Luxury hotel Maxim's opens in Palm Springs in 1986

In February 1986 CBS 8’s Susan Lichtman traveled to Palm Springs to attend the splashy opening of Maxim’s de Paris Hotel. It was a “desert spectacle to celebrate the revival of Palm Springs as a world class resort.” The 42-million-dollar luxury hotel (now Hyatt Palm Springs on Palm Canyon Road) was styled after Maxim’s in Paris. Fashion designer Pierre Cardin owned both. Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor told Susan it was going to help a great deal because it was a European type hotel. Long-time resident, Liberace said he thought Palm Springs was folksy and charming, but people wanted something more. Cardin said he was sensitive to the public’s need for opulence. His luxury brand empire was worth 63 billion dollars. Desert Fashion Plaza was adjacent to the hotel—one woman told Susan that it was going to have a tremendous impact in bringing back the very top scale visitor to Palm Springs.

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