Special to The Desert Sun

It struck him like a bolt of lightning. What a wonderful idea! He understood the allure of the mountains, having spent so much time aloft when his mother, Nellie Coffman, was recovering from pneumonia. That trip to the heights of Mt. San Jacinto, and the glimpse of the alluring valley below, had caused his family to move to Palm Springs and open The Desert Inn. So, when Francis Crocker explained his idea, Earl Coffman was convinced.

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