Coachella, California

The city was founded as Woodspur in 1876, when the Southern Pacific Railroad built a rail siding on the site. In the 1880s the indigenous Cahuilla tribe sold their land plots to the railroads for new lands east of the current town site, and in the 1890s, a few hundred traqueros took up settlement along the tracks. In 1901, the citizens of Woodspur voted on a new name for their community and at a town hall meeting, the homeowners settled on "Coachella".

The origin of the name Coachella is unclear. Some locals believe it was a misspelling of conchilla, a Spanish word for the small white snail shells found in the valley's sandy soil, vestiges of a lake that dried up over 3,000 years ago.

Coachella began as a 2.5-square-mile (6.5 km²) territory gridded out on the mesquite-covered desert floor. Coachella became a city in 1946. During the incorporation voting process, the first city council was tentatively elected: Lester C. Cox, T. E. Reyes, John W. Westerfield, Lester True, and Paul S. Atkinson. Also elected on November 26, 1946, were City Clerk Marie L. Johnson and City Treasurer John C. Skene. John Westerfield was appointed mayor at the first meeting.

In the 1950s Coachella begin to expand into its range, about 32 square miles (83 km²), an area which contained large year-round agricultural corporate farms and fruit groves, particularly of citrus (lemons, oranges, grapefruit) and date palms.

By the 1980 census, Coachella's population had reached at least 10,000 due to relatively slow population growth. Due to a high percentage of Hispanics in the city, Coachella was a scene of Chicano political activism. The agricultural area surrounding Coachella was where the United Farm Workers union staged strikes and protests, including visits by UFW leader César Chávez in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2018, Harrison Street (the main street in town) was renamed for him.[8]

In 1995, state and federal officials designated Coachella as part of the Coachella Valley Enterprise Zone to boost economic activity and entice businesses to relocate to this rural city which was once home to several fruit shipping plants.

In 2006, 29-year-old Eduardo Garcia became the city's youngest mayor ever. Garcia was a lifelong Coachella resident and a 1995 graduate of Coachella Valley High School. He attended the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California.

In 2010, a Coca-Cola bottling facility (a LEED certified building) was added to the city's new light industry facilities, a boon in the rapid-growth community which has a currently troubled economy.[9]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 28.95 square miles (75.0 km²), all of it land.

The elevation is 68 feet (21 m) below sea level, as the eastern half of the Coachella Valley is below sea level. The saltwater lake, Salton Sea, 10 miles (16 km) south of Coachella, is 228 feet (69 m) below sea level.

Downtown Coachella is under renovation as the area experiences an economic boom which has brought increasing numbers of people in the city – Pueblo Viejo (the old neighborhood) as locals of Hispanic origin sometimes call it. Despite its image for Mexican immigration, a large percentage are US citizens, born and raised in Coachella. A multi-generational Mexican American subculture has taken root in the town.

Much of the population consists of younger Latino families (an estimated 90 percent of Hispanic origin) and, in the outlying areas, migrant farm workers. The city is officially bilingual in the English and Spanish languages, although city council meetings are nominally in English. Historically, Coachella was predominantly Mexican/Latino (including Central America) and/or Native American, but had other ethnic groups like Arabs, Armenians, Filipinos, Italians, Japanese and recent immigrants from Southeast Asia and the former Yugoslavia.

Since 2000, thousands of single-family homes and multi-unit apartment complexes have been built at a fast pace, as the city's population soared, having more than doubled in just a decade.[21]

In 2015, the number of unpermitted trailer parks, often housing farmworkers, was estimated at "dozens if not more than 100."[22] Many of these parks are in poor condition. Some have dirt roads and frequent power outages, or drinking water supplies contaminated with arsenic or hexavalent chromium. It is uncertain whether it would be more practical to bring in city water and sewer lines, or to simply start over with new developments. Given that a recent 181-unit development, Mountain View Estates, required over 28 million dollars in funding, the nonprofit Pueblo Unido Community Development Corp. is pushing for code upgrades of existing facilities. A court case which alleged that the county had made an intentional effort to close trailer parks with Latino populations was settled in 2000. The US$21 million from the settlement was used to build three farmworker housing projects. As of 2015, dirt roads in 35 trailer parks are being paved as part of a US$3.4 million county project.[22]

Coachella expanded recreational and social activities for which residents once had to drive 10 or 20 miles (16 or 32 km) west. The city has a recreation center, a Boys and Girls Club center, and a boxing club in Bagdouma Park. There are two dance clubs and the Corona Yacht Club located near Spotlight 29 casino; two new golf courses (Desert Lakes and the Vineyards) attract many retirees, RV owners, and local business people.

Three popular fiestas are celebrated each year in town: Cinco de Mayo (May 5), the 16 de Septiembre Fiestas Patrias (Mexico's Independence from Spain) and the 12 de Diciembre (the patron saint of Mexico, Santa Maria de Guadalupe) to celebrate the Virgin Mary.

• Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
• Coachella Valley Radio Control Club
• Shady Lane Mural [23]
• The film director Frank Capra is interred in the Coachella Valley Cemetery.

The majority of registered voters are in the Democratic Party, a stronghold of Democrats in a largely Republican voting bloc (the Inland Empire).

In the California State Legislature, Coachella is in the 28th Senate District, represented by Democrat Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, and in the 56th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Lisa Calderon.[24]

In the United States House of Representatives, Coachella is in California's 25th congressional district, represented by Democrat Raul Ruiz.[25]

Coachella is served by the Coachella Valley Unified School District,[26] based in Thermal, California. Its main high school is Coachella Valley High School (with 2900 students) followed by a new high school, Desert Mirage High School, about 5 miles to the south; its three middle schools are Cahuilla Desert Academy, Toro Canyon, and Bobby Duke. Elementary schools include Cesar Chavez, Coral Mountain Academy, Palm View, Peter Pendleton, Valle Del Sol, Valley View, Westside and in nearby Thermal, John Kelley.

The Coachella Valley Adult School, in operation since 1952, is the third-largest adult school in Riverside County. It offers seven levels of English as a Second Language (ESL), and has offered citizenship classes for over 20 years. In the last ten years, over 1,500 people completed citizenship classes at the school and submitted N-400 forms.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department now serves the city from the nearby Thermal Regional Station. (The original Coachella Police Department was disbanded in 1998).

The city of Coachella contracts for fire and paramedic services with the Riverside County Fire Department through a cooperative agreement with CAL FIRE.[27]

Near Coachella, a new four-lane expressway, State Route 86, was built for international trucking from Mexicali, Mexico to Los Angeles or Arizona. Referred to as the "NAFTA highway" (in reference to the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect in 1994), it replaces an older and less safe two-lane road known as the "killer highway, deadly highway, and death highway" where over 400 auto accident fatalities took place since 1980.

A plan is being developed for new passenger rail service that would span approximately 144 miles from Los Angeles Union Station (LAUS) to Coachella. Construction would take an estimated ten years following completion of an Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR). [28]

In 2001 Huell Howser Productions, in association with KCET/Los Angeles, featured Coachella in California's Gold; the program is available as a VHS videorecording.[29]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Coachella, California.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Coachella.

• Official website
• Coachella Chamber Of Commerce Official site
• Hispanic Chamber of Commerce – Coachella Valley
• Howser, Huell (September 27, 2002). "Coachella – Palm Springs Week (18)". California's Gold. Chapman University Huell Howser Archive.