In the year since golf legend Arnold Palmer’s death, Sept. 25, 2016, there’s been a subtle change in the atmosphere and a healthy uptick in business at the La Quinta restaurant that bears his name.

“There seemed to be a lot of people coming to pay respects,” says Dustin Nichols, general manager of Arnold Palmer’s Restaurant, an estate-like establishment in Old Town La Quinta known for its sprawling outdoor patio and Palmer mementos lining every wall. Palmer himself was a frequent guest during season, often lingering to speak with his fans. “There was definitely a lot of nostalgia. And the patrons seem even more interested than usual in all the memorabilia we have, telling the story of Mr. Palmer’s life and career.” Arnold Palmer’s Restaurant re-opens Sept. 21 after its summer hiatus.

The restaurant will wait to mark the first anniversary of its namesake’s passing with a potential charity event later this year, Nichols says. In the meantime, we’ve rounded up eight suggestions for Arnie’s Army to pay homage by visiting some of his landmarks in the desert.

1. Learn the King’s desert history.

“I just like it here,” Palmer once said about the Greater Palm Springs area in a 2014 Desert Sun article marking the restaurant’s 10th anniversary. “It’s the most wonderful place in the world. I came here in 1955 and I never left.” While there was no substitute for his native Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the desert was for many years the King’s true second home.
The story of how the young Pennsylvanian professional touring golfer discovered the desert in 1955, hauling a trailer with his wife Winnie riding shotgun, is one of the highlights of Palm Springs Golf: A History of Coachella Valley Legends & Fairways, a must-read for Palmer fans by veteran Desert Sun columnist Larry Bohannon. The story details how Palmer made this place his own and shaped its golf development for decades. 

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