City Of LaQuinta





La Quinta is a resort city in Riverside County, California, specifically in the Coachella Valley between Indian Wells and Indio. The population was 23,694 at the 2000 census. It is growing at a rate of approximately 110% every ten years, making it one of the fastest growing cities in California. The Robb Report credits La Quinta as the nation's leading golf destination. Among those destinations is the La Quinta Resort and Club, a resort dating to 1926 and famous as the spot in which director Frank Capra penned the screenplay of Lost Horizon. The area of La Quinta was first established in the early 18th century by Spanish conquistadores under the command of Captain Juan Bautista De Anza, as the fifth resting point for travellers along the route from present-day Mexico to the San Gabriel Missions of Los Angeles and present-day Riverside and San Bernardino 60–100 miles away. The words "la quinta" are Spanish, translating to "the fifth". More specifically, the word "quinta" is known in Mexico as a type of hacienda. Spanish and later Mexican settlement in the "East Valley" (Eastern Coachella Valley) was sparse, most residents were members of the indigenous Cahuilla tribe. The earliest records of any inhabitation of La Quinta and other communities was in 1823, after Mexico declared independence from Spain, prior to California's annexation by the United States in 1848.Modern development and incorporationIn the late-19th century and early-20th century (1880–1920), agriculture developed in present-day La Quinta and "East Valley" by pre-modern (mountain water runoff or open water springs) and modern irrigation techniques. At the time, California and federal land surveyors declared the sand dunes uninhabitable, only the hard rock ground of the "Marshall Cove" held potential farming and residential development.In 1927, Walter Morgan established the La Quinta Resort at the northern section of "Marshall Cove", as a type of secluded hideaway for nearby 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-1990s, 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. The Santa Rosa Mountains at dusk.The most prominent feature of the La Quinta area is its Santa Rosa Mountains. Visitors to Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim, California can be treated to a brief glimpse of the foothills in one of the park's attractions: Soarin' Over California. The "Palm Springs" segment of Soarin' Over California was actually shot at the world-famous PGA West golf complex in La Quinta. The Santa Rosa Mountains (California) are nestled against the golf course and can be seen easily in the segment. Source: Wikipedia