How locals from the greater Palm Springs area are remaking the desert

Standing in the dim light of Las Palmas, the Palm Springs micro-brewery and go-to gathering spot for young locals in the low desert, floral designer Sesar Orozco found himself in a circle of friends, some of whom he knew would be there that night, others who just happened to show up.

Rey Romero, the co-owner of the brewery, walked up to the group and slung his arm around Orozco’s shoulders.

“He’s the mayor, right here,” Romero said, smiling wide. Orozco, who was wearing a blue T-shirt with the word “Florista” on the front, beamed in his friend’s embrace.

There was a time when Orozco, 31, wasn’t sure he could make a life for himself in the desert where he was raised. Most of his friends left after high school, seeking adventure and work opportunities in cities such as San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. But over the last several years, many of them have trickled back to their hometowns of Indio, Coachella, Cathedral City and Palm Springs, drawn by cheaper real estate, proximity to family and the possibility of creating their own desert oasis together.

“Every year, more friends are coming back and realizing Palm Springs isn’t a dead town,” Orozco said. “This is a movement.”

On a recent Thursday, Orozco led me and Times photographer Genaro Molina on a tour of his friends’ businesses from Coachella to Palm Springs. Collectively, they show a new vision of the low desert — one that’s younger, cooler and caters as much to the people who grew up here as it does to tourists.

“I was dating someone in L.A. for a while,” said Orozco, driving down a dusty highway as the jagged San Jacinto Mountains loomed in the windshield. “But I realized I have something too magical here to let die.”

10:15 a.m.: Coachella

Orozco drove his forest green Toyota Tacoma down the sleepy main street, past the Mexican markets and panaderias and parked in front of the manicured lawn outside City Hall.

“Growing up, we had no reason to come here, but I really like it,” he said. “It’s very cultura Mexicana, very Latin based.”

He crossed the street toward the library with its Mexican tile facade and headed into Sixth Street Coffee, an unexpectedly modern coffee shop with concrete floors, natural wood shelves and a few well-placed hanging plants.

Sixth Street Coffee opened in 2019, but Orozco first visited in 2021 after the owner, Steven Garcia reached out to Orozco after seeing his floral arragnements on social media. Orozco and Romero brought Garcia a bouquet of flowers, introduced themselves and tried the cafe’s signature iced horchata latte. Garcia, 36, has been part of their entrepreneurial friends’ group ever since.

“He’s a Leo, I’m a Leo,” Orozco said. “We just vibed.”

When Garcia first decided to open a coffee shop in Coachella, his friends and family advised against it.

“Everyone thought it was a crazy idea, that there wasn’t enough business out here,” he said. “Friends said do it in Indio or in the west valley, but then I came across this space. I didn’t realize how much Coachella needed this coffee shop until I opened it.”

Today, Sixth Street Coffee attracts younger nearby residents and has also become a destination for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival set that floods the area once a year. Garcia, who has raised two kids in the town and also started a local running club, said he loves that his cafe is on the same street as the more traditional businesses he grew up with.

“I love the feel out here,” he said. “Our Hispanic culture, our heritage is very much here, brought by our parents and grandparents. What I want to do is capture our identity, not change it. This is home.”

Noon: Indio

Ten minutes down the road, in Indio, a revitalization of the historic downtown is underway. In March, the city opened Center Stage, a permanent performance space that caters to local bands and other artists. In recent years, new businesses have made the district more of a destination for visitors and locals alike.

“Everything is moving this way, toward the east end of the valley,” said Orozco, parking his truck at Miles Avenue and Towne Street. “Now we have coffee, breweries, bars. And everyone is on the same page. We want to bring something unique.”

His first stop in Indio was Gabino’s Creperie East, a minimalist space with the quote “It was all a dream,” from the late rapper Biggie Smalls painted on the wall. Orozco greeted owner Marcel Ramirez, 35, who was standing behind several crepe-sized griddles, with a hug. They’ve known each other since they both worked at Giuseppes Pizzeria in Palm Springs when Orozco was still in high school.

Ramirez was wearing a backward baseball cap and looked remarkably well-rested for a guy with a 6-month-old and a 17-month-old at home.

“Believe me, I’m not,” he said.

Ramirez was born in Indio and grew up in Palm Springs before leaving the desert for several years, bouncing among San Francisco, New Jersey, Chile and Argentina. He started the creperie as a pop-up at Las Palmas Brewery shortly after moving back to the area in 2019. He opened his first location in Palm Springs as a takeout window in 2020 and opened this one in Indio in April.

“You think you have to get out of here, but as locals, we should take the opportunity to take the things we enjoy from out of town and bring it here,” he said.

The crepes at Gabino’s are savory, not sweet — made with olive oil, water, flour and salt rather than butter, eggs and sugar. Cheese provides a light crunch, and Ramirez serves them stuffed like sandwiches. He recommends the turkey cheddar, which comes with chimichurri sauce, lettuce and a pickle. “It’s nice and light,” he said.

Orozco ordered his usual: chicken pesto.

1:45 p.m.

After lunch, Orozco walked past Urban Donkey Vintage where a punk band was practicing loudly. The store was closed, but its 30-year-old owner — who goes by the single name Mata — stepped outside to chat. A big guy with glasses and a shaved head, he started out selling vintage finds at swap meets and now helps other vintage clothes hunters create their own businesses by offering them space in his store.

“I’m trying to create opportunities so they can do it here and don’t have to go to L.A.,” Mata said. “Being from the east end is something to be proud of. Indio, Coachella, Mecca, Thermal — it’s all about being proud of what you have.”

Down the street and around the corner, Orozco walked into his friend Adrian Romero’s Rosemary HiFi, which was still under construction.

Orozco slipped behind the concrete bar with two state-of-the-art turntables built into it and started pulling records off the walnut shelves. Orozco and Romero also worked together at Giuseppes. The previous day, Orozco had helped Romero move a couch into the bar. The next morning, they were planning to wake up at 5 to drive to L.A.’s flower district.

After high school, Romero left the desert several times, following a love interest to San Francisco and then Los Angeles. When he came back for good, he started working with Orozco on Hermano, designing the business’ logo and merch. For two years, he toyed with the idea of starting a hi-fi bar with state-of-the-art turntables and speakers. A friend at the Drift Hotel in Palm Springs invited him to test out the concept at an event space in the inn, and it was a success. A few months later, Garcia invited Romero to set up his turntables at Sixth Street Coffee. Three hundred people showed up.

Romero wanted to open Rosemary in Palm Springs but couldn’t find the right fit. Then, another friend offered to hook him up with city officials in Indio who are trying to lure more businesses to its downtown area. Romero saw a space that had once housed an appliance store and knew he’d found his bar. He plans to open to the public in December.

3 p.m.: Palm Springs

The sun had just dipped below the San Jancintos when Orozco stopped in at the Mojave Flea Trading Post on Indian Canyon Drive. His flower shop, Hermano, occupies a bright space in the back corner of the colorful warehouse-like building. Orozco describes the trading post as a Macy’s for local makers where each vendor is allotted a space to sell clothes, jewelry, candles and other wares. In addition to fresh flower arrangements, Hermano sells premade dry flower bouquets, hats, socks and T-shirts.

Orozco pointed out the hand-painted flowers on the door behind his counter and the brick wall that was painted one color on the bottom and another on the top, like you might see in Mexico.

“We styled it like a Latin-based brand,” he said. “We want to stick to the roots of our culture.”

He grabbed several small floral arrangements from his fridge as well as a larger piece that displayed his signature natural wildflower style. He was due to deliver them for an event at a Land Rover dealership in Rancho Mirage.

When we arrived there 15 minutes later, he hugged one of the guys working at the dealership — yet another friend from high school — and greeted a singer who was setting up a music stand.

“She does the sickest karaoke,” he said.

5 p.m.

Later, Orozco dropped by the Heyday in Palm Springs, known for its smashburgers and run by his friends Brad and Crystal Reihl. He ordered the restaurant’s famous martini and burger special for $19.75.

The Reihls are not desert natives. They moved to Palm Springs from Orange County shortly after getting engaged in 2018. A few months later, they started the Heyday, selling burgers at a weekly street market, Palm Springs VillageFest, and doing pop-ups at Las Palmas Brewery. They moved into their current location, a former Mexican restaurant, in 2022 after a friend heard that the owner wanted to retire.

Even though he came from out of town, Brad Reihl said locals like Orozco quickly welcomed him into the fold.

“We feel this sense of community here more than we ever did in the O.C. or L.A.,” Reihl said. “The businesses help one another. I’ve got nothing against the local Chamber of Commerce, but there’s nothing they can give us that our friend group can’t offer us tenfold.”

He’s even come to appreciate the summers.

“It’s hot and, it slows down,” he said. “But if you’re appealing to the locals, there’s plenty of business here.”

6:15 p.m.

The final stop of the day was Las Palmas Brewery, which has helped launch several businesses in Orozco’s friend circle. Orozco arranged flowers for the brewery’s grand opening in 2019, and both the the Heyday and Gabino’s Creperie did pop-ups there.

Rey Romero, who started the brewery with his friend Sam Gill, said his goal was always to be a hub for desert locals.

“Our north star, just being local and growing up here, was we need to do something that’s an extension of ourselves,” he said. “I would hope people feel safe and loved here so when they have an idea for a pop-up, they can do it. It’s like singing in front of your family.”

Romero’s wife, Staci Hall, who owns the nearby Vetiver Salon, said she’d just met a guy in his early 20s who had started a business called Overflow Coffee and had invited him to do a pop-up in the courtyard by her salon.

“He’s so sweet, and his mom helps him,” she said. “All you need is one person to give you a hand up. That’s a community.”

After having a beer at Las Palmas, Orozco strolled through the Palm Springs night market where he’s been coming since he was a kid. He stopped at a booth selling wooden frogs that make an eerily accurate croaking noise when you stroke their backs with a wooden stick. He laughed about bags specially made for microwaving potatoes. He paused in front of a giant statue of Marilyn Monroe that he‘s never quite understood.

And still, he kept running into people he knew. The couple at the tapas bar? They went to high school with his sister. The guy who just opened up the Mucho Churro stand? He’s from the same town in Mexico as Orozco’s extended family.

“That’s the desert for you,” he said. “We all know each other like that. At least I do.”