December 4, 2024
Living Out Palm Springs has been voted Best Retirement Community/Independent Living in the Coachella Valley for 2024-2025 by readers of the Coachella Valley Independent!
June 14, 2024
Doug Hairgrove and Warren “Woody” Wood were together for 65 years. They met in college in 1959, worked side by side for more than three decades at a Southern California junior high school and got married in 2008 at their desert home in Palm Springs, California.
Palm Springs has a new LGBTQ+ active adult community, which had its grand opening last month.
FEB 21, 2024
At the grand opening, former California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer joined developed Loren Ostrow and Paul Alanis along with world-renowned chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, Palm Springs Mayor Jeffrey Bernstein, and City Council Members; live music from the Palm Springs Gay Men’s Chorus; and performances from synchronized swimmers The Water Lilies.
LGBTQ+ Haven: Living Out Palm Springs Redefines 55+ Community Living
FEB 4, 2024
Explore the vibrant world of Living Out Palm Springs, a groundbreaking LGBTQ+ and 55+ community designed for active adults. Unveiled to the public last week, the luxurious 122-unit complex, spanning nine acres in downtown Palm Springs, promises a unique blend of upscale living and community engagement.
A Report From The Grandest Restaurant Opening Ever
Jan 29, 2024
Renowned chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken’s launch of their latest — Alice B. in Palm Springs — featured fantastic food, live music, moving speeches and… wait for it, a sassy synchronized swimming performance.
Two Culinary Legends Open a Restaurant in Palm Springs’ First LGBTQ+ Retirement Community
Jan 29, 2024
For Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, their newest restaurant is more than just another California eatery.
Named for Alice B. Toklas, the writer and partner of Gertrude Stein, and situated inside Palm Springs’ first LGBTQ+ senior living community Living Out, Alice B. is an homage to the historic couple’s love.
KESQ: Luxury LGBTQ Retirement Community Hosts Grand Opening Event
Jan 23, 2024
A new LGBTQ retirement living facility is open in the desert. Living Out Palm Springs hosted its grand opening on Tuesday. This marks Southern California’s first and only luxury active adult community specifically designed for the LGBTQ community.
Living Out Palm Springs is luxury community for LGBTQ seniors
Jan 23, 2024
Living Out Palm Springs, a luxury resort-style retirement community designed to meet the unique needs of active LGBTQ+ seniors, had its grand opening Tuesday.
LGBTQ Resort “Living Out” Hosts Grand Opening
Jan 23, 2024
“Living Out” emphasizes inclusivity and a vibrant living experience.
Living Out - Souther California's Firs and Only Luxury 55+ LGBTQ Active Adult Community Opens | Eisenhower Health Offering Urgent Care Services
Jan 23, 2024
A Must-See Movie At This Year’s Palm Springs International Film Festival
Jan 1, 2024
Susan Feniger. FORKED is the wildly entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the celebrated chef’s first solo venture. Her spouse, Liz Lachman, documented the sometimes painful, often joyful process of creating STREET in Los Angeles. Here’s why you need to put this documentary on your essential viewing list.
Renowned California chefs Feniger and Milliken open buzzy Palm Springs restaurant: Alice B.
DEC 14, 2023
The renowned restaurateurs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken aren’t coming to the desert for retirement. On the contrary, they’ve chosen Palm Springs as the newest frontier of a restaurant empire that long ago cemented them as two to know in the crowded LA and Vegas restaurant scenes.
This Veteran Entrepreneur Is Building A Future For LGBTQ+ Seniors
DEC 5, 2023
We spoke with Ostrow, 72, on yet another sunny, late-autumn day in the mid-70s in Palm Springs, where he’s been hands-on following the opening of what he hopes will be his legacy business.
The New 55+ Living Community In Palm Springs That Serves LGBTQ+ Residents
DEC 1, 2023
Pen America says education gag orders are rising, new anti-LGBTQ+ bill in Florida State House, inside a new 55+ LGBTQ community in beautiful Palm Springs called Living Out.
Residents move into Palm Springs LGBTQ senior community
NOV 29, 2023
While a grand-opening event is being planned for mid-January, a smaller ceremony will be held December 6 to mark that residents have started to move onto the property and the opening that day of onsite restaurant Alice B. from lesbian award-winning chef Susan Feniger and her longtime business partner, Mary Sue Milliken.
Here’s Who Won LGBTQ Nation’s 2023 Heroes
Oct 2, 2023
After a month of voting, here are the winners of LGBTQ Nation’s Heroes 2023!
Bay Area Reporter
AUG 17, 2023
Iconic Concept. Unmatched Amenities.
An elegant, safe, inclusive community designed by and for active 55+ LGBTQ adults and our allies.
Meet LuAnn Boylan, a long-time activist creating community for LGBTQ+ seniors
DEC 15, 2022
With aging often comes relocating to senior housing and long-term care, and it also means that about a third of LGBTQ+ seniors worry they’ll be back in the closet before long. Discrimination — fear of or actual retribution — plays a big factor in LGBTQ+ seniors hiding their identities. Longtime LGBTQ+ activist LuAnn Boylan is taking a community-facing approach to lower this statistic.
Living Out Palm Springs, Luxury LGBTQ+ Senior Living Community Now Accepting Reservations for Leasing
MAR 17, 2022
The highly anticipated active senior living community Living Out Palm Springs is thrilled to announce that it is now accepting reservations starting March 1. The elegant apartment community for active LGBTQ+ 55+ Adults is designed to meet the unique needs of active seniors and provide a safe and welcoming home for its residents.
‘Way of the Future’: Senior Living Operators Envision Next Generation of Niche Communities
AUG 29, 2022
Senior living operators have long developed communities catering to specific groups with niche and affinity-based offerings. But as a new generation of senior living residents approaches the industry, they are adapting that model to meet the changing habits of prospective residents.
LGBTQ+ Seniors Can Find Luxury Digs in Palm Springs' Living Out
MAY 13, 2022
Some LGBTQ+ people, having lived out and proud for years, find themselves back in the closet when they enter senior housing — something veteran activist LuAnn Boylan calls “a travesty.”
Now, as director of marketing and leasing at Living Out Palm Springs, Boylan aims to offer an option that won’t require closeting. Living Out, under construction in that California desert city, will be an apartment community for active LGBTQ+ people aged 55 and older. Designed in a contemporary interpretation of mid-century modern architecture, it will have 122 units (several different floor plans are available) and amenities including pools, a restaurant and bar (under the direction of celebrity chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken), a fitness center, a putting green, a dog park, housekeeping and concierge services, and more.
Living Out Palm Springs, Luxury LGBTQ+ Senior Living Community Now Accepting Reservations for Leasing
MAR 17, 2022
The highly anticipated active senior living community Living Out Palm Springs is thrilled to announce that it is now accepting reservations starting March 1. The elegant apartment community for active LGBTQ+ 55+ Adults is designed to meet the unique needs of active seniors and provide a safe and welcoming home for its residents. Living Out Palm Springs will be the inaugural property for KOAR International LLC, with plans to develop similar LGBTQ+ focused developments across the United States. With a projected grand opening in the first quarter of 2023, this 55+ senior living community will be an upscale resort apartment community built on nine acres of land in central Palm Springs, California.
“We welcome the LGBTQ+ senior community and their allies to get an early look at this luxury active adult retirement community designed to be a safe haven for residents,” said Loren S. Ostrow. “Now that reservations are open for leasing, this allows for the Palm Springs community and beyond to get a sense of what is to come with the flagship property which is to set the tone for similar LGBTQ+ senior developments throughout the United States.”
Does Palm Springs Need A Luxury Gay Retirement Community? This Developer Thinks So
MAR 17, 2022
Many LGBT retirees don’t want to live the stereotypical retirement of golfing and spending time with their grandchildren. Beyond the fact that we may not be fully welcomed in the country club-style retirement communities. The needs of LGBT retirees when it comes to where we want to live and how we will get the most enjoyment from our golden years goes beyond the needs of the average (heterosexual) retiree. Loren Ostrow of KOAR International LLC thinks he has the solution with the new Living Out property currently under construction in the gay, gay, gay destination Palm Springs.
Over the years, LGBTQ+ Americans have been drawn to gayborhoods like The Castro, Boystown, and West Hollywood, as well as gay resort towns like P-Town, Fire Island, and Palm Springs. As a gay financial planner in Los Angeles, many of my clients own second homes in Palm Springs, and I know many more people who have chosen to retire full-time in Palm Springs. It is estimated that between 40-50% of Palm Springs residents identify as LGBTQ+. If you go out to dinner on a Friday or Saturday night, it will appear that the rest of the population are bachelorettes who are celebrating their upcoming nuptials with their friends.
Living Out LGBTQ+ retirement community is in the works for Palm Springs
APRIL 27, 2022
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — It’s often difficult for seniors to find a retirement community that truly feels like home, but the challenge is especially acute for older lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals. Almost half of senior LGBTQ+ couples said they have been mistreated looking for housing, according to the nonprofit Equal Rights Center. About a third fear the need to re-closet themselves during retirement.
“There are virtually no places where LGBTQ people can retire in complete comfort, safety and a sense of community,” said Loren Ostrow, CEO of KOAR International. The developer recently broke ground on a new apartment community for LGBTQ+ seniors in Palm Springs. Called Living Out, it is the first LGBTQ+ development from KOAR, and one of a growing number of independent living communities for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender retirees around the country.
“Living Out” in Palm Springs The all-LGBTQ+ senior community will cater to renters rather than buyers when it opens in 2023.
Nov 21, 2021
Living Out, an all-LGBTQ+ senior community in Palm Springs, will cater to renters rather than buyers when it opens in 2023. Prior to the pandemic shutdown in 2020, Los-Angeles based KOAR International offered a condominium price range of $600,000 to $900,000 for a spot in the 55+ resort-style community. But the pandemic changed that thinking.
“If you look at the various active adult, independent living communities in the Coachella Valley, they’re virtually all rentals. That’s the direction of senior housing,’ says Loren Ostrow, CEO of Living Out, who adds the rental fees are not established yet, noting, “we are anticipating that our pricing will be competitive with our other senior independent living communities in the desert like Segovia in Palm Desert.”
KOAR International LLC Announces Flagship LGBTQ+ Luxury Apartment Community - Living Out Palm Springs
Nov 01, 2021, 14:52 ET
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Los Angeles-based real estate development company KOAR International LLC, announced today that it will break ground on November 5th, 2021 on Living Out Palm Springs. Living Out Palm Springs will be an active adult retirement community designed to meet the unique needs of the LGBTQ+ community and provide a safe and welcoming home for its residents. Living Out Palm Springs will be the inaugural property for KOAR International LLC, with plans to develop similar LGBTQ+ focused developments across the United States.
Living Out Palm Springs will provide a safe, supportive, and enriched environment where members of the LGBTQ+ community can live openly and thrive. LGBTQ+ seniors are currently faced with minimal options for welcoming and inclusive senior living environments. Living Out communities will celebrate the LGBTQ+ aging experience in a way that has yet to be realized. The groundbreaking ceremony appropriately will take place during Palm Springs Pride, an event that celebrates the LGBTQ+ community.
A Closer Look at The People, Events and Issues Impacting the LGBTQ Community in Northern California and Beyond
Greg Miraglia | Outbeat News | Dec 22, 2019
This month we talked with Loren Ostrow and Luann Boylan from Living Out, a development company building a state-of-the-art LGBTQ senior living complex in downtown Palm Springs. LGBTQ senior living communities are few and far between. Living out has come up with an innovative model that offers community and connection for LGBTQ seniors.
We also shared moments from the plaque dedication ceremony held on this December 2nd at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. for Matthew Shepard. It was a tearful ceremony, but one filled with messages of hope.
KOAR Will Spend $70M on Condo Complex For LGBTQ Seniors in Palm Springs Living Out is being billed as the first development of its kind in SoCal, with more to come around the nation
TRD Los Angeles Staff | The Real Deal - Los Angeles Real Estate News | Dec 06, 2019 | 11AM
Developer KOAR International will spend $70 million on what is being billed as the first luxury condominium complex in Southern California to focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer senior citizens.
Construction on Living Out Palm Springs will break ground in January in an area that has been considered a popular retirement community for gay men, according to the Los Angeles Times. KOAR announced the 105-unit project in September, saying it would begin taking refundable reservations the following month.
KOAR said it intends to develop other Living Out communities around the country.
Southern California’s First Luxury LGBTQ Retirement Community Is Waiting In The Wings
R. Daniel Foster | Los Angeles Times | Dec 6, 2019 | 6AM
Developer KOAR International will spendaLong a popular retirement harbor for gay men, Palm Springs will soon welcome what’s perhaps the ultimate queer golden-age ticket: a luxury condominium community designed for active LGBTQ seniors.
Set to break ground in January, the $60-million $70-million amenity-rich Living Out complex is the vision of longtime developer partners Paul Alanis and Loren Ostrow of Los Angeles-based KOAR International. Located on a prime nine-acre East Tahquitz Canyon Way lot that’s an easy walk to downtown, the resort-style property’s 105 one- and two-bedroom units will be priced from $699,000.
Although a number of LGBTQ retirement villages exist nationwide — both for wealthy and low-income residents — the developers bill their project as the first of its kind in Southern California. They say it will be a standout in terms of lessening what many seniors face: loneliness.
“We’re not just building condominiums for people, we’re providing them with all sorts of opportunities to develop community, to have interaction,” said Ostrow, who expects a summer 2021 opening.
$70 million on what is being billed as the first luxury condominium complex in Southern California to focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer senior citizens.
Construction on Living Out Palm Springs will break ground in January in an area that has been considered a popular retirement community for gay men, according to the Los Angeles Times. KOAR announced the 105-unit project in September, saying it would begin taking refundable reservations the following month.
KOAR said it intends to develop other Living Out communities around the country.
An Interview With Xorje Olivares and Loren Ostrow
HeyXorje | Team HeyXorje | Oct 24, 2019
In the article, Xorje includes background information about Loren and the premise of Living Out Palm Springs and Loren explains how he got the idea for Living Out when he realized there were no opportunities or very few opportunities for our aging population to live in a safe, secure and supportive environment.
Living Out Palm Springs, LGBTQ Senior Housing In Resort-Style Community
Q VOICE NEWS | by Staff Reports | Oct 22, 2019
The article announces the new LGBTQ luxury active living community and shares with its audience why the project is important through quotes from Loren: “We hear stories all the time about people who are discriminated against from the senior communities they live in, whether it’s from other residents or from the staff…I don’t want people to have to live their older years in fear”. The author, Phillip Zonkel, included several details about the community, such as its starting price points, square footage of the units and Living Out’s substantial amenities package.
A new resort-style retirement community in Palm Springs will cater to LGBTQ seniors
Melissa Daniels | Palm Springs Desert Sun | 2:36 p.m. PT, Oct 15, 2019
A new Palm Springs senior living community that will cater to the LGBTQ community is aiming to create an inclusive, resort-style environment where residents won’t have to carry the burden of hiding their true selves.
Living Out is the vision of Los Angeles-based developers Loren S. Ostrow and Paul Alanis of KOAR International, who have a history of hotel and casino projects. They’re joined by LuAnn Boylan, who with Ostrow sits on the board of directors of the LA LGBT Center and will head up sales and marketing efforts.
Construction will begin in January with the aim of a summer 2021 opening. The project sits on about 9 acres along East Tahquitz Canyon Way between South Avenida Caballeros and South Hermosa Drive, and will include 105 condos with either one or two bedrooms.
L.A. developer building 105 Palm Springs condos for LGBTQ seniors
Jonathan Lasner | Oct 15, 2019
As developers try to meet the needs of the growing 55-plus homeowner market, a Palm Springs project is using a novel twist.
Living Out Palm Springs will be what developers are calling a “first of its kind” for Southern California: a 105-unit condo complex on 9 acres in at Tahquitz Canyon Way and Hermosa Drive in Palm Springs, targeting LGBTQ seniors. KOAR International, a Los Angeles-based builder, will offer units in either a one-bedroom/one-bathroom configuration or two-bedrooms/two-bathrooms. Prices start just under $700,000.
Living Out will feature the “iconic Mid-Century Modern style for which Palm Springs is famous” and include community features such as poll, spa, fitness center, pickleball courts and a coffee bar/lounge.
“Knowing that too many LGBTQ seniors live in unsafe or even openly hostile environments, we wanted to address this issue that is near and dear to us by creating a safe and beautiful community for those 55 and over,” said KOAR owner Loren Ostrow. “Living Out Palm Springs was designed by, invested in and created by members of our community who recognize the unique needs we face as we begin the next chapters of our lives.”
Ostrow hopes this is the first of many Living Out complexes to be built nationwide around major LGBTQ communities.
Palm Springs Development for LGBTQ Seniors Projected to go NATIONWIDE
Albert H. Fulcher | LGBTQ San Diego County News | Nov 8, 2019
There is a new housing project underway in Palm Springs, exclusively for providing LGBTQ seniors with a place to live openly and safe from hostility. Living Out Palm Springs is the first luxury, active-living development to be designed by, invested in and created for LGBTQ seniors to address the needs of LGBTQ people entering the next chapter of their lives. The project will break ground this fall in the heart of Palm Springs – already a vibrant LGBTQ and retirement destination.
Koar International owner Loren Ostrow and Living Out Director of Marketing LuAnn Boylan are heavily involved in the LGBTQ community. Among a handful of leadership roles, most notable, “Bothe have served the board of directors/trustees for the LA LGBT Center for more than 20 year.” Their collective passion plays a central role in understanding the needs that Living Out Palm Springs meets.
Ostrow explained that while most people want to live in a safe, welcoming environment, there are a lot of places unsafe and/or unwelcoming to LGBTQ people. So he began working on the idea for Living Out Palm Springs about 1 1/2 years ago. They expect to start construction this December or January 2020 and open in June 2021. Ostrow asked Boylan, who he knew through their long-time connection at the LA LGBT Center, to join him in the venture as marketing director.
When completed, Boylan said there will be 105 units available, all of which are configured into four different floor plans: two for one-bedroom units (1,200 square feet) and two for two-bedroom units (1,650 square feet). Prices start in the mid-$600,000s and range to just above $900,000, depending on the floor plan selected. Applications are now being accepted. It is a 55-plus community.
“We have already had a number of people contacting us saying to please let them know when we start [taking] reservations,” Boylan said.
The Husbands Podcast
Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo | Oct 13, 2019
The Husbands with Paul and Jeff Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo are best known for being plaintiffs in the landmark case that wound its way to the Supreme Court of the United States successfully overturning Prop. 8, restoring marriage equality to California. As regular contributors in the media they have become trusted voices beyond the marriage equality movement. Recently Paul and Jeff have proven that audiences love hearing about newly married same-sex couples and all things Equality, Entertainment and Engagement (both for marriage and for becoming an Accidental Activist).
Loren Ostrow and LuAnn Boylan were invited to join Paul and Jeff for a discussion about Living Out and other topics of interest on Sunday, October 13.
For the audio podcast only: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-husbands-with-paul-and-jeff/id1021108747
