Gary and Joan Gand moved to Palm Springs, California, 20 years ago, not only to get away from the cold Midwest winters, but also because of a love for the mid-century Modernist architecture that is a defining feature of this glamorous desert town, two hours from Los Angeles.
Gary grew up playing folk music with his family, and in 1971 he founded a company selling professional lighting and sound equipment.
“I started after a music store defaulted on the warranty on a Marshall amp,” he says.
“They deliberately took so long to repair it that by the time I picked it up, the warranty had expired.”
Just some of Gary Gand’s extensive guitar collection
Gary has been in bands since the early 1970s.
For fun, and often for charity, too, he is the frontman of the area’s premier covers group, The Gand Band, with wife Joan playing the Hammond organ.
He has also recently moved into film production with a documentary about his friend, Trini Lopez, the ’60s singer and guitar player who also sang in The Gand Band before his passing in 2020.
Since moving to Palm Springs, the Gands have been busy and have restored three mid-century houses.
