A Cubed, Colorful Retreat in the California Desert

A mile from the entrance to California’s Joshua Tree National Park, a neo-primitive structure composed of three cubes stands out from the barren desert landscape like a Modernist mirage. Constructed in the early ’90s as a private family retreat, Monument House was designed by the Southern California-based architect Josh Schweitzer, best known for renovating historic homes like the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Samuel-Novarro House in Los Angeles. Now, through the hospitality brand Homestead Modern, the five-acre estate is open for private bookings for the first time.

Inspired by a nearby group of monumental monzogranite boulders, and evocative of the work of Schweitzer’s former employer Frank Gehry, the home’s asymmetrical spaces are lit by trapezoidal windows and skylights placed to capture the shifting sun over the course of the day. The terra-cotta-toned cube contains an outdoor dining area and courtyard. The lichen green cube houses a living room with vaulted ceilings, a tangerine-hued chimney and vintage furnishings. And inside the sky blue cube is a kitchen, a bathroom, an eating area and a bedroom for two, with views of the surrounding rock formations and the Little San Bernardino Mountains in the distance. From $299 per night, two-night minimum; homesteadmodern.com/monument-house. — Michaela Trimble

For years, the coffee calendar was fixed: iced in the warmer months, hot once the mercury dropped. But these days, whether as a result of climate change or, more likely, the enduring cold brew craze, baristas are running their cocktail-grade ice machines straight through the winter. Regardless of the weather, says Ian Walla, the general manager of the Lower Manhattan location of the Nordic microroaster La Cabra, “for the most part, coffee drinkers are all in on iced or all in on hot — it’s a lot more common for somebody to stick with a temperature.”

Kyle Glanville, a co-founder of Go Get Em Tiger, which has outposts across Los Angeles, attributes the rapid rise of cool drinks to the communal nature of coffee. “It’s such a social beverage that folks are influenced by what others around them are doing,” he says. And if you visit Abraço, an East Village cafe that feels like a good neighborhood bar, those around you will most likely be drinking cold brew. “It’s not seasonal anymore,” says the co-owner Liz Quijada. “The people who get cold brew all…