Fresh & Easy Architecture: I have always admired this building, and am surprised that nobody seems to know anything about it. One unconfirmed report indicates that it was originally built in 1959 as a Market Basket Super Market, and subsequently became a Von’s. It opened as Jensen’s Fine Foods in 1985 according to their website. Stylistically, the design seems to be later than 1959, but also earlier than 1985. If anybody has any documentation, please let me know. In the recent conversion from Jensen’s to Fresh & Easy, the brise soleil was restored and the building was painted a vivid yellow with green trim. Those colors, as approved by the town’s Architectural Advisory Committee, may be very “Fresh & Easy” but they’re not very Palm Springs. The original color was sandy Beige. Whatever the color, the restoration is a good thing for Palm Springs. It would be difficult not to admire the architecture with its upward curving eaves and its extravagant cantilevers
We noticed the form of the Fresh and Easy building for the first time BECAUSE of the new colors. Now that we're paying attention, we like the whole thing--color and shape. To us it has an almost playful smoothness, like a young boy's face. Michael Welch and Lou Armentrout
ReplyDeleteThe Market Basket was actually located in the Palm Springs Mall further down on Tahquitz.
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