This week, Gay Desert Guide’s Man Crush Monday has been Graced! Delightfully fabulous with the best style in public relations, it’s Rob Grace. Gay Desert Guide’s Jeff Denean Jones and Rob Grace chatted this weekend. One thing is for sure when you’re in conversation with Rob, no topic is off limits and given the time, all topics will make it to the table.
ROB: I was born in Huntington Beach CA. Raised mostly by my single Mother. My first few years of life were spent in low income areas of Santa Ana CA. At the age of 5, my great Grandmother taught me to “move from or identify with my spirit” rather than my man made mind. She gave me the gift of faith which enabled me to survive the plethora of crimes against humanity that I endured in my youth. Additionally, she taught me that all things are scientifically made of energy & how I could “move or form” that energy into my hearts desires: A practice best know today as “manifestation” thus from age 7 & beyond I grew up in wealthy neighborhoods of coastal southern Orange County CA like Newport Beach, Laguna Beach & San Clemente CA.
GDG: Can you imagine growing up anywhere else outside of Calfornia? Being from Michgian, myself, I swear there is a certain recognizable characteristic that gives it away if you were born and raised in California. Do Californians see this about themselves?
ROB: In my youth I always dreamt of living in an area with four seasons. In retrospect I am grateful I never created an opportunity for myself to live where it snowed lol. So yes, I can imagine growing up outside of CA. I don’t actually believe that any one state is better or worse than another: just like people, they all have their pros & cons…
GDG: What makes a Californian a Californian?
ROB: I love this question! To me California is a melting pot. People migrate here, not just from other US states but from all over the world. Because of Hollywood, California has the persona of a place where dreams come true, where magic happens, where the sun never stops shining & everyone that lands here becomes beautiful, famous, rich & happy. LOL of course this perception is not real. Thus to me, what makes a Californian, is someone who is living in CA, no matter where they were born, who believes in miracles, knows that anything is possible, strives for a better life & lastly someone that is okay with being unique or different from others. For me, a true Californian is one who is free, open, loving & nonjudgmental of themselves or anyone else they encounter in life.
GDG: Palm Springs is home now. You lived in the fabulous Hugh Hefner Playboy pad in the Indian Canyons neighborhood, but recently made the move to the fashionable Uptown Design District of Palm Springs. Both incredible locations to wake up in everyday. You’ve gone out on your own with this move. How are you doing with that? And, are you introducing elements of a pedestrian lifestyle that you probably wouldn’t want to do in the Indian Canyons neighborhood? Will we see you walking to Koffi in the mornings?
ROB: I feel so fortunate to have been living full time in Palm Springs for the past 5 years. My biggest fear in life has always been to be/live alone. I think because growing up my Mother worked 24/7 in an effort to over-provide for us monetarily; which left me physically & emotionally alone. Thus I married young, had a child that I love & adore & thought Id never be alone again. When my wife left me & took our child thousands of miles away, I did not think I would survive the pain of such great loss. My new home on Palm Canyon Drive in Uptown Palm Springs is actually the first place Ive ever occupied on my own. Im adjusting to it. I do love having the solitude of space that enables me the ability to rest, relax & recharge. I believe that living alone is an important part of healing my past and will help me grow into a better, stronger man. Luckily, my daughter Bianca Grace will be here with me 3 moths every summer, so I won’t actually be alone year round. I do, absolutely love walking to all my favorite spots! You will definitely see me at Koffi as well as Cafe La Jefa, Ernest Coffee & bore Coffeehouse & Art Gallery xoxoxo
GDG: You have much going on – even the pandemic can’t slow that down. Real Estate in the greater Palm Springs is booming, and Better Homes & Gardens Leaskou Partners can surely attest to the boom. Prior to the pandemic, a second office opened in Joshua Tree. How has the high desert housing market compared to the Coachella Valley housing market during the pandemic?
ROB: Both upper & lower valley housing markets have exploded during the epidemic. As one of 4 owners in Leaskou Partners Inc. we actually grew exponentially: We opened a second location of Better Homes And Gardens Real Estate – Leaskou Partners in the high desert. A new residential real estate office called BHGRE Desert Lifestyle Properties on El Paseo in Palm Desert. A new vacation home rental company called Desert Vacation Homes & a joint venture commercial real estate company called The Firm Commercial. This in addition to multiple new in house locations for our escrow company, Joshua Tree Escrow, has been both exhausting & exhilarating. Overall a blessed gift in these difficult times. Our growth is attributed in part to the quarantine: forcing companies to allow employees to work from their homes. Many living in LA to be close to their offices, couldn’t afford to purchase in the city. Now many can work remotely & live wherever they like. People have been flooding to the desert, high & low, in seek of space (social distancing) & the opportunity of affording the American dream of homeownership.
GDG: From real estate to drag bingo. You also get AMP Sports Bar’s updates out to social media, like Thursday night’s Drag Bingo. Who’s tougher, a drag queen or a seller? Both are proven successes in the desert and at some point there must be a crossover. Please tell me drag queens are getting real estate tips with their performance tips.
ROB: Hahahahahahaha well drag queens are entertainers so their “shade” ain’t tough for me to deal with… The only real estate I see drag queens occupying is the air space taken up by their wigs & ego’s – LOL – JK – couldn’t resist the opportunity to dish it back to the queens of AMP Sports Lounge’s weekly SHADE show!
GDG: Lastly, for anyone who hasn’t yet had the pleasure of a deep dive conversation with Rob Grace, share three things about you that we will not see on social media or learn in a business meeting.
ROB: Such an interesting question…. My hope is that Im utterly transparent, completely open & vulnerable on social media & in person. However, Iv’e learned that we all see what we are willing, able to & desire seeing at any given moment. So I will share with you, what I try to convey on social media as well as in person a plethora of times: My most treasured truth is: I am ( we all are ) pure love, pure light, limitless forms of energy with capabilities beyond our man made minds. I strive to love, support & uplift every person I encounter personally or virtually. I consciously leave ego behind & move from spirit. I have found, after a life long struggle of search, that my happiness comes from what I can provide rather than what I can receive. I hold us all in unconditional love & light. I am here for you world, today, tomorrow & forever more…
Much thanks to the delightfully fabulous Rob Grace. Rob was awarded “Top Influencer In The Coachella Valley” by the Desert Sun, he is seated currently on the Board of Directors for Palm Springs Regional Association of Realtors and Qchella Media, Co-Owner and VP of BHGRE Leaskou Partners real estate firm, and Founder/CEO of Palm Springs Social and PalmSpringsSocial.com. Follow Rob and Palm Springs Social on Facebook at Palm Springs Social.
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