and can be purchased in the RSVP link.

2024 Desert X Black History Bus Tour Route & Description
Although constituting only 4% of Palm Springs’ population, African-Americans have contributed to the city — and continue to contribute — far disproportionately to that number. This tour will introduce you to Black pioneers of our city whose talents and perseverance overcame the prejudices of earlier times. We’ll see the works of renowned architect Paul Williams which include the architecturally significant Town and Country Center (now planned for extensive renovation), and the landmark El Mirador Tower (which is also where Crossley had his office). We’ll learn about land developer and city planner Lawrence Crossley who came here in the 1920s and who reshaped our landscape, created a reliable water source, and represented local Native Americans to the Federal government at a time when those of African descent were forbidden from owning land. We’ll visit the Crossley Corners trailer park, and the neighborhood that now bears his name. The tour will conclude at Desert Highland Gateway Estates — Palm Springs’ first organized neighborhood — where community activists and athletes of worldwide repute have all lived. We’ll see First Baptist Church and Ajalon Baptist Church, two of our Faith Based Institutions. We’ll end at the James O. Jessie Recreation Center, the centerpiece of the Desert Highland Gateway Community, and the social, cultural, and recreational hub of the area.