If It's Flat, Develop It

A construction boom shakes California's posh Palm Springs

"The charm of this place has always been that there's nothing to do here," muses Mel Haber, a Palm Springs innkeeper. "You could sit and read a book. There was no worry about being someplace else nearby, because nothing was happening there either." Nancy and Ronald Reagan did more than read books during their New Year's holiday stay last week at Sunnylands, the secluded retreat of Multimillionaire Walter Annenberg in Rancho Mirage outside Palm Springs. But if they had peered through the dense row of tamarisk trees that shield the 200-acre estate from the gaze of outsiders, they might have discovered...

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