Suzanne Somers’ Enchanting Desert Compound

Suzanne Somers had it all, including one of California’s most interesting properties. Modeled after L'Oustau de Baumanière in France, Suzanne and her TV-game-show-husband, Alan Hamel, lived in the Palm Springs home from the 1970s until they sold it in 2021.

Set into the side of a craggy mountainside above the valley in Mesa Canyon, Suzanne and Alan did much of the home’s design work with ideas from their world travels and their use of contrasts. Crystal chandeliers twinkling against natural rock and reclaimed wood . . . rough against smooth, soft against hard . . . all in perfect balance. To add even more intrigue, access was via a private funicular up a hillside of stone steps.

The property includes a total of five buildings with 7,280 square feet on over 28 acres to explore with about 10,000 square feet of pavilions. The main home has the primary suite plus six bedrooms, nine baths, a dining room that seats 24, a living room, a two-room kitchen, a huge pantry, and a wine cellar. There is also a stone guest house designed in the 1920s by Albert Frey, four more bedrooms, five fireplaces, an outdoor amphitheater carved into the mountain that seats 50 and has a dance floor, two pools, spa, and a natural waterfall that spills musically down the hillside. Romantic walkways, large terraces with mountain views, and comfortable patios are set among the buildings, some of which date back as far as 1923.

Suzanne was one of America’s favorite celebrities since 1973 as the “Blonde in the white Thunderbird” in American Graffiti. A combination of the girl next door, a sexy blond bombshell, and a successful businesswoman, Suzanne was a whirlwind since her first big role as the ditzy, Chrissy Snow, on Three’s Company, and then as the motherly entrepreneur, Carol Lambert, on Step by Step. In between, her life included Playboy pictorials, spokeswoman for Thighmaster, longtime breast cancer survivor, and her popular line of healthcare products. Suzanne and Alan were married from 1977 until her death in 2023.

Photos were by Kelly Peak.