Having a great time, wish you were here.

Picked up this sweet little postcard a while back on ebay. It was advertised as just that, a postcard, but when I received it, there was so much more to it. It turned out to be a folding postcard, the kind you write a nice personal letter to a loved one inside then fold it up for privacy (I'm sure there's an official name for this type of postcard, a something-o-gram I think?).
Nice fancy script for the hotel name, and even Gene's personal emblem. Nice touch.

Gene Autry purchased this hotel in 1963, and renamed it the Gene Autry Hotel. Angels Inn or something like that would have been nice, but I remember as a kid there was an Angels Inn on Harbor Blvd, near Disneyland, and the place was a dump. Gene had a lot of marketing common sense, and knew that naming the hotel after himself would be his best bet.

At the time he purchased the hotel it was known as the Holiday Inn Palm Springs. In the course of working with the bank to secure the finances for the purchase, he met Jackie Autry whom he later courted and married.

The Angels used to hold Spring Training in Palm Springs, but I don't know if this is where his players stayed or not. I can imagine Fregosi, Chance, and the rest of the gang horse-playing around the pool.

I was getting a bit of conflicting facts when researching the hotel. It is still in existance as The Parker Palm Springs , whose website indicates that it was formerly known as the Gene Autry Melody Ranch, and also as the Merv Griffin Resort. Gene, proud of his new digs, strikes the pose, resplendid in his powder blue leisure suit. He's proud to be Gene Autry and proud to have his own hotel.

And he's stoked on his new shoes.