DESERT LANDMARK - After 50 years, one of the desert’s most beloved restaurants is up for sale — real estate included.
For nearly half a century, Billy Reed’s has been one of Palm Springs’ most recognizable and comforting institutions — a place where tourists, locals, retirees, weekenders, and generations of desert families have gathered for oversized plates of comfort food served in a Victorian-meets-time-capsule dining room. Now, after 50 years in business, the landmark restaurant is officially up for sale.
The asking price: $7.5 million, with the real estate, building, equipment, brand, and operations all included in the offering.
Situated at 1800 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Billy Reed’s occupies a roughly 13,100-square-foot building on nearly two acres, a sizable footprint in the uptown corridor where history and redevelopment constantly brush shoulders. According to the business listing, the sale includes the entire operation: the full kitchen and bakery, fixtures, bar, staffing (including 63 employees and four managers), decades of recipes, and one of the most loyal customer bases in the desert.
The listing describes the restaurant as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” and a “proven high-volume operation” — which is true by any local measure. For decades, Billy Reed’s has been known as one of the busiest sit-down restaurants in Palm Springs, serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bakery favorites with a consistency that kept lines out the door during snowbird season and holiday weekends.
What makes Billy Reed’s iconic isn’t just the food — though the towering cakes, pot pies, cinnamon rolls, and oversized omelets certainly help. It’s the ambiance. The lush carpets, dark wood booths, stained glass, Victorian-style décor, and old-school dining rooms give the restaurant the feeling of stepping back into a different era. It is one of the few spaces in Palm Springs that has never chased trends or minimalism — and its fans love it precisely for that reason.
“You walk into Billy Reed’s and it’s like time stops,” says Palm Springs resident Linda Hartley, who has been visiting the restaurant since the late 1970s.
“I’ve celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, and plenty of ordinary Tuesday nights in those booths. It’s part of our family history.”
Longtime seasonal visitor Michael Donnelly added:
“I don’t want them to change a single thing. The food, the décor, even the carpet — that’s the charm.”
And from a line cook who has worked there more than 20 years:
“People come for the memories as much as the meals. Whoever buys it needs to understand that.”
The listing also pitches “value-add opportunities,” including activating the banquet and entertainment spaces, expanding bar service, hosting weddings and events, and potentially modernizing certain aspects of the operation. But longtime patrons have already expressed a collective hope heard many times in the Coachella Valley: “Please don’t change it too much.”
In an age when many historic restaurants struggle with succession, property values, or turnover, the sale of Billy Reed’s marks a significant moment in Palm Springs’ evolving landscape. Whoever buys it will inherit not just a thriving business, but a community landmark woven deeply into the dining and cultural fabric of the city.
For now, Billy Reed’s remains open and fully operational — still serving the classics, still keeping the booths full, and still reminding Palm Springs why some institutions are worth preserving.
###
