Sun City Community Has Retired Seniors Beaming

PALM DESERT — One hundred fifty miles east of Los Angeles and a few hundred yards off Interstate 10 lies a formerly forlorn tract of desert where the Del Webb Corp. can’t build homes fast enough.

There’s one little caveat to living at Del Webb’s Sun City Palm Desert: You or your spouse must be at least 55 years “or better” and no other occupant under 19 may live in homes that start at $132,000 and reach $400,000.

It’s a small price to pay to live in one of the best retirement communities, according to New Choices magazine, which for five straight years has listed Sun City Palm Desert as one of the Top 20 places for seniors to live in the United States.

The amenities are appealing. Palm trees and desert life abound. There are golf courses galore and a view of Mt. San Jacinto. In addition, residents enjoy the Coachella Valley and star-studded Palm Springs-Rancho Mirage-Palm Desert-La Quinta corridor.

The drawbacks? The wind whipping over the San Gorgonio Pass can be pretty wicked, and incessant, around May; the summer heat--110 degrees and upward--can be relentless; and your neighbor across the way might be gone half the year.

But Sun City Palm Desert is a success any way you describe it: Nothing existed here 10 years ago. Now, sprawled across 1,500 acres are hundreds of newly built homes, so new tumbleweeds still grow where grass and rock gardens soon will be. When it’s finished, 10,000 people will live here.

More than 15 model homes are offered with elderly friendly construction that includes grip bars in bathtubs, lower toilets and rounded wall corners.

Other features for seniors include larger faucets and door handles for those who have trouble gripping them. A call to 911 turns on a flashing porch light so paramedics can quickly find the home.

The advertising material for Sun City makes a point of noting, too, the proximity to the famous Eisenhower Medical Center, which also houses the Betty Ford Clinic and Heart Institute of the Desert.