Everything about Coachella California totally explained
Coachella is a city in
Riverside County,
California; it's the easternmost city in the region collectively known as the
Coachella Valley (or the
Palm Springs area). It is located east of Palm Springs, east of
Riverside, and east of
Los Angeles.
Known as the "City of Eternal Sunshine - Gateway to the Salton Sea", Coachella is largely a rural, agricultural, family-oriented community in the desert and one of the state's fastest growing cities in the late 20th century. When it first incorporated back in 1946, it had 1,000 residents but has grown 50 times to nearly 50,000 residents by the year 2006.
Coachella's official population was 22,724 at the 2000 census. However, as of 2006, local officials say the population may have nearly doubled (to 40,000, others suggest 50,000) — one of the highest population growth rates in the state. With a population density of 15,500 per square mile, this predominantly agricultural city has one of the highest in California outside of an urban area.
The eastern half of the Coachella valley is below sea level, and the area's average elevation is 68 feet (35 m) below sea level. The
Salton Sea, a saltwater lake located about 10 miles (6 km) South of Coachella, lies below sea level.
The city also lends its name to the Coachella
grapefruit; the town's stretch of
State Route 111 is named Grapefruit Boulevard in its honor. Harrison Street or
State Route 86 is declared historic
U.S. Route 99, the major throughfare that connects with
Interstate 10 a few miles north of town.
Geography
Coachella is located at (33.679522, -116.174488).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 20.8 square miles (53.9 km²), all of it land.
The elevation is 68 feet/35 meters below sea level, as the Eastern half of the Coachella valley is below sea level. The saltwater lake,
Salton Sea is 10 miles/6 km. South of Coachella, lies below sea level.
History
The city was originally 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.
The origin of the name
Coachella is unclear, but in
1901 the citizens of Woodspur voted on a new name for their community; at their town hall meeting, the homeowners settled on "Coachella". 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 which dried up over 3,000 years ago.
Coachella began as a territory gridded out on the mesquite-covered desert floor. Not until the 1950s did Coachella begin to expand into its present range, about, an area which contained large year-round agricultural corporate farms and fruit groves, particularly of
citrus (lemons, oranges, grapefruit) and
date palms.
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.
By the 1980 census, Coachella's population had reached at least 10,000 due to relative slow population growth. Due to a high percentage of Hispanics in the city, Coachella was a scene of
Chicano political activism including protests and visits by
United Farm Workers leader
Cesar Chavez in the 1960s and 1970s.
Education
Coachella is served by the
Coachella Valley Unified School District, based in
Thermal, California. Its main high school is
Coachella Valley High School (with 2900 students); its two middle schools are Cahuilla Desert Academy and Bobby Duke (slated to re-open in September, 2007). Elementary schools include Cesar Chavez, Palm View, Peter Pendleton, Valle Del Sol, Valley View, and Coral Mountain Academy.
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.
Culture
The film director
Frank Capra is interred in the Coachella Valley Cemetery.
Professional boxing champions
Antonio Diaz and
Julio Diaz (brothers), are originally from Coachella. The agricultural area surrounding Coachella was where the
United Farm Workers union staged strikes and protests, including visits by UFW leader
Cesar Chavez. Migrant labor activist
Sam Maestas has a home in the rural outskirts of Coachella.
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 its population consists of younger Latino families (an estimated 90 percent of
Latino/
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 spoken and performed in English. Historically, Coachella was predominantly Mexican/Hispanic and/or
Native American, but had other ethnic groups like
Arab-Americans,
Filipinos, and recent immigrants from
Central America and the former
Yugoslavia.
Two popular fiestas are celebrated each year in town:
Cinco de Mayo (May 5), the 16d del Septembre
Fiestas Patrias (Mexico's Independence from Spain) and the 12d de Decembre (the patron saint of Mexico:
Santa Maria del Guadalupe) to celebrate the
Virgin Mary is well observed by local festivities.
Near the city limits of Coachella are three
casinos on
Indian reservations:
Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino,
Spotlight 29 Casino, and
Augustine Casino, which are owned and operated by Native American tribes — the
Cabazon Band of Mission Indians,
Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians, and
Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians, respectively. These small but highly profitable tribes have representative councils to ensure self-reliance as a community. Coachella is also home to a significant Southwest Indian (
Apache,
Hopi,
Navajo and
Zuni) population, though not indigenous to the California desert region.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 22,724 people, 4,807 households, and 4,480 families residing in the city. The
population density was 1,091.4 people per square mile (421.4/km²). There were 5,024 housing units at an average density of 241.3/sq mi (93.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 38.77%
White, 0.45%
Black or
African American, 0.84%
Native American, 0.31%
Asian, 0.03%
Pacific Islander, 56.57% from
other races, and 3.03% from two or more races. 97.39% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Coachella has one of California's highest percentages of
Latinos. Visitors may notice the cultural imprint of the city's Mexican-Americans as well by those who had recently come from
Mexico to work in the valley's thriving economy. Agriculture, landscaping, domestic help, hotel lodging, and retail jobs in
Palm Springs and the
Coachella Valley are a major draw to the newcomers. However, city council officials have claimed that many newcomers are predominantly from other US cities (
Los Angeles and
San Diego) not necessarily foreign-born although are Hispanic/Latino.
There were 4,807 households,and many more of which 65.9% had children under the age of 18, 66.5% were
married couples living together, 19.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 6.8% were non-families. 5.3% of all households were individuals living alone, and 2.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.72 and the average family size was 4.80, a typical cultural trait of a majority (but not all) of
Hispanic-American residents. Of US cities with populations over 10,000, Coachella has one of the highest percentages of
single mothers.
By age, the population was spread out with 40.8% under the age of 18, 12.7% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 12.8% from 45 to 64, and 5.0% 65 years or older. The median age was 23 years. For every 100 females there were 100.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.4 males.
Teen pregnancy rates are notably higher than national and state average, and in
Coachella Valley High School, over a quarter (28 percent) of female students are mothers.
The median
income for a household in the city was $28,590, and the median income for a family was $28,320. Males had a median income of $23,044, compared to $15,550 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $7,416. About 29.1% of families and 28.9% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 35.3% of those under age 18 and 25.7% of those 65 or over (rates above state and national average).
Politics
In the
state legislature Coachella is located in the 40th
Senate District, represented by
Democrat Denise Moreno Ducheny, and in the 80th
Assembly District, represented by
Republican Bonnie Garcia. Federally, Coachella is located in
California's 45th congressional district, which has a
Cook PVI of R +3 and is represented by Republican
Mary Bono Mack.
Local issues
According to a 2006 state-funded economic survey, Coachella ranks third lowest in average personal income of any California city, and one of ten poorest cities in the state. The city's remote location from urban areas and the continuous seasonal labor migration are largely responsible for the high poverty rate. In Coachella, one in every three are on public assistance and over 40 percent receive welfare and social security funds.
Coachella has dealt with
socioeconomic issues which produced a history of above-average crime rates. Coachella received negative local media attention as a city riddled by
youth gangs, drug trade activity, massive movement of
illegal immigration from Mexico and racial separatism (the Chicano movement). Much of the non-Hispanic population moved away in reaction (a phenomenon called "
white flight") but the important demographic factor is Latinos tend to be younger, raise large families and sought permanent residency. However, the 2006
FBI crime statistical release placed Coachella at the lowest crime rates in all of the
Coachella Valley and
Riverside County.
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.
Near Coachella, 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", it replaces and older, less safe two-lane road.
In 2006 mayoral elections, 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.
Also in 2006, the city council voted to make Coachella a "sanctuary city" to prohibit federal and immigration (INS) officials from enforcing immigration law to arrest or/and deport any undocumented immigrant residing within city limits. It's one of 100 known cities or towns in the United States to enacted such a law and illegal immigrants form an invisible but observant percentage of residents.
Today, retail and commercial properties appear on Coachella's two main drags, Harrison Street (formerly
U.S. Route 99) and Grapefruit Boulevard (
State Route 111), along with a new retail development on Avenue 48 and Jackson street. Since 2000, thousands of single-family homes and multi-unit apartment complexes are being built at a fast pace, as the city's population soars, having more than doubled in the last decade. The population is estimated to reach 60,000 by
2010 and possibly 100,000 by
2020.
The future of Coachella could be linked one day to tourism as well as agriculture. Coachella expanded recreational and social activities for which residents once had to drive ten or twenty miles (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.
Events And Points of Interest
Trivia
Coachella is also a shorthand reference to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, held in nearby Indio, California.
The city erected a local Vietnam Veterans' memorial to represent over 600 men and women from Coachella who served in the Vietnam War.
The Ernie Ball guitar company, based in Fullerton, California, opened a manufacturing facility near Coachella in 2005.
One of the few US alternative fuel plants is in Coachella, where cooking oil is recycled and transformed into use for motor vehicle engines.
A proposed sports facility is in the city, possibly to house a minor league baseball team.
A contemplated new airport in addition to the Jackie Cochran-Desert Cities Regional Airport in nearby Thermal is in the works.Further Information
Get more info on 'Coachella California'.
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