‘Sex Life of the Date’ updated

A trip to Palm Springs is never complete without a short detour down California 111 to Shields Date Garden in Indio. Opened in 1924, it may be best known for Floyd Shields’ “Romance & Sex Life of the Date,” an automated slide show-video that has played continuously on a loop in the in-house theater for more than 50 years.

Stop by the store, grab a date shake and settle into one of the 1950s wooden theater seats. The film recently has been restored and updated -- the 15-minute program now combines the original slide show (with Shields’ narration) with new footage, archival slides and photographs, newspaper clippings, 16- and 18-mm film, and audio tapes.

And in case you’re wondering, the film is also now available on DVD.

Shields Date Garden, 80-225 U.S. Highway 111, Indio, (760) 347- 7768; www.shields dates.com.

-- Noelle Carter