The luxuriously housed Desert Museum , 101 Museum Drive (Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; end of July through end of Sept, Fri-Sun only, 10am-5pm; $7.50; ), is strong on Native American and Southwestern art, though its only permanent display is the late actor William Holden's collection of Asian and African works. Some interesting natural science exhibits focus on the animal and plant life of the desert, demonstrating that it's not all sandstorms and rattlesnakes. There is a modern art gallery and some lovely sculpture courts on the museum grounds, and the museum hosts performances in the 450-seat Annenberg Theater (tickets available at 760/325-4490, ). The major cultural center in the desert is the McCallum Theater , 73000 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, presenting films, live music, opera, ballet and plays (tel 760/340-2787, ).
Not to be missed is the striking Tramway Gas Station , 2901 N Palm Canyon Drive, a classic gem of pop architecture with an upswept roof and boomerang-modern design, since converted into the Montana St Martin art gallery , which hosts a wide range of sculptural and design exhibits (daily 11am-5pm, weekends open at 9am; tel 760/340-2787). There's also an anarchic piece of landscape gardening at Moorten Botanical Gardens , 1701 S Palm Canyon Drive (Mon-Sat 9am-4.30pm, Sun 10am-4pm; $2.50), a strange cornucopia of every desert plant and cactus, in settings designed to simulate their natural environments, but lumped together in no particular order.
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