Palm Desert City Information

Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately 11 miles (18 km) east of Palm Springs. The population was 41,155 at the 2000 census. The city was one of the state’s fastest growing in the 1980s and 1990s, beginning with 11,801 residents in 1980, doubling to 23,650 in 1990, 35,000 in 1995, and nearly double its 1990 population by 2000. As of the United States Census Bureau estimate 2006 the city population was 47,047.

A major center of growth in the Palm Springs area, Palm Desert is a popular retreat for “snowbirds” from colder climates (the Eastern and Northern US, and Canada), who swell its population by an estimated 31,000 each winter. In the past couple of years Palm Desert has seen more residents become “full-timers”, mainly from the coasts and urban centers of California, who have come for affordable but high-valued home prices. According to a 2001 Forbes Magazine report, Palm Desert is in the listing of the state’s 50 and nation’s 100 wealthiest communities.

The area was first known as the Old MacDonald Ranch, but the name changed to Palm Village in the 1920s when date palms were planted. Local historians said the main residents of pre-1950 Palm Desert were Cahuilla Indian farmers of the now extinct San Cayetano tribe, but a few members of the Montoya family of Cahuilla/Spanish descent were prominent leaders in civic life.

Palm Desert once served as a training ground for General George Patton’s Third Army troops and tank battalions. After World War II, Cliff Henderson, a Los Angeles developer, began to develop the desert into his dream community.

The first residential development occurred in 1943 in connection with an Army maintenance camp in the area. That site was later developed into “El Paseo“, an upscale shopping district not unlike Rodeo Drive. In 1948, the Palm Desert Corporation began to develop real estate, and in 1951 the area was given its present name.

Many celebrities keep homes in Palm Desert, including Rita Rudner and more recently, the current home of teenage pro golfer Michelle Wie and one of the homes of Bill Gates. Film producers Jerry Weintraub and Robert Velo call Palm Desert their second home. With only 1,500 permanent residents, the community was incorporated on November 26, 1973. At the time, Palm Desert was a master planned community situated in the desert that used to stretch from Palm Springs to Indio.

The city’s first golf course and tennis club was Shadow Mountain in 1952, followed by Marrakesh in 1954, the Palm Desert Greens mobile home park golf course in 1961, and the Palm Desert Country Club in 1962. The latter, located five miles (8 km) east of the original city, was formally annexed in 1992, but is no longer in operation as of July 2010 and is in Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The total number of golf clubs (more than 30 located within 10 miles from the city) have made Palm Desert known as the “World’s Golf Capital”.

“Desert Willow Golf Resort” is the City Of Palm Desert’s municipal golf course and has 2 championiship courses – ‘Mountain View’ and ‘Firecliff’. It is associated with the “Hilton Hotels Desert Willow Resort” development at the golf course location. The Firecliff course is listed at #13 in Golf Magazine’s ‘Best Courses you can Play’ 2010 list for California.

In the late-1970s and 1980s, a spate of private golf clubs, destination resorts and hotels appeared in the northern half of Palm Desert, such as the four-star JW Marriott Desert Springs Golf Resort and Spa in 1987 and the four-star Hilton Desert Willow Golf Resort in 2002. The city has over 30 motels and 5,000 motel rooms, since lodging and hospitality is a major portion of the local tourist-based economy.

Rapid growth and several annexations in the 1980s and 1990s have made Palm Desert a major shopping destination and the main center of business activity in the Coachella Valley. The city developed a major shopping area when the Palm Desert Town Center (now the Westfield Shopping Center) opened in 1983, followed by the arrival of Target in Desert Crossing in 1995.

El Paseo Drive is downtown Palm Desert’s main shopping street. The area around the street has evolved into an upscale shopping district featuring 150 boutiques, art galleries, and restaurants. El Paseo is often compared to Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive due its concentration of posh retail outlets and lush landscaping. The street runs parallel to State Route 111, which serves as the main thoroughfare in the Palm Springs metropolitan area.

Although Indio is the most populous city in the region with 75,000 residents and is the home of the majority of Palm Desert’s daily and seasonal employees, local residents have shown concern in protecting the desert environment by promoting natural landscaping and artistic sculptures.Fred Waring Drive has been expanded into a four-lane major traffic fare, encouraging new retail centers and commercial zones. The desert sprawl nearly engulfs the Coachella Valley from State Route 111 to Interstate 10.

City information courtesy of Wikepedia, The Free Encyclopedia.