Inside Andreas Canyon’s secret community of 17 rock cabins where membership can’t be bought with money

20 December 2025

A dirt road leads up to the property from the desert floor, and access is restricted to members only.” Palm Springs historian Jim Cook said. The Desert Photo – stock.adobe.com

Tucked away above Andreas Canyon near Palm Springs, California, lies one of the state’s most secretive and storied communities, a cluster of 17 cabins built right into the canyon walls and so private that no amount of money will secure you a place among its residents. Known as the Andreas Canyon Club, this ultra-exclusive enclave dates back to the 1920s, when an attorney purchased more than 500 acres of rugged desert land from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and established a settlement designed to preserve the wild landscape and wildlife. Designed by organic architect R. Lee Miller, each cabin blends seamlessly with its natural surroundings because its walls and structure are made from the rock and stone native to the canyon itself, giving the collection of homes an almost invisible presence in the desert terrain.

From the outset, the community was never envisioned as a typical luxury real estate development where wealth alone could buy access. Instead, membership in the club has always been based on a shared appreciation of nature and a commitment to conservation and discretion. In keeping with that vision, there is no traditional real estate market for these cabins; they cannot be bought or sold on open markets, placed on rent or even transferred freely like standard property. Instead, cabins are inherited through family lines and require the approval of existing members when they pass from one generation to the next.

This unique process ensures that newcomers cannot simply buy a place, no matter how much they might be willing to pay, and helps maintain the communal and close-knit nature of the club’s membership. Even famed figures have tried and failed to gain entry through conventional means, with reports indicating that Disney founder Walt Disney himself was not granted membership despite his influence and resources.

The cabins themselves are a reflection of an earlier era of architecture and design that prioritized harmony with the environment over ostentation. Miller’s approach to architecture emphasised structures that appear to grow out of the land they inhabit, and the rock cabins of Andreas Canyon achieve this in a way that few other dwellings can match.

Rustic yet artfully composed, the cabins lack modern trappings like electricity and running water. Residents instead rely on more traditional means for lighting and water, often embracing the simplicity and mindfulness that comes with disconnecting from the conveniences of urban life. This kind of rustic existence would not appeal to everyone, and yet it is precisely this simplicity that has helped sustain the enclave’s allure and mystique over the decades.

During the cooler months of the desert year, when temperatures in Palm Springs dip into pleasant territory, members make the journey up into the canyon to spend time in their cabins, enjoying solitude, family gatherings and the quiet of the natural world. By maintaining a low profile and avoiding public attention, the community preserves the very qualities that make it so desirable to those fortunate enough to be part of it: privacy, peace, isolation and a life intimately connected to the land. Nearby residents often remain unaware of the enclave’s existence because the cabins blend so effectively with the terrain and because access is tightly controlled by the club’s leadership.

The founding history and preservation of the Andreas Canyon Club offer a striking contrast to the typical narratives associated with California real estate, particularly in the Palm Springs area where luxury estates and celebrity homes often make headlines. While many would assume that anything in this region with exclusive cachet can be purchased for the right price, the rock cabins stubbornly defy that assumption. The community represents a different kind of exclusivity, one rooted not in wealth or celebrity but in legacy, stewardship and shared values among a select group whose membership is defined as much by who you are as by where you come from.

The requirement of member approval for inherited cabins ensures that families passing on these properties do so with intention. It also preserves a social continuity that reinforces a culture of respect for both tradition and the environment. Over time the cabins have become symbols of a way of life that embraces quiet and introspection more than spectacle, and they serve as reminders of a California that predates modern urban expansion and the luxury market that has come to define much of the state’s property landscape. This is a place where the desert’s rugged beauty and the seductive quiet of canyon life foster a deep connection among those who live there, even as they remain hidden from the view of the outside world.

Despite its seclusion, the Andreas Canyon Club occasionally attracts curiosity from real estate enthusiasts, historians and onlookers fascinated by its exclusivity and heritage. The story of the cabins, their origins and the people who call them home carries with it a kind of mythic quality, embodying an ideal that seems almost impossibly removed from the commercial pressures of contemporary property markets. Unlike typical gated communities or luxury developments, this enclave remains protected by tradition and member consent rather than by towering walls or flashy amenities, reinforcing the notion that some forms of exclusivity cannot be bought with money.

For those who value open desert skies, the sound of wind carving through rock and the enduring quiet that comes when modern life falls away, the cabins of Andreas Canyon offer something far more precious than square footage or marble countertops. They offer a way of life, a community and a legacy that has stood largely unchanged for more than a century. In a world where almost everything has a price tag, this secretive slice of California stands as a rare exception where tradition and restraint define value in ways that money alone cannot buy.