La Quinta (Spanish for "the country villa") is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States. Located between Indian Wells and Indio, it is one of the nine cities of the Coachella Valley. The population was 37,558 at the 2020 census, up from 37,467 at the 2010 census.
Golf courses include La Quinta Resort and Club, a resort dating to 1926, where director Frank Capra wrote the screenplay for Lost Horizon, and SilverRock Golf Resort, a host golf courses for the annual Bob Hope Chrysler Classic PGA golf tournament.
History
The Cahuilla Indians were the first inhabitants of La Quinta.
In 1926, Walter Morgan established the La Quinta Resort at the northern section of Marshall Cove as a type of secluded hideaway for Hollywood's celebrities and socialites. The Resort was the site for the Coachella Valley's first golf course, coinciding with the construction and pavement of State Route 111 in the 1930s. Further expansion of Washington Street in the 1950s and 1960s connected La Quinta with US Highways 60 and 99 (became Interstate 10 in the 1970s).
As nearby desert cities grew to capacity, La Quinta's growth rose dramatically by the mid-1980s, which led to its incorporation as a city in Riverside County in 1982. In the 1980 census, La Quinta had 4,200 residents, then increased to 11,215 by 1990 in the city's early phases of residential area growth. It was predominantly a part-time community until around that time.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (1.22%) is water. The city's elevation is 56 feet (20 m) above sea level.
La Quinta is located on the floor of the Coachella Valley, and is surrounded on three sides by the Santa Rosa Mountains. As the floor of the valley sank, it was covered by the Pacific Ocean. Silt deposits from the flow of the Colorado River into the Gulf of California caused the basin to be cut off from the ocean. Five hundred years ago, the Colorado River changed its course and the eastern Coachella Valley flooded, leading to the creation of the historic Lake Cahuilla (a distinct lake from the man-made reservoir that exists today), which was fresh water.
Climate
The climate of the Coachella Valley is influenced by the surrounding geography. High mountain ranges on three sides contribute to its unique and year-round warm climate, with some of the warmest winters west of the Rocky Mountains. La Quinta has a warm winter/hot summer climate: Its average annual high temperature is and average annual low is but summer highs above are common and sometimes exceed , while summer night lows often stay above . Winters are warm with daytime highs often between . Under of annual precipitation are average, with over 348 days of sunshine per year. The hottest temperature ever recorded there was on July 6, 1905. The mean annual temperature is .