palm springs

Run-down Palm Springs Motel Transformed Into Pink Paradise

RuPaul Drag Race alum Trixie Mattel purchased the hotel formerly known as the Coral Sands for $2 million

Photo credit: discovery+ (center photo); other photos by Whitney Ashton Irick / NBCLA

Greetings from Palm Springs. 

RuPaul Drag Race alum Trixie Mattel recently renovated a run-down Palm Springs motel and transformed it into a pink paradise for her new show "Trixie Motel" on discovery+. And it wasn't just for TV – you can book your stay now. 

Mattel and her partner David Silver took online shopping to a whole new level after spotting the place – formerly known as the Coral Sands – online. 

"You know when you buy something off the internet and by the time it arrives it's not really what you expected? This is that moment," Mattel says in the first episode. 

The Coral Sands was built in the 1950s, located right off Palm Canyon Drive. After seeing the motel in person for the first time, Mattel described it "like the saddest episode of [MTV] Cribs."

On "Trixie Motel," Mattel, Silver and a slew of celebrity guests including Lisa Vanderpump, the Old Gays and Nicole Byer, work to put the ramshackle mid-century motel "into drag" in just four months. 

Mattel and Silver invested an additional $500,000 in renovations to create seven custom themed rooms, including three suites, three queens rooms and a honeymoon suite. 

Dani Dazey, a fashion and interior designer, designed the seven rooms and seven themes, and assisted Mattel with finding the "perfect pink" for the exterior of the Trixie Motel. From the Pink Flamingo room to the Yeehaw cowgirl room, Dazey described it as "my absolute dream project," on Instagram. 

And the outside is just as impressive. "Trixie's Cactus Garden" boasts desert landscaping including cacti and pink-painted rocks. Surrounded by lush palm trees, pinks gates with gold trim and a pink checkered floor welcome guests. Once inside, motel-goers can relax at the retro kidney-shaped pool or grab a drink at the bar. 

You can now book your stay online. Rates range from $550-$750 per night (excluding taxes and fees).

New episodes of "Trixie Motel" are streaming Fridays on discovery+.

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