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70-657: The high school was opened in September 1910 after 10 acres (40,000 m) of desert brush land was donated. Coachella Valley High School is the oldest public school in the Coachella Valley . It was incorporated into the Coachella Valley Unified School District in 1973 to include a high school instead of only elementary schools in nearby Coachella. A second high school, Desert Mirage High School opened in 2003 to ease overcrowding which peaked at 2,500 in

140-682: A "hate-free zone" as a sign of local pride to celebrate the city's tolerance (Palm Springs, especially in The Advocate magazine that caters to gay and lesbian readership, has voted it as one of the top five most popular world places for the gay/lesbian community) and multicultural diversity of the city's relaxed attitude regarding many races living close together. According to the Palm Springs Pride LGBT association poll and census data in 2010, an estimated 40–45 percent of Palm Springs' residents are thought to be LGBT and nearby Cathedral City

210-594: A festival to celebrate the end of the annual date harvest in Southern California's desert region, the major commercial date-producing area in the Western Hemisphere. Dates were an unknown commodity in the desert until 1903 when date palms were transplanted there from Algeria. By the early 1920s dates became a major crop for the area. Date groves in the Coachella Valley also became tourist attractions. With

280-447: A magnitude of 6.0, injuring 29 people and destroying 51 homes. In the summer months daytime temperatures range from 104 °F (40 °C) to 112 °F (44 °C) and nighttime lows from 75 °F (24 °C) to 86 °F (30 °C). During winter, the daytime temperatures range from 68 °F (20 °C) to 88 °F (31 °C) and corresponding nights range from 46 °F (8 °C) to 65 °F (18 °C) making it

350-578: A multi-genre music concert venue in the Empire Polo Ground, recognized as one of the nation's premiere music festivals for its high-profile acts and scenic beauty. Visitors see desert nature at the nearby Joshua Tree National Park and the Sand to Snow National Monument to the north, the Santa Rosa Mountains to the south and Mt. San Jacinto Aerial Tram to the west. The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

420-457: A number of shoots that he brought back from Algeria in September 1903. On his own initiative, Johnson imported more shoots from Algeria in 1908 and again in 1912. The area's entire date industry can be traced back to those original USDA experiments near present-day Mecca . Date palms were grown from present-day Cathedral City to the Salton Sea, but most date groves were overtaken by development by

490-412: A popular winter resort destination. The surrounding mountains create Thermal Belts in the immediate foothills of the Coachella Valley, leading to higher night-time temperatures in the winter months, and lower daytime temps during the summer months. Due to its warm year-round climate the region's agricultural sector produces fruits such as mangoes, figs and dates. The valley is the northwestern extension of

560-452: A retirement haven throughout the area's history, a large percentage of residents are age 65 or older. The valley has some of the densest concentrations of senior citizens in California with three of California’s cities with the highest percentages of residents age 65 and older: Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage, and Palm Desert. Though the area is somewhat politically conservative, it is also home to

630-438: A sizeable LGBT population; current estimates are that up to 33% of Palm Springs' residents identify as gay and lesbian, and Cathedral City is also home to a number of gay resorts, bars, restaurants and clubs. Many establishments along a stretch of Arenas Road in downtown Palm Springs are gay-oriented and serve as the center of the annual White Party . According to an interview with former Palm Springs mayor Ron Oden , perhaps at

700-420: A stretch of I-10 through Indio named in her honor. The Coachella Valley became popular among celebrities from Frank Sinatra to Dakota Fanning who came to enjoy vacations and winter homes in the desert resort community. It became a real estate destination in the 1980s and 1990s and has also become a tourist destination. The Coachella Valley is the northernmost extent of the vast Salton Trough , also called

770-767: A variety of flora and fauna, including the endangered California Fan Palm, Washingtonia filifera , Bighorn sheep inhabit the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountain ranges as well as the fringe-toed lizard , an indigenous desert reptile whose numbers are increasing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act . Desert wildlife in the Coachella Valley includes localized subspecies of ants, bats, beetles, blackbirds, bobcats, coyotes, fleas, foxes, gnats, gophers, hawks, horseflies, jackrabbits, kangaroo rats , mosquitoes, mountain lions, pigeons, quails, rattlesnakes, ravens, roaches, roadrunners , scorpions, spiders, termites, ticks, wasps, whip scorpions or "vinegaroons", and wildcats. See also: As

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840-591: Is about one-quarter, each having above averages of LGBT people for a U.S. city. Many faiths and denominations are represented in the area. Protestants and Catholics are the most numerous. According to the Jewish Federation of the Desert based in Palm Springs , the Coachella Valley has one of California's largest Jewish communities, estimated at 35,000, a result of being a major retirement destination and connections to

910-549: Is also dotted with casinos owned by the local Indian tribes. As of 2024, there are six standalone casinos in the Coachella Valley. The valley is home to resort hotels built around spas with natural mineral water wells, specifically in Desert Hot Springs . The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway takes visitors from the valley floor to the San Jacinto Peak mountain station 8,516 feet (2,596 m) above sea level. Palm Springs

980-889: Is also known for a number of annual events, including the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival , the Stagecoach Country Music Festival , and the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival , all held in Indio . Other events include the Palm Springs Modernism Week , Palm Springs International Film Festival , the ANA Inspiration and Desert Classic golf tournaments, and the Indian Wells Open tennis tournament. The Coachella Valley

1050-547: Is approximately 15 mi (24 km) wide along most of its length. It is bounded on the northeast by the San Bernardino and Little San Bernardino Mountains , and on the southwest by the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains . The Coachella Valley is notable as the location of several wintertime resort cities that have become popular destinations for full time retirees and seasonal residents known as snowbirds . The valley

1120-675: Is due to irrigation: water was drawn from an underground aquifer created when the valley was under a fresh water lake in the last ice age (over 10,000 years ago); and from the Coachella Canal , a concrete-lined aqueduct built between 1938 and 1948 as a branch of the All-American Canal , which brings water from the Colorado River to the Valley. The Colorado River Aqueduct , which provides drinking water to Los Angeles and San Diego , crosses

1190-508: Is home to one of the country's largest collections of mid-century architecture. Thousands of homes, apartments, hotels, businesses and other buildings were designed in this fashion across the city. International mid-century enthusiasts come to Palm Springs to admire the design. Changing exhibits of sculptures can be found along El Paseo Drive in Palm Desert. Palm Springs has the annual Palm Springs International Film Festival every January and

1260-512: Is home to the cities of Cathedral City , Coachella , Desert Hot Springs , Indian Wells , Indio , La Quinta , Palm Desert , Palm Springs , and Rancho Mirage . Summers in the valley are extremely hot and valley winters are mild. As such, the valley's population tends to fluctuate; from nearly 500,000 in April, to around 300,000 in July and August, to around 600,000 by January. It was stated in 2013 by

1330-535: Is included within the Desert Empire to differentiate it from the broader Inland Empire of Southern California. The area had been surveyed by Edward Fitzgerald Beale in 1857, whose survey party used camels to cross the desert, primarily along the path of the historic Bradshaw Trail . It was not until the coming of the Southern Pacific Railroad and the discovery of abundant artesian wells later in

1400-588: Is known as the San Gorgonio Pass and is the second windiest place in the country. Cool coastal air is forced through the pass and mixes with the hot desert air, making the San Gorgonio Pass one of only three ideal places in California for steady, wind-generated electricity. At the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm , thousands of huge wind turbines spread across the desert and hills on either side of

1470-539: Is located in Palm Desert and has a collection of animals mostly from North America and Africa and hosts the annual Wild Lights Christmas light display. The Coachella Valley History Museum in Indio is devoted to the preservation and interpretation of the Coachella Valley's historical artifacts. Other activities include: Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival The Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival takes place in Indio, California . Since 1947

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1540-551: Is responsible for 95 percent of the nation's crop of dates. The Date Festival has more than 7000 exhibits and competitions related to the fruit. It has grown to feature musicians and comedians, a Date Festival Queen and her court, monster trucks and bull-riding. Safety for the fair is provided by the Indio Police Department, the Riverside County Sheriff's Office , and private security. The Fair started as

1610-613: Is surrounded on the southwest by the Santa Rosa Mountains , by the San Jacinto Mountains to the west, the Little San Bernardino Mountains to the east and San Gorgonio Mountain to the north. These mountains peak at around 11,000 feet (3,400 m) and tend to average between 5,000 and 7,000 feet (1,500 and 2,100 m). Elevations on the valley floor range from 1,600 feet (490 m) above sea level at

1680-531: The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee described the mascot as an offensive stereotype, and began an online petition to get the school to change it. In April 2014, the committee was working to keep the Arab mascot, and to develop an image that represented the fierce warrior history of the mascot in a way that would not be considered an offensive stereotypical caricature. In addition,

1750-638: The Colorado Desert of Southern California in Riverside County . The valley has been referred to as Greater Palm Springs and occasionally the Palm Springs Area due to the historic prominence of the city of Palm Springs . The valley extends approximately 45 mi (72 km) southeast from the San Gorgonio Pass to the northern shore of the Salton Sea and the neighboring Imperial Valley , and

1820-508: The Sonoran Desert to the southeast, and as such, is extremely arid. Most precipitation falls during the winter months from passing mid-latitude frontal systems from the north and west, nearly all of it as rain, but with snow atop the surrounding mountains. Rain also falls during the summer months as surges of moisture from both the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California are drawn into the area by

1890-482: The desert monsoon . Occasionally, the remnants of a Pacific tropical cyclone can also affect the valley. In 1976, Tropical Storm Kathleen brought torrential rain and catastrophic flooding to the Coachella Valley as it swept in from the Pacific, traversing the region from south to north. A haboob powerful enough to have a significant impact on the Coachella Valley can happen every two years. This desert environment hosts

1960-557: The 1890s, there was a large Irish and Scottish presence in the region, after Palm Springs was an established agricultural colony called "Palm Valley" cofounded by Welwood Murray, a Scottish immigrant and John Guthrie McCallum, an American from the U.S. East Coast. The two men widely advertised the colony to settlers with an interest in a warm climate and the ideal winter residence. Hispanic Americans are long established in Palm Springs' central and eastern sections, and have constituted

2030-598: The 1990s. Today nearly all of the date groves are in the "East Valley" area south of Indio, near Coachella and east of La Quinta. Other agricultural products cultivated in the Coachella Valley include fruits and vegetables, especially table grapes, citrus fruits such as lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruit; onions and leeks; and peppers. The valley floor served to grow bounties of alfalfa, artichokes, avocados, beans, beets, cabbage, carrots, corn, cotton, cucumbers, dandelions (salad greens), eggplant, figs, grains (i.e. barley, oats, rye and wheat; plus rice fields kept wet or moist in

2100-399: The 19th century that the area began to expand. The coming in 1926 of U.S. Route 99 northward through Coachella and Indio and westward toward Los Angeles , more or less along the present route of Interstate 10 , helped further open agriculture, commerce and tourism to the rest of the country. So too did the coming of State Highway 111 in the early 1930s, which cut a diagonal swath through

2170-414: The Arab peoples for their contribution to the economy of the Coachella Valley, not as a foreign racial symbol. In 2002, Coachella Valley High School officials had a meeting to determine whether to rename the mascot out of concern it might produce negative stereotypes against Arabs and Middle Eastern people, after the September 11 terrorist attacks. They decided to keep the mascot name. In November 2013,

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2240-848: The Cahuilla Basin, which includes the Salton Sea, and the Imperial Valley in the United States , as well as the Mexicali Valley and Colorado River Delta in Mexico . The trough is a result of combined tectonic activity of the San Andreas Fault , which follows the northeastern side of the valley, and the East Pacific Rise that runs up through the Gulf of California to the Salton Sea. The area

2310-436: The Coachella Valley had a population of approximately 370,000 at the 2020 Census. State projections estimate that the valley's population will pass 1 million by 2066. Demographers believe the total population already surpassed the 500,000 mark, plus 100,000 temporary seasonal residents known as "snowbirds" arriving to stay during the winter months (from the end of October to the end of April). The city of Palm Springs sits at

2380-459: The Coachella Valley residents were born/raised in the area, according to the 2000 census, a much lower percentage than found in most parts of the U.S. Agriculture is a founding block of the majority of the residents whose parents and grandparents came to the area as farmers and laborers transformed the eastern parts of the valley from a hot sandy desert into a fertile place with a year-round growing season. The Coachella Valley's agricultural development

2450-617: The Hollywood film industry. There has also been a sizable Latter-Day Saints community since the early 1900s, with three stakes , formerly branches , which experienced rapid growth. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints form a large population in the Inland Empire and High Desert regions. The Islamic Society of the Coachella Valley has a mosque in the city of Coachella. The Coachella Valley contains nine cities and several unincorporated communities. The incorporated cities of

2520-510: The Middle East were involved in the area's agriculture in the early 1900s. In recent years, the area (especially Palm Desert and Palm Springs) became popular for Iranian , Israeli , East Indian , Yugoslav (Former) and Korean home buyers, with most purchasing increasingly high-valued properties for investment purposes. In mid-2000, Palm Springs city officials and business leaders discussed making an unofficial declaration of Palm Springs as

2590-748: The National Date Festival,” said Supervisor Pérez. “Riverside County and the Fair Board look forward to being partners with Pickering in bringing the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival back for the community, as well as attracting events to increase use of the Fairgrounds for the community and families.” Also, tying into this theme, the Fair had a scholarship pageant called "Queen Scheherazade". Students from Riverside County compete to win

2660-715: The Palm Springs International Short Film Festival (or ShortFest ) held in June, at the Palm Springs Cultural Center. The Indian Wells Tennis Garden , opened in 2000, hosts the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament annually in March. Each February, Indio hosts the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival . Indio is also the site of the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival ,

2730-728: The Riverside County HR Department that "Palm Springs and the Desert Communities " were being visited by 3.5 million conventioneers and tourists annually. The Coachella Valley connects with the Greater Los Angeles area to the west via the San Gorgonio Pass , a major transportation corridor, traversed by Interstate 10 and by the Union Pacific Railroad . The valley is considered part of the Low Desert and

2800-537: The Salton Sea area), hops, kohlrabi, lettuce, mangoes, nectarines and peaches, persimmons, plums and prunes, pomegranate, potatoes, radishes, spinach, strawberries, sugar cane, tomatoes, a variety of herbs and spices, and other vegetable crops. The Coachella grapefruit originated in the region. The city of Coachella is the primary shipping point for agricultural goods. Domesticated grasses, flowers and trees are widely grown for warm-weather or desert climates, and sold for use in golf courses and landscape. Only 10 percent of

2870-542: The Valley since the early 20th century has allowed widespread agriculture. In its 2006 annual report, the Coachella Valley Water District listed the year's total crop value at over $ 576 million or almost $ 12,000 per acre. As of 2010 the valley produced agricultural products worth about $ 600 million. The valley is the primary date -growing region in the United States, responsible for nearly 95 percent of

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2940-670: The annual festival has been held to celebrate the Date Palm harvest in the Coachella Valley . The event is held in February on the Riverside County Fairgrounds. The fair is located in Indio, California , a city in the Colorado Desert , approximately 130 miles (210 km) east of Los Angeles. The Coachella Valley has about 250,000 date palms planted on approximately 5,000 acres (20 km ) which produces 35,000,000 pounds of dates annually. This long-standing agricultural industry

3010-452: The continuation of the Fair Board as well as funding support to improve the Fairgrounds facilities, Supervisor Manuel Pérez announced. Pérez also announced that the next Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival will be held February 17-26, 2023, and it will return as a full-scale event. “This is great for the City of Indio, the Coachella Valley and Riverside County and for the future of

3080-570: The desert region and date industry. Besides 1923 to 1937 and 1942 to 1945, no fair has happened in 2021-22 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . However, 2022 had "Thrillville", a smaller carnival and event. The Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved in June 2022 a partnership with Pickering Events LLC to bring the Date Festival back to Indio on an annual basis. The agreement brings back the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival and ensure

3150-449: The early 2000s. The school's location was decided on because it was the central point of the Coachella Valley. In 2002, social studies teacher Chauncey Veatch was honored as National Teacher of the Year. The school mascot, "Arabs", was named in the 1930s to honor the once large Arab colony involved in the date palm growing industry. The school took the position that the name was a "gift" to

3220-516: The early 20th century, less than 1,000 full-time residents lived in the "village" of Palm Springs, surrounding farms and ranches, and on the Indian reservation. The 1930 U.S. census found less than half the Coachella Valley's population was "white", the rest were Mexicans especially in the eastern ends when traqueros arrived to maintain the area's railroads, and Native Americans of local tribes in what were then impoverished reservations. Starting in

3290-454: The event. That year there were 72 booths exhibited and attendance reached 5,000. It was also the first year the street parade was staged. In 1936 Western themes were in style and the Fair took on a Western theme complete with wiskerenos, cowboy hats, and rodeo events. In 1940 the County purchased the present fairgrounds. The original 40 acres (160,000 m ) cost $ 10,000 and over the years later

3360-484: The fields and groves of the desert cities were replaced by homes and golf courses. Agriculture thrived in the eastern or lower part of the Coachella Valley in Indio, Coachella, Thermal, Mecca, and Oasis thanks in part to a large underground aquifer to sustain a year-round green environment. Roughly 125 golf courses blanket the area, making it one of the world's premier golf destinations and the most popular golf vacation destination in California. The Merrill Lynch Skins Game

3430-417: The ground. These natural water sources made habitation and development possible in the otherwise inhospitable desert environment of the Coachella Valley. Major earthquakes have affected the Coachella Valley. For instance, the 1992 Landers earthquake caused some damage in the valley. An earthquake of local origin which caused considerable damage was the 1986 North Palm Springs earthquake , which registered at

3500-484: The grounds were expanded with the purchase of an additional 40 acres (160,000 m ) including the date grove on the fairgrounds. Presently, the fairgrounds cover 120 acres (0.49 km ). When World War II started all fairs in California were halted. When the War ended, Robert M.C. Fullenwider was hired to manage the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival. Fullenwider introduced an "Arabian Nights" theme tying in with

3570-532: The highway greet visitors as they approach the crest of the pass and have become somewhat of a symbol of the area. The state's other wind farms are in the Tehachapi Pass between Mojave and Bakersfield and in the Altamont Pass near Livermore . With warm winters and more than 350 days of sunshine per year, recreational hiking and horseback riding are popular in the many canyons in the mountains that surround

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3640-462: The local population. The area is home to 10,000 Indian Americans (mostly from Sri Lanka ), descendants of agricultural workers in the 1930s and 1940s. Additionally, Palm Desert is the home of 1,000 Tahitians , a Pacific Islander people from French Polynesia . Other ethnic groups in the area like Asian Americans (i.e. Chinese , Japanese and Filipinos ), followed by a small wave of Armenians and Arabs (esp. Lebanese and Syrians ) from

3710-760: The majority of local tribal members (Cahuilla pertaining to the Agua Caliente band and the Cabazon/Twentynine Palms bands) are in upper-income brackets. According to the Southern California National Congress of American Indians , less than 5 percent of the area's residents are Native Americans. African Americans are concentrated in Palm Springs' northern and eastern ends, as well as in small sections of Indio and Desert Hot Springs, but local African Americans live everywhere in middle-class and wealthy areas and comprise less than 5 percent of

3780-558: The majority of the populations of Indio and Coachella for many decades. In the 2000 U.S. census, about 35 percent of Coachella Valley residents were Latino. But according to the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce , an estimated half (50–60 percent) of the residents are Latino. A large portion of Latinos moving into the area are from the Los Angeles-Orange County and San Diego metro areas. Most of

3850-668: The nation's crop and is celebrated each year in Indio during the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival. The earliest attempt at growing dates came about in 1890 when the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) imported date palm shoots from Iraq and Egypt. Sixty-eight shoots were distributed across the Southwest U.S. in Las Cruces, New Mexico , Yuma, Arizona , Phoenix, Arizona , and several California cites: Indio, Pomona near Los Angeles, Tulare and National City near San Diego. The imports were almost all male seedlings and produced poor fruit. The Coachella Valley showed promise, so USDA horticulturist Bernard Johnson planted

3920-572: The north end of the Valley to 250 feet (76 m) below sea level around Mecca. The San Andreas Fault traverses the valley's east side. Because of this fault, the valley has many hot springs. The Santa Rosa Mountains to the west are part of the Elsinore Fault Zone . The results of a prehistoric sturzstrom can be seen in Martinez Canyon. The Painted Canyons of Mecca feature smaller faults as well as Precambrian, Tertiary and Quaternary rock formations, unconformities, badlands and desert landforms. Fault lines cause hot water springs or geysers to rise from

3990-411: The northeast end of the Valley along the base of the Little San Bernardino Mountains (the Joshua Tree National Park ). Recent growth of fish farming or aquaculture in Mecca near the Salton Sea brings new promise to the local economy, especially to efforts to restore the ailing ecology of the large saltwater lake. The valley's northwest entrance from the San Bernardino - Riverside along Interstate 10

4060-418: The northwest end of the valley. Unincorporated areas and towns include Cabazon in the San Gorgonio Pass, and Bermuda Dunes and Thousand Palms in the east end of the valley. Others include Carver Tract, a county island between the cities of Indio and Coachella, Indio Hills , Sky Valley , North Palm Springs and Garnet along the northern rim along with Thermal , Vista Santa Rosa , Oasis and Mecca to

4130-402: The popularity of the date gardens the idea was planted for the first Date Festival in 1921 to be held in Indio's city park. A second festival was held the following year. Some 16 years later a third Date Festival was held, this time under the name of the Riverside County Fair and the Coachella Valley Date Festival. The Indio Civic Club, under contract from the County Board of Supervisors, sponsored

4200-465: The rest of California or the country, but the national trend slowed down due to the late 2000s recession. Most Hispanic immigrants came to obtain work in the area's year-round agriculture, but today many find employment in construction and home remodeling, the resort hospitality industry, landscaping firms, and retail. The prominence of Native Americans of the Cahuilla tribe is represented in local life; because of casino gambling and land ownership,

4270-428: The scholarship money for continued education and act as the "good will" ambassador over the Fair. In 2023, the Fair & Date Fest replaced the Queen Scheherazade Scholarship with the Date Festival Scholarship Program. This scholarship program is open to both male and female students in Riverside County graduating from high school who will be attending college in the next school year. At least 10 students are given

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4340-423: The school is will be the largest school in the league. Coachella Valley High School's main athletic competition (rival) is Indio High School. 33°38′41″N 116°12′03″W  /  33.6447°N 116.2008°W  / 33.6447; -116.2008 Coachella Valley The Coachella Valley ( / k oʊ ˈ tʃ ɛ l ə , ˌ k oʊ . ə -/ koh- CHEL -ə, KOH -ə- ) is an arid rift valley in

4410-450: The southeast. The native Cahuilla tribe represented in the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians , Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians , Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and the Torres-Martinez Band of Cahuilla Indians , the Mission Creek Band in unincorporated Painted Hills , and the Santa Rosa Indian Reservation south of Palm Desert, each have reservations in the area. The irrigation of over 100,000 acres (40,500 ha) of

4480-568: The state assembly representative Bonnie Garcia of La Quinta is of Puerto Rican parentage. The Coachella Valley was settled by a diverse array of races and ethnicities. Once viewed as predominantly Caucasian, the Coachella Valley has features of a diverse history. As of 2004, the Claritas study found that 373,100 people resided in the region. The racial makeup was 44.7% Non-Hispanic White, 49.9% Hispanic, 1.8% Black/African American, 2.1% Asian/Pacific Islander, 0.4% American Indian and Inuit, 0.1% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races. In

4550-434: The students and staff were working to add in an Arab History component. In August 2014, it was reported that the school had decided to drop the original "Arabs" mascot. On September 9, 2014, the school board voted unanimously to adopt new logo and mascot, the "Mighty Arab." The decision was made with the approval of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Sports teams compete in the Desert Valley League , in which

4620-440: The time the United States' only openly gay African-American mayor, a large number of people living with HIV (PWH) have moved to the Palm Springs area to take advantage of the extensive health-support systems that have been developed in recent years (such as DAP Health). For this reason, the area has one of the highest per capita rates of HIV in the nation. The area has a large percentage of Mexican American political figures, plus

4690-407: The valley and connected all of its major settlements. Dr. June McCarroll , then a nurse with the Southern Pacific whose office fronted U.S. 99 in Indio, is credited with being the first person to delineate a divided highway by painting a stripe down the middle of the roadbed in response to frequent head-on collisions. The standard was refined and adopted worldwide. Doctor McCarroll is memorialized by

4760-424: The valley's Hispanics are Mexican from a multi-generational community (see Chicano ), but Central American immigrants (especially in Indio and Cathedral City), Cuban Americans , Puerto Ricans , and South Americans are also numerous (esp. in Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert). Since the late 1980s, the large wave of immigration from neighboring Mexico has culturally impacted the Coachella Valley in many more ways than

4830-439: The valley. Thousand Palms Canyon is a popular destination, amongst many. The Coachella Valley was once a safe haven for hay fever allergy sufferers before the surge of golf courses and year-round lawns, and people with bronchitis, emphysema and asthma chose to relocate for health reasons in the early half of the 20th century. In the early 20th century, the town of Palm Springs was ideal for an agricultural economy. Today, many of

4900-415: Was held in La Quinta each Thanksgiving and drew some of the biggest names in golf. The PGA has a major presence in La Quinta as well with the PGA WEST golf and residential complex. One of the host courses of the aforementioned Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, a PGA WEST fairway represents the area in Soarin' Over California , an IMAX -based attraction at Disney California Adventure Park theme park. The area

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