Palm Springs downtown adds first dedicated axe throwing venue

Palm Canyon Axe Club opened its doors at 320 N. Palm Canyon Dr. with a grand opening and ribbon cutting on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, giving downtown Palm Springs its first dedicated axe throwing venue. The club arrived as another tenant in a corridor that has been changing fast, with experience-based businesses helping turn the north end of Palm Canyon Drive into a nighttime draw rather than a strip people pass through on the way somewhere else.

The setup is built for repeat visits, not one-time curiosity. Tourism listings describe the venue as having eight fully fenced throwing lanes, trained coaches and hourly lane bookings. The operation also includes a rage room and a retro arcade, giving visitors more than one reason to stay inside the building and spend longer in the district. The venue is open to adults and children ages 10 and up, which broadens its reach beyond a late-night bar crowd and into birthdays, family outings and mixed-age groups.

Brett Michaelson owns Palm Canyon Axe Club and also founded State Street Axe Club in downtown Santa Barbara, giving the Palm Springs project a direct link to another downtown entertainment model. That matters in a district where operators are betting that activity-based tenants can generate more foot traffic than a standard retail lease ever could. Axe throwing, paired with a rage room and arcade, fits the same pattern as other recent arrivals that make people linger, not just browse.

The club’s opening also landed amid a larger wave of business additions in downtown Palm Springs. A June 27 business roundup grouped the axe-throwing parlor with a comedy club, a custom lipstick shop, FP Movement and other new storefronts and entertainment concepts. The mix points to a downtown strategy built around variety, with retail, food, comedy and hands-on attractions feeding the same evening crowd.

Thompson Palm Springs, which opened on Oct. 3, 2024, helped set the pace on the north end of Palm Canyon Drive. The hotel spans two-and-a-half city blocks along the corridor, and the stretch below it has filled quickly with new tenants in recent months. Palm Canyon Axe Club is now part of that lineup, giving downtown another reason for visitors to stay after dark and another test of whether axe throwing can hold its place once the novelty wears off.