Dandy in the Desert: Palm Springs Hot Spot Bar Cecil Is Inspired by Cecil Beaton
Designed by Old Navy alum Richard Crisman and hospitality vet Jeff Brock, the eatery is designed with Palm Springs’ burgeoning creative class in mind. BY BOOTH MOORE
While California has set a date of June 15 to fully reopen its economy, things have already started heating up in the desert, where creatives including designer Jeremy Scott, Hollywood stylist Dave Thomas and RTH store owner Rene Holguin, have been in residence during the pandemic.
This month, Modernism Week returned with some in-person house tours, outdoor art festival Desert X is ongoing with its Gucci x North Face activation and plans are apace for a Palm Springs Soho House.
One of the hottest new restaurant projects, Bar Cecil, also opens this month from Old Navy alum Richard Crisman and his partner, hospitality vet Jeff Brock, who are behind the popular Palm Springs hotels The Sparrows Lodge and Holiday House.
“We never thought we would live in Palm Springs...,” said Crisman, former executive vice president of marketing for Old Navy. “Or open up a restaurant during a pandemic,” added Brock.
Located on South Palm Canyon
Road, Bar Cecil is a bistro with a fashion lover’s attention to detail, from the jewel box cocktail bar, stocked with vintage glassware, to the Tysen Knight sketches of Diana Vreeland and Grace Coddington that share wall space with cheerful Andy Warhol, Sam Francis, Alexander Calder and Damien Hirst works from the owners’ modern art collection.
Inspired by their lifelong love of Cecil Beaton, the British fashion photographer, painter, interior decorator and bon vivant, Bar Cecil is designed with Palm Springs’ burgeoning creative class in mind.
“He was a modern-day dandy — everything he did was visually exciting,” Crisman said of Beaton. “This was about creating something that feels fun and not snobby.”
Louis Vuitton’s 2016 cruise show and hometown design cheerleader Trina Turk aside, Palm Springs has not traditionally been known for fashion. But that may be changing with the arrival of new stores such as RTH from Ralph Lauren vet Holguin, and the growing enthusiasm for the desert maker community that