Nelda Linsk could never have imagined that her neighbor’s photo would become the iconic image of midcentury high-class leisure.
Of course when your neighbor from New York is society photographer Slim Aarons, and you live in the famous Kaufmann House designed by Richard Neutra, which you then hired Arthur Elrod to renovate, and your husband is pals with Frank Sinatra, and you hang out at the Racquet Club with Charlie Farrell and his Hollywood friends; well, suddenly a simple snapshot becomes a timeless cultural tableau.
Socialite, cultural patron, philanthropist, real estate agent, and Palm Springs celebrity, Nelda Linsk will receive a Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars on Thursday, February 22 at a formal dedication ceremony. The star dedication ceremony is free and open to the public and takes place at Mercado Plaza. A Palm Springs resident now for over fifty years, she fell in love with Palm Springs over fifty years ago after just one stay at the famed Racquet Club.
“Robert Wagner,” Nelda recalls, “once said, ‘I met the world in the bar at The Racquet Club,’ meaning ‘I met the Zanucks and the Goldwyns and Cary Grant.’ I mean, I would see Greta Garbo window-shopping. What Palm Springs gave me was a glimpse of belonging.”
During her enviable and eventful time in Palm Springs, Nelda has graced the covers of magazines and rubbed elbows with the glitterati. Get a glimpse into Nelda Linsk’s charmed life in this amazing retrospective piece in Palm Springs Life.
A few years ago in honor of the 45th anniversary of Poolside Gossip, Modernism Week reunited Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur and Nelda Linsk for a special recreation of the iconic photograph, shot by Palm Springs photographer Fred Moser. The commemorative Poolside Reunion photo was featured in the New York Times.
If you’re obsessed by both photos, and would like to meet Palm Springs’ famous Lady in Yellow, stop by CAMP between 10am and 12pm on Saturdays and Sundays during Modernism Week to meet the inimitable Nelda Linsk. Palm Springs Life and Modernism Week are collaborating to create a Poolside Gossip photo experience. Step back in time then into the picture, to get your photo taken with the Lady in Yellow (although she does not promise to wear those famous palazzo pants!) Take home your own little piece of the midcentury.
