“Where Old Hollywood Lived and New Community Lives On”
“Where Old Hollywood Lived and New Community Lives On”
Who to call, what the rules are, and how to be ready for a desert summer — the everyday information that makes MCE work.
Be Ready
Heat, wind and blowing dust are the everyday hazards here — and the single best thing any resident can do takes about two minutes.
Palm Springs sends emergency and community alerts through Everbridge — free to anyone who lives or works in the city. You can register up to five phones, two email addresses and two text numbers. It is how you will hear about evacuations, water emergencies, and major road closures.
Sign Up for Alerts →The city opens air-conditioned cool centers through the hot season — including the Palm Springs Public Library at 300 S Sunrise Way, an easy trip from MCE’s southeast corner. Pets are welcome (dogs leashed, cats in carriers). Locations and hours shift seasonally, so check before you go.
Cool Center Locations & Hours →Windblown dust advisories are a regular feature of spring and summer in the Coachella Valley, sometimes with gusts past 50 mph. When one is active: stay indoors where you can, skip the vigorous outdoor workout, run the A/C or an air purifier, and slow down on unpaved roads.
Check Current Air Quality →ONE‑PS publishes free, neighborhood-ready checklists — a Go Bag list, extreme-heat guidance, and what to do with food and water during a power outage — in English and Spanish. Worth printing once and forgetting about until you need it.
ONE-PS Preparedness Sheets →The Palm Springs Fire Department runs Community Emergency Response Team training, teaching residents the basics of disaster response so neighbors can help neighbors in the window before help arrives.
CERT Program & Class Schedule →Know the Rules
Palm Springs regulates short-term rentals more tightly than most cities, and the rules are genuinely enforceable — but only if residents know what they are and who to call.
Answered around the clock, every day. Use it for noise, parking, trash or occupancy problems at a rental — while it is happening. The city logs every call, and those logs are what drive enforcement and permit decisions.
Under the city ordinance, a rental’s local contact must respond by phone within 15 minutes and in person within 30 minutes. For non-urgent concerns, use the myPalmSprings app or the city’s online form — see City Services below.
Where We Stand
Palm Springs caps standard vacation-rental certificates at 20% of the residential units in each recognized neighborhood. Movie Colony East is close to that ceiling, with a waiting list of households hoping for a slot.
MCE was at roughly 19.5% of the 20% cap as of the city’s July 2, 2026 report — about 145 registered rentals across some 743 residential units, with 17 households on the wait list.
These numbers move. Always check the city’s current density table before relying on them — especially if you are buying.
Current Density by Neighborhood →Summarized from Palm Springs Municipal Code Chapter 5.25 for neighbor convenience. The ordinance is the authority and the City Council can amend it — read the city’s vacation rental ordinance & program information before acting on anything here.
Who To Call
The numbers worth keeping. A few of these surprise even long-time residents.
The fastest route for anything non-urgent is the city’s myPalmSprings app — it handles code compliance, abandoned vehicles, graffiti, leaf blowers, street and traffic-signal problems, and vacation rental complaints, and it gives you a tracking record.
Report It Online →Owning a Piece of It
Movie Colony East has an unusual concentration of architecturally significant houses. If you own one — or are thinking of changing one — this is what to know.
Both designations require the same findings of historic significance; Class 1 additionally requires a finding of integrity. Either way, altering or demolishing a designated property requires a Certificate of Appropriateness from the city first. Class 3 properties are survey-identified only and are not Mills Act eligible.
Designation requires notarized consent from the property owner — you cannot nominate a neighbor’s house. The process starts with a required pre-application conference with the city’s Historic Preservation Officer.
A ten-year, automatically renewing contract that reduces property tax in exchange for an agreed preservation program — typically saving owners a meaningful share of the annual bill, with inspections every five years. Properties with active code violations or unpermitted structures are not eligible.
Designation fees, Mills Act application fees and program timing are re-adopted by the city and change — confirm current requirements with the Palm Springs Historic Preservation Officer before planning any project. City historic resources → · See our landmark homes →
If there’s a number, a rule or a resource you had to hunt for, tell us and we’ll add it here for the next neighbor.
Suggest an Addition →