The Real Desert, with Steve Brown shoots new episode featuring Calmada Boutique Hotel in Pioneertown
The Real Desert, with Steve Brown, featured the new Calmada Boutique Hotel in Pioneertown, California, in a recent shoot. Steve was flown in to the resort by helicopter (see photo), and was welcomed by the owner, designer, Chris Beaugrand, and her husband, journalist, Benoit Clare. The show toured the 40 acre property, set amid the rugged volcanic buttes and mesas of the Pipes Canyon area near Pioneertown. "I grew up exploring this area," Brown noted. "It captured my imagination decades ago, and it continues to do so today."
The hotel features yoga and fitness classes, a private helipad, pool, Jacuzzi, stylish common areas, immaculate rooms with stories that go with them, and an impressive honeymoon suite, as well as fine dining catered by Executive Chef Alain Gilot, who has worked for the late President Ronald Reagan, as well as celebrities including Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. This segment of The Real Desert, with Steve Brown, includes a tour and interviews with Chris about the history behind the hotel, yoga, superb dining, live music, and an interview with visiting artist Hans Peter Trauschke, whose "Seven from Heaven" project is slated to take shape over the skyline of Los Angeles.
"It was a wonderful surprise to run into Hans at Calmada," Brown said. "He's an incredible artist, and we got to not only view a scaled down prototype of one of his seven angels that will dominate the LA skyline in 2015, but to learn about the Tongva creation myth that inspired this project. I can't wait to see it take shape over Los Angeles." But it may have been the area's French connection that really stirred Brown's imagination. Famous French boxer, Marcel Cerdan, had an affair with singer Edith Piaf. It was a short affair, from 1948 to 1949, but before the French Morrocan boxer went to New Jersey to fight world Middleweight champion Tony Zale, he came to Pioneertown with Piaf. There is a story of the Cerdan putting Piaf in the trunk of their car and yes, Pioneertown has a role in the famed film, "La Vie en Rose," that documents beautifully, Piaf's life. While the love affair between Piaf and Cerdan was cut short by a terrible plane crash in 1949, the loving adventurous spirit between the two continues in Pioneertown where Chris has named one of the rooms after Piaf. Could there be anything more romantic? "It's hard to believe that you can arrive in the midst of the desert and find a place like this," said Brown. "I can imagine Piaf and Cerdan laughing and laying on their backs looking up at the Milky Way crossing the desert night sky, living in the moment, and the moment lasting forever." This episode of The Real Desert, with Steve Brown, is slated to begin airing in fall, 2014. For more information on The Real Desert, with Steve Brown, please visit www.therealdesert.com.
