

With their mid-century modern architecture they appeal to those wanting a unique hotel / spa experience.

From the late 1990s to the present a number of these boutique hotels have been renovated and revived. During the 1950s and 1960s the town had over 80 spa hotels. The bankruptcy was resolved in 2004 by selling municipal bonds when it faced a legal judgment of almost $6 million.ĭesert Hot Springs is home to a number of hot mineral water spas. In 2001 the town filed for a Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy. The mild climate and hot springs make it a popular tourist destination. The main economy is based on spas, which are mostly owner-operated. Growing use of solar power accompanied with many windmills make Desert Hot Springs a leading city in renewable energy. The city is home to windmill farms in the west and also by the San Gorgonio Pass. It was later featured in a CNBC special as California’s first city to permit the commercial cultivation of marijuana in 2014. The city’s population doubled in the 1980s and increased by 5,000 in the 2000 census.ĭesert Hot Springs High School opened in 1999.ĭesert Hot Springs was the first city in Southern California to legalize medical marijuana cultivation, and has since been overwhelmed by marijuana developers and growers.

Some homes were bought by retirees and the area incorporated as a city in 1963, with 1,000 residents.ĭesert Hot Springs experienced periods of significant growth in the 1980s and 1990s, when most of the vacant lots were filled with new houses and duplex apartments. The city is popular with “snowbirds.” Realtors arrived to speculate, and thousands of lots were laid out over a six square mile area. Coffee chose the name Desert Hot Springs because of the area’s natural hot springs.ĭesert Hot Springs became a tourist destination in the 1950s because of its small spa hotels and boutique hotels. The original town site was centered at the intersection of Palm Drive and Pierson Boulevard and was only one square mile. Cabot’s Trading Post & Gallery opened there in February 2008. His large Pueblo Revival Style architecture structure, hand built over 20 years, is now one of the oldest adobe-style buildings in Riverside County and houses Cabot’s Pueblo Museum, designated a state historical site after his death in 1965. Due to the Mission Creek Branch of the San Andreas Fault bisecting the area, one side is a cold water aquifer, the other has a hot water aquifer. Cabot Yerxa arrived in 1913 and soon discovered the hot water aquifer on Miracle Hill. Although Cahuilla people never settled permanently in today’s Desert Hot Springs, they often camped here during winter times due to the warm climate.Īccording to early homesteader and writer Cabot Yerxa in his newspaper columns published in The Desert Sentinel newspaper, the first homesteader in the area of the city of Desert Hot Springs was Hilda Maude Gray, who staked her claim in 1908. The only people residing in areas north of Palm Springs prior to the 20th century were the Cahuilla Indians in the village of Seven Palms. QUEEN MARY A RETIRED BRITISH OCEAN LINER.Disney’s First Storyliving Community in California.Palm Desert – La Quinta – Palm Springs – Indio.Palm Desert & Palm Springs Visitor Information Center Tourist & Real Estate, Homes for Sale - Hotels, Vacation Rentals, Golf, Attractions, Shopping, Concert, Events and Real Estate Visitor Information Center Palm Desert - Palm Springs
