Living Out Palm Springs

Living Out Palm Springs is a new community created for active LGBTQ 55+ adults and their allies. It is under construction and will open Springs of 2023. It is designed to provide a beautiful, welcoming, safe, and inclusive living experience that celebrates the vibrancy of living authentically as an LGBTQ person. This 9 acre oasis will include more than 6 acres of dramatic landscaping, a large event lawn, outdoor dining areas, and walking trails.  The landscape architecture creates welcoming community areas rich in color and vibrancy.

Living Out Palm Springs will be Living Out’s flagship community created by Loren S. Ostrow and Paul Alanis, owners of Los Angeles-based real estate company, KOAR International.

“With the support of the Palm Springs community, it is incredible to witness the progress that has been made for what will be a life-changing residential development for LGBTQ+ seniors and allies,” said Chairman of Living Out, Paul Alanis. “The dedication and hard work of all involved to bring to life these vibrant, safe, and welcoming set of homes is another step to address the needs of the LGBTQ+ seniors. As our flagship location, this will be a model for the expansion of Living Out communities across the country.”

New Neighborhoods

Living Out Palm Springs has three large living wings that are being reimaged as neighborhoods and given new names honoring LGBTQ+ leaders.

Neighborhood Del Martin and Phyllis Lyons

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, lifelong feminists and gay rights activists whose work included cofounding the Daughters of Bilitis, forming the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, and serving in the White House Conference on Aging. After being together for 52 years, Del and Phyllis were the first same sex couple to be married in San Francisco in 2004 and, again, in 2006 when the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage.

Neighborhood Carl Bean

Carl Bean was an American singer and AIDS and LGBTQ+ activist, the founder of the Minority AIDS Project in Los Angeles in 1985, and the founding prelate of the Unity Fellowship Church Movement, a liberal protestant denomination that is particularly welcoming to LGBTQ+ African Americans. Archbishop Bean lived his life openly and dedicated his efforts to providing aid to underserved members of society and, in particular, providing a safe place for LGBTQ+ people of faith.

Neighborhood Connie Norman

Connie Norman, the self-proclaimed “AIDS Diva”, was a pioneering AIDS, gay, and transgender rights activist with ACT UP/LA in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s—long before being a transgender woman was remotely accepted by even the gay community. She worked on the passage of AB101 to prohibit employer discrimination based on sexual orientation and hosted the first daily commercial talk radio show about gay issues in Los Angeles.

Alice B. Restaurant

The “Alice B.” restaurant at Living Out Palm Springs is scheduled to open Spring 2023 and will be open to all. It will include both indoor and outdoor seating and offer catering services. The menu will showcase the latest and greatest ingredients from around the world with a seasonal Southern Californian approach.

The name, Alice B., was inspired by the legendary California-born author Alice B. Toklas, who wrote, amongst other things, a memoir disguised as a cookbook chronicling her life with partner Gertrude Stein. Alice and Gertrude shared a publicly acknowledged and enduring relationship for nearly four decades and, as members of the Parisian avant-garde of the early 20th century, hosted regular salons attended by relative “unknowns” who would go on to become some of the world’s most influential and celebrated artists and writers.

Led by Celebrity Chefs Susan Feniger & Mary Sue Milliken

Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger are award-winning chefs, cookbook authors, television personalities, and entrepreneurs. Mary Sue and Susan are highly successful individuals as well as an irresistibly dynamic team. From chef to television, their careers began in 1993, as two of sixteen chefs invited to cook with the legendary Julia Child in her PBS series “Cooking with Master Chefs.” They brought their innovative approaches to The Food Network with nearly 400 episodes of the “Too Hot Tamales” and “Tamales World Tour” cooking series, have co-authored five cookbooks together, and were also the original co-hosts of the popular food-centric radio show, KCRW’s “Good Food”. They have both competed on Bravo’s “Top Chef Masters” series, each winning money for their selected charities.

“We are incredibly excited to open our new restaurant, Alice B., and bring our cuisine to Palm Springs,” said Susan Feniger. “It’s been an absolute dream of mine to open a restaurant with fantastic food, full bar, and live music so we were thrilled to be the culinary team behind Living Out’s full-service restaurant and piano bar.”

Tailwaggers Pets

Tailwaggers has served the LA area since 2003 and it considered one of the top pet accessories stores. Gay owned, they have always celebrated the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community by consciously creating a welcoming, safe, and supportive environment for all who work in or visit their stores.

This retail store will offer healthy, natural pet care products that are consistent with a holistic approach to pet health. In addition, they will offer full grooming services, doggie daycare, and overnight boarding. Their personal pet concierge services are available for those times when you are away or just want a trusted assistant to walk or feed your pup.