Sonny Bono, Mayor and Festival Founder
Near Palm Springs, California
The man remembered along this stretch of Palm Canyon Drive wore more hats than almost anyone in American public life. Sonny Bono was first famous as half of the singing duo Sonny and Cher, the mustached partner behind the nineteen sixty-five hit I Got You Babe. Years later, running a restaurant in Palm Springs, he grew so frustrated with city permit red tape that he decided to run the city himself.
Bono was elected mayor of Palm Springs in nineteen eighty-eight and served until nineteen ninety-two. By then the town's glamour had faded, its tourist season had shrunk, and Bono wanted to make it hip again. His signature idea was a film festival.
He launched the Palm Springs International Film Festival in nineteen eighty-nine, personally recruiting sponsors and calling in Hollywood favors. The first year drew little industry attention, but by the second it had real momentum. Bono went on to win a seat in the United States Congress in nineteen ninety-four.
He died in a skiing accident in January of nineteen ninety-eight. The film festival he founded outlived him and grew into one of the largest in North America, drawing stars and award season buzz to the desert every January. It is still held, in part, in his memory.
