Nellie's Boardinghouse: A Dual Biography of Nellie Coffman and Palm Springs

by nina shumway

This is documented biography of an extraordinary woman and her extraordinary hotel in a town, geographically and climatically unique. The woman was the late and great Nellie Norton Coffman - a tenacious but tender non-conformist. The hotel was the prestigious, nationally famous and frequented Desert Inn. The town was and is Palm Springs, California. An indomitable pioneer and latent feminist, but feminine, Nellie arrived in Palm Springs in 1909 population, 10 whites and 50 Indians. No electricity, no telephones, no air-conditioning, no smog, no roads, but nine months of the year perfect, salubrious climate. . .

247 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

The prose of this biography is of that exalting nature that made reading biographies in 5th & 6th grade interesting but seems exceedingly condescending & amateur-mawkish now. Made it into about two chapters but am not sure how much I can stand before the bad writing overwhelms me and I surrender.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

So disappointing! I was looking forward to reading this book but found it very difficult to muddle through. The immature writing style and gross number of punctuation and spelling errors calls into question the entire factual nature of the book.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

for desert lovers.... the story of Nellie Coffman, who in 1909 arrived in the little town of Palm Springs and opened the famous Desert Inn