Jack Murray, a friend in Santa Barbara (hope that heart bypass surgery went well dude), has a favorite saying that goes something like this: "This was another one of those moments when you realize there are only twelve people in the world and the rest is done with mirrors."
I was reminded of this useful maxim once again when I went to one of the only two Walgreen's in the Palm Springs area for a prescription...
...and the pharmacy turned out to be installed at the entrance to the Desert AIDS Project (click here for the link)...
...where the name of Steve Chase was plastered everywhere.
From the 1970s to 1994, Steve Chase was the top interior decorator in the Coachella Valley and the arbitrer of good taste for most of the rich people in the desert.
The only San Francisco equivalent would be the interior decorator Michael Taylor in the 1960s and 1970s (before his early AIDS death) and Stanley Gatti now.
Steven's various projects around the world seemed to be featured in the magazine "Architectural Digest" every other month for decades...
...and he was an early member of "Interior Design" magazine's "Hall of Fame" (click here for the link).
He also became an avid art collector and a major supporter of the Palm Springs Art Museum.
Upon his death in March of 1994 from AIDS, he donated the bulk of his fortune to the museum...
...along with his 150-piece art collection...
...which consisted mostly of Abstract Expressionist sculptures and paintings.
Steve's $1.5 million bequest spurred the museum into the construction of a roof and a whole new wing...
...which they named after him.
My first host in Palm Springs sometime in either 1978 or 1979 was Steve Chase, and it was a legendarily disastrous experience which I still remember clearly. There really are only twelve people in the world.
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