Indio, California

City of Indio
City
Indio during the 1950s: Stan Sniff, a local date grower's booth at the annual National Date Festival and Riverside County Fair, selling dates which is one of the region's most popular crops.
Nickname(s): The City of Festivals
Motto: "The place to be"
Location in Riverside County and the state of California
City of Indio Location in the United States
Coordinates:
Country	United States
State	California
County	Riverside
Incorporated	May 16, 1930
Government
• Type	City Council–City Manager
• Mayor	Lupe Ramos Watson
Area
• Total	29.189 sq mi (75.600 km2)
• Land	29.181 sq mi (75.579 km2)
• Water	0.008 sq mi (0.021 km2)  0.03%
Elevation	-13 ft (-4 m)
Population (April 1, 2010)
• Total	76,036
• Estimate (2014)	85,633
• Density	2,600/sq mi (1,000/km2)
Time zone	Pacific (UTC−8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC−7)
ZIP codes	92201–92203
Area code(s)	442/760
FIPS code	06-36448
GNIS feature IDs	1652727, 2410101
Website	indio.org

Indio is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies 23 miles (37 km) east of Palm Springs, 77 miles (124 km) east of Riverside, and 127 miles (204 km) east of Los Angeles. It is about 98 miles (158 km) north of Mexicali, Baja California on the U.S.-Mexican border. The word Indio is Spanish for Indian.

The population was 76,036 in the 2010 United States Census, up from 49,116 at the 2000 census, an increase of 55%. Indio was once referred to as "the Hub of the Valley", the Chamber of Commerce jingle in the 1970s, and today the jingle is the "City of Festivals" because of all the special events held in town.

History

Railroad line construction east out of Los Angeles began in 1873. Trains were operated to Colton on July 16, 1875, and to Indio (then Indian Wells) on May 29, 1876. Moving on eastward from Indio, the railroad reached the west bank of the Colorado River opposite Yuma on May 23, 1877 (a village known as Arizona City prior to 1873). There was delay in getting military authority to lay tracks across the Yuma Indian reservation, and it was September that year before the bridge was completed so trains could operate into Yuma. The Southern Pacific Railroad was to have joined those of the Texas & Pacific, one of several railroads then holding, or seeking, federal authority to build lines from various sections of the country west to the Pacific Coast. But the rail-head of the T & P was at a standstill far off in Texas, so Southern Pacific continued building eastward. (A Historical Sketch of the SOUTHERN PACIFIC 1869-1944 by Erle Heath Editor, The Southern Pacific "Bulletin", www.cprr.org/Museum/SP_1869-1944/).

The City of Indio came about because of the need of a halfway point for the Southern Pacific Railroad between Yuma, Arizona and Los Angeles. The engines needed to be re-filled with water. At first, the-would-be city was called Indian Wells, but because of so many other areas already called that, Indio – after a Spanish variation of the word "Indian" – was chosen. After the railroad's arrival in 1876, Indio really started to grow. The first permanent building was the craftsman style Southern Pacific Depot station and hotel. Southern Pacific tried to make life as comfortable as it could for their workers in order to keep them from leaving such a difficult area to live in at the time. It was at the center of all social life in the desert with a fancy dining room and hosting dances on Friday nights.

While Indio started as a railroad town, it soon became agricultural. Onions, cotton, grapes, citrus and dates thrived in the arid climate due to the ingenuity of farmers finding various means of attaining water; first through artesian wells and later through the valley’s branch of the All-American Canal. However, water also was a major problem for Indio and the city was flooded several times until the storm water canals were created throughout the Coachella Valley.

Businessmen and women found this last frontier land of the continental United States as an ideal place to start fresh. Dr. Harry Smiley and his wife Nell were early residents and stayed in Indio after their car broke down on the way to Los Angeles and became people of influence and helped shape the area. A.G. Tingman was an early storeowner and first Postmaster of Indio, but also well known for taking advantage of miners as they headed to the mountains, selling at rather high prices. Later Dr. June Robertson McCarroll became a leading philanthropist as well as successful doctor in Indio. She was responsible along with the Indio Woman’s Club for pressing California into adopting the placing of white lines down the streets after she nearly got hit one too many times by passing vehicles. But even though these early founders of the city are considered pioneers, they still partook in the lifestyles of their friends living in such areas as Los Angeles. Indio established itself quickly and kept up with all the trends as they were brought in by the railroads.

By the turn of the 20th century, Indio was already more than a fading railroad town. Schools were built, the La Casita hospital provided medical services, and families established roots. This was the growth of a city, not just a railroad town.

By 1920, about one to two thousand year round residents lived in Indio, while it can double to 2,500 to 5,000 during the winter months and was advertised as a health resort for senior citizens and those with respiratory diseases and ailments in the rest of the 20th century.

Indio also served as the home of the USDA’s Date Station, a place where leading scientific research was taking place on the fruit that would become a major part of the culture of Indio. The station started in 1907 and was responsible for the ability of local farmers to better understand this unique crop and make the Coachella Valley a leader in American date crops. This also created a tie to the Middle East that led to the theme for the County Fair with the Middle Eastern flair.

Coachella and Thermal were soon larger cities than Indio, but Indio remained the “Hub of the Valley,” as it was called. With the burning of the majority of Thermal and the decline of Coachella, Indio grew again. By 1930 Indio was a thriving area and incorporated. On September 6, 1930, storekeeper Fred Kohler received the first business license in Indio.

Indio was also aided by the visiting soldiers from Patton’s training grounds in Chiriaco Summit located 30 miles to the east. However, Indio saw another decline as the valley’s population begin to move west towards newer cities such as Palm Desert. However, now there is a reversal in this trend and the eastern section of the valley is poised to once again become the center of the Coachella Valley.

The city had significant unemployment rates (in some cases over 20 percent) in the late 20th century and from the recession in the late 2000s. The rate in 2006 was under 5 percent after the local economy rebounded in the real estate boom when more affluent residents moved in. The rapid population growth fueled the city's present need for employment opportunities.

Geography

Indio is located at (33.719871, -116.231889). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 75.6 square kilometers (29 sq mi), 99.97% of which is land and 0.03% is water.

The telephone area code is 760. The city's ZIP codes are 92201 and 92203 north of Interstate 10. About 3 miles (5 km) north and east of Indio is the San Andreas Fault, a major tectonic plate boundary of the Pacific and North American plates.

Indio is home of Riverside County's eastern administration offices. Palm Springs had more people from 1955 to 1992, when the US census announced Indio surpassed Palm Springs and that title was returned to them. The official elevation of Indio is below sea level; the city hall is 14 feet (4 m) below sea level, as the Eastern half of the Coachella valley drops as low as 150 feet (50 m) below sea level (the lake shore of the Salton Sea is 15 miles (24 km) South of Indio).

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 warmest winters west of the Rocky Mountains. Indio has a warm winter/hot summer climate (Köppen: BWh): Its average annual high temperature is 89.5 °F (31.9 °C) and average annual low is 62.1 °F (16.7 °C) but summer highs above 108 °F (42 °C) are common and sometimes exceed 120 °F (49 °C), while summer night lows often stay above 82 °F (28 °C). Winters are warm with daytime highs often between 68–86 °F (20–30 °C). Under 4 inches (100 mm) of annual precipitation are average, with over 348 days of sunshine per year. The hottest temperature ever recorded there was 125 °F (52 °C) on July 6, 1905. The mean annual temperature is 75.8 °F (24.3 °C).

Climate data for Indio, California
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	97 (36)	100 (38)	104 (40)	110 (43)	121 (49)	123 (51)	125 (52)	121 (49)	122 (50)	115 (46)	101 (38)	96 (36)	125 (52)
Average high °F (°C)	71.9 (22.2)	75.3 (24.1)	81.3 (27.4)	87.5 (30.8)	95.7 (35.4)	103.1 (39.5)	107.3 (41.8)	106.6 (41.4)	102.0 (38.9)	91.9 (33.3)	79.6 (26.4)	71.0 (21.7)	89.5 (31.9)
Average low °F (°C)	44.6 (7)	48.0 (8.9)	54.8 (12.7)	60.7 (15.9)	67.7 (19.8)	74.2 (23.4)	80.3 (26.8)	80.3 (26.8)	74.0 (23.3)	63.7 (17.6)	51.8 (11)	44.2 (6.8)	62.1 (16.7)
Record low °F (°C)	13 (−11)	20 (−7)	25 (−4)	33 (1)	38 (3)	45 (7)	59 (15)	56 (13)	46 (8)	31 (−1)	23 (−5)	17 (−8)	13 (−11)
Average precipitation inches (mm)	0.56 (14.2)	0.64 (16.3)	0.43 (10.9)	0.05 (1.3)	0.07 (1.8)	0.01 (0.3)	0.04 (1)	0.54 (13.7)	0.04 (1)	0.26 (6.6)	0.18 (4.6)	0.62 (15.7)	3.44 (87.4)
Source: NOAA (normals 1981–2010)

Nature and wildlife

Indio is in the Colorado Desert region of the Sonoran Desert. It is adjacent to the geologic Salton Sink and within the site of historic Lake Cahuilla of the Lower Colorado River Valley. Indio is an official National Bird Sanctuary, because of the seasonal bird migration flight routes that cross the town en route to the Salton Sea.

• Geography of the Colorado Desert
• Fauna of the Colorado Desert
• Sonoran Desert wildflowers

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1940	2,296		—
1950	5,300		130.8%
1960	9,745		83.9%
1970	14,459		48.4%
1980	21,611		49.5%
1990	36,793		70.3%
2000	49,116		33.5%
2010	76,036		54.8%
Est. 2014	85,633		12.6%
U.S. Decennial Census

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Indio had a population of 76,036. The population density was 2,604.9 people per square mile (1,005.8/km²). The racial makeup of Indio was 46,735 (61.5%) White (27.0% Non-Hispanic White), 1,805 (2.4%) African American, 741 (1.0%) Native American, 1,693 (2.2%) Asian, 55 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 22,394 (29.5%) from other races, and 2,613 (3.4%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 51,540 persons (67.8%).

There were 23,378 households, out of which 10,522 (45.0%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 13,149 (56.2%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 3,578 (15.3%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1,512 (6.5%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,654 (7.1%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 232 (1.0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 3,859 households (16.5%) were made up of individuals and 1,777 (7.6%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.21. There were 18,239 families (78.0% of all households); the average family size was 3.60.

The population was spread out with 22,879 people (30.1%) under the age of 18, 7,247 people (9.5%) aged 18 to 24, 20,705 people (27.2%) aged 25 to 44, 15,793 people (20.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 9,412 people (12.4%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32.2 years. For every 100 females there were 97.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.5 males.

There were 28,971 housing units at an average density of 992.5 per square mile (383.2/km²), of which 15,274 (65.3%) were owner-occupied, and 8,104 (34.7%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 5.0%; the rental vacancy rate was 12.5%. 46,780 people (61.5% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 28,307 people (37.2%) lived in rental housing units.

During 2009–2013, Indio had a median household income of $50,068, with 21.9% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

2000

As of the census of 2000, there were 49,116 people, 13,871 households, and 11,069 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,840.3 people per square mile (710.5/km²). There were 16,909 housing units at an average density of 633.6 per square mile (244.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 44.4% White, 2.8% Black, 1.0% Native American, 1.5% Asian American, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 42.0% from other races, and 3.9% from two or more races. 65.7% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 13,871 households out of which 48.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.9% were married couples living together, 16.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.2% were non-families. 16.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.5 and the average family size was 3.9.

In the city the population was spread out with 35.3% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 15.2% from 45 to 64, and 9.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females there were 101.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $34,624, and the median income for a family was $35,564. Males had a median income of $25,651 versus $21,093 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,525. About 16.8% of families and 21.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.2% of those under age 18 and 12.0% of those age 65 or over.

Hispanic enclave

As of 2015, Indio's population is 68% of Hispanic origin, although there were estimates as high as 75%. 1930 Census records stated Indio had 60% of Spanish and Mexican descent, but declined by half to 30% by 1970 then rose again to 58% in 1990.

The Mexican American presence in Indio dates back for over a century since the arrival of Traqueros or railroad laborers employed by Southern Pacific settled in Indio by 1910. The need for farm labor, construction, golf resorts and domestic jobs in the Palm Springs area is responsible for turning Indio to a magnet for Mexican immigrants.

In the mid 20th century, the Old Town section was the main area of Indio's Hispanic/Latino population. Since 1980, North and East, and now South and older West sections have majority Mexican-American and Central American populations. Residential segregation used to be common in Indio, but Hispanics now live in all parts of the town.

Population growth

In the past quarter a century (from 1984 to 2008), Indio has grown many times its previous size. Indio handles unprecedented growth for being a select area of choice for thousands of new residents per year: an estimated 25 new residents are added per day.

City leaders and other locals are expanding city public services, including recreation activities, commercial retail centers and industrial complexes.

The 2010 United States Census recorded the city's population to be about 76,000 residents, but doesn't estimate seasonal residents (Indio may have 90-100,000 residents by New Years day).

Economy

Two major contributions to the local economy are year-round agriculture and tourism, although the majority of tourist activity is seasonal between October and May.

Agriculture

Indio has been one of Southern California's most important agricultural regions, once responsible for a large percentage of the nation's date crop; however, with all the new residential and recreational development, the date groves are now more limited to the south and southeast of Indio. Even the grove of date palm trees at the Riverside County Fair and national Date Festival grounds have been torn out by the county.

Travelers from around the world still can stop by Shields Date Gardens, a date grower that maintains a large retail store along State Highway 111 in Indio. There are citrus groves and vegetable fields surrounding the city limits, but rapid development of new housing tracts and golf courses in the "East Valley" in the 1990s and 2000s has displaced most of the agricultural space.

Employment and job growth

In recent years, Indio served as a magnet of job opportunities for immigrants, and newcomers from parts of California and across the nation. Job fields, such as agriculture, construction, hospitality (hotel resorts), maintenance, and retail and housekeeping are highly needed in the area.

In fact light industry is not a new thing in Indio. In the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, the Bank of America-owned Giannini Research Institute, Kaiser Inc. and Cabazon Firearms had contracts with both NASA and the US Armed Forces that produced ammunition, computer parts, moon rover parts for the Apollo landing program and train engines for the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Indio sought more corporate businesses and office professions, including fruit packing and shipping firms. Locally based United States Filter Corporation, Guy Evans Inc., Dimare Fruit Co., West Coast Turf and Japanese-owned Sun World Inc.; and move-in companies such as Borden, Coca-Cola, Ernie Ball, Ernst and Young, Ferguson, Fulton Distributors, Guthy-Renker, Konami, Pulte Homes, Sunrise Company, SunScape Tech and Tala Industries choose Indio for the location of transport routes, low economical costs and growth potential.

Top employers

According to the City's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

#	Employer	# of Employees
1	County of Riverside	1,351
2	Desert Sands Unified School District	1,090
3	John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital	530
4	City of Indio	308
5	Boulder West Components	200
6	Tidwell Concrete Construction	110
7	Mathis Brothers	104
8	The Home Depot	103
9	La Hacienda Nursery & Landscape	76
10	PHP Contracting	60

Native American gaming

Two Native American owned casinos in and near Indio are the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, owned by the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians and the Spotlight 29 Casino, owned by the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians.

Arts and culture

Annual events

Because of the numerous festivals and special events held annually in Indio, the Chamber of Commerce deemed Indio's official nickname to be: "The City of Festivals." The Date Festival/County Fairgrounds is a facility that hosts various events year round such as music concerts, 4x4 monster truck rallies, rodeos or other special events.

Two major annual festivals are the National Date Festival and the Indio International Tamale Festival. Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival is held each February at the Riverside County Fairgrounds, located on Highway 111 in the heart of Indio. Since 1947, this festival has celebrated the date fruit crop of the Coachella Valley. The Tamale Festival is held each December on the streets of Old Town Indio and holds one Guinness World Record as the largest tamale festival (120,000 in attendance, Dec. 2-3, 2000) and once held the record for the world's largest tamale, [over in diameter and in length], created by Chef John Sedlar but that record has since been surpassed by another.

In 1993, Paul Tollett, president of Goldenvoice, booked a Pearl Jam concert at the Empire Polo Club in Indio and six years later the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was born. Since 2001, Coachella has been an annual event that has brought notable music acts to the desert, including: Prince, Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Pixies, The Cure, The White Stripes, Jay-Z, Tool, Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, Roger Waters and several others. Coachella extended the festival to three days in 2007 and in 2010, organizers did away with single-day tickets, offering instead three-day passes. Whatever changes the Coachella festival makes, it continues to draw large amounts of concertgoers to Indio and the Empire Polo Club—a venue that Rolling Stone said possessed a "lush beauty... that made the desert seem very far away."

In May 2007, Goldenvoice, promoters of Coachella, started Stagecoach, a two-day country music festival held the weekend following the Coachella. Performers have included George Strait, Kenny Chesney, the Eagles, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, and Kid Rock.

Indio is also the site of the annual Southwest Arts Festival, the Cabazon Indian National Pow Wow, the Palm Springs Kennel Club's Annual Dog Show and Rhythm, Wine and Brews Festival at the Empire Polo Club, Heritage Festival at the Coachella Valley History Museum and the Family Motor Coach Association's Annual Western Region RV Rally at the Fairgrounds.

The Fantasy Springs Resort Casino is located in Indio.

Points of interest

The Coachella Valley History Museum [1] on Miles Avenue in Indio, has a two-acre campus, which currently includes the Smiley-Tyler House, built in 1926, the 1909 Schoolhouse, and the Date Museum dedicated to the history and development of the fruit (the only date museum in the world), plus gardens and archives preserving historical artefacts of the Coachella Valley.

Indio Hills Palms, state park property, are native California fan palms that thrive in many locations but rarely in such numbers as in the canyons of the Indio Hills. Here, along a line where the San Andreas fault captures groundwater that nurtures the palms, is a wild parkland which is part of the adjacent Coachella Valley Preserve. The park contains some fine native palm groves that include Indian, Hidden, Pushawalla, Biskra, Macomber and Horseshoe palms. The nearest palm groves are relatively easy to reach from the trailhead and parking area 4 miles (6 km) north of Indio. There are currently no marked access roads to the property.

Indio's old town historic mural program

In the fall of 1996 the Indio Chamber of Commerce formed a committee to develop a Historic Mural Project to help revitalize the local economy at the time of the statewide economic recession. Several communities have benefited from similar programs, such as Chemainus, Canada; El Paso, Texas; and Eureka, Bishop, Needles, & 29 Palms in California, as well the famous Chicano Park mural to commemorate Hispanic-American life in Barrio Logan, San Diego in the late 1970s.

It began with a suggestion to start a mural project first brought to the city by David Hernandez, a former Indio city council member, after he visited Chemainus. Very little happened with this concept until 1996, when the Riverside County National Date Festival's executive director Bruce Latta and commissioned artist Bill Weber of San Francisco to paint a mural of the Taj Mahal on the Taj Mahal (Garden of Allah) building at the fairgrounds. At the same time, local businessman Bruce Clark, who was instrumental in promoting Historic U.S. Route 99 (Indio Blvd.) to its former status as the Main Street of California. He maintains a website on Historic Route 99 (http://www.indiocaroute99.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/). He brought the mural idea forward again, after seeing the success of a similar local program in 29 Palms. When Clark presented the idea to the chamber board of directors the idea was immediately recognized as something that could help the city's economy by encouraging tourism. Indio now has ten murals about the city on the sides of various buildings in old town or a water reservoir tank on Monroe Street.

Politics

In the California State Legislature, Indio is in the 28th Senate District, represented by Republican Jeff Stone, and in the 56th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Eduardo Garcia.

In the United States House of Representatives, Indio is in California's 36th congressional district, represented by Democrat Raul Ruiz.

Riverside County’s East branch offices are located in Indio.

According to the Riverside County voter registrar, a majority in Indio are affiliated with the Democratic party, while other portions of the Coachella Valley tend to affiliate with the Republican party.

Education

Indio is served by two public school districts: Desert Sands Unified and on the city's south eastern corner, Coachella Valley Unified. Desert Sands' headquarters is located in La Quinta.

Indio's six elementary and two middle schools are highly rated under the California Distinguished Schools program. Because of Indio's growing population and above-average number of young people with families, the two school districts are expanding, with plans on building more schools, along with remodeling the older ones with new buildings and designs.

Schools in or near Indio:

Desert Sands Unified

• ELEMENTARY (grades K-5): Carrillo Ranch, Dr. Reynaldo J. Carreon Jr. Academy, Amelia Earhart (Int'l studies), John Adams, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover, Andrew Jackson, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, James Madison, James Monroe (in Bermuda Dunes), Theodore Roosevelt, Martin Van Buren, and Horizon Elementary (independent studies) in La Quinta.
• MIDDLE/JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS (grades 6-8): La Quinta middle Desert Ridge Academy (Fall 2009); Thomas Jefferson; Indio Middle; Woodrow Wilson; John Glenn (Int'l studies) (California Distinguished School); and Horizon Middle (independent studies) in La Quinta.
• HIGH SCHOOLS (grades 9-12): Indio High; La Quinta High in La Quinta; Shadow Hills (Fall 2009); Amistad High, a continuation high school; and Horizon High (independent studies) in La Quinta.
• ADULT SCHOOL: Courses include: GED TEST preparation, ESL Beg/Int/Adv classes, Citizenship classes, a RossettaStone Language lab, and more.

Coachella Valley Unified schools

• ELEMENTARY (grades K-5): Mountain Vista Elementary.
• MIDDLE/JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS (grades 6-8): Cahuilla Desert Academy.
• HIGH SCHOOLS (grades 9-12): Coachella Valley High and Desert Mirage High, both in Thermal.

Private schools

Grace Academy (K-8), Indio Christian Center (1-12), River Springs Charter School (K-12), Our Lady of Perpetual Help (PK-8), Trinity Lutheran Child Development Center (PK, K) and Christian School of the Desert (PK-12), located in nearby Bermuda Dunes.

Higher Education

In 2002, College of the Desert, or C.O.D., the valley's community college, opened an East valley campus facility in the Riverside County Employment Developmental Center located on Monroe Street. Recently, it has expanded its classes to a new "East Valley" Educational center in Mecca.

Riverside County has a Regional Occupational Program facility in Indio that provides vocational educational courses in the Coachella valley's job market.

The California Desert Trial Academy School of Law was approved by the California State Bar as an unaccredited fixed facility law school in Indio and is currently holding classes in the County Law Library in Indio while plans move forward on the school constructing its own campus buildings in downtown Indio.

Media

The Indio Date Palm was an early paper established in 1912 by John Winfield (J. Win) Wilson.

Three daily newspapers serve Indio, the Desert Sun, Riverside-based the Press-Enterprise and the Los Angeles Times are available in markets, coffee shops and book stores. Indio is served by several free weekly publications, as well as The Sun Runner Magazine, based out of Joshua Tree, but covering the California desert region.

Indio has ten local television stations serving the Coachella Valley, and six Spanish-language networks (local or regional affiliates like KUNA-LP and KVER-CA), some are over-air signals from Mexico. About eight Los Angeles television stations are available on cable and satellite service.

Three out of 20 Palm Springs area's radio stations are licensed to Indio: KESQ 1400 AM (in Spanish) owned by KESQ-TV/KDFX-CD, KKUU 92.7 FM (Urban/Hip-hop/R&B) owned by Morris Communications, and classic rock KRHQ 102.3 FM owned by RM Broadcasting. However, none of the stations have their offices or studios in Indio. KESQ is located in Palm Desert; both KKUU and KRHQ are located in Palm Springs.

Public safety

Indio has its own police department.

The city of Indio contracts for fire and paramedic services with the Riverside County Fire Department through a cooperative agreement with CAL FIRE. Indio has 4 fire stations utilizing 4 engine companies, 3 paramedic ambulances and 1 truck company.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Bermuda Dunes Airport (FAA designator: UDD) is on the north-western border of Indio, along I-10 just west of Jefferson Street. It 5,000-foot (1,500 m) runway and serves small private planes, air carriers and commuter jets. The Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal just a few minutes from Indio is named for the famous 1920s pilot and Indio resident and used for cargo planes to ship agricultural products, also on the four-lane California State Route 86S expressway or the "NAFTA highway" (in reference to the North American Free Trade Agreement) for international traffic.

The Greyhound and Amtrak passenger buses have a highly used bus depot in downtown Indio, where buses stop by regularly on the way to stops in Southern California, Arizona and the Mexican border. A recently approved plan for a new transportation center for Greyhound and Amtrak. The city is served by the local bus line SunLine Transit Agency ("SunBus"), which services much of the Coachella Valley. Its substation is located on Highway 111 and Golf Center Drive, part of business route 10 that connects Indio and Coachella. Highway 111 runs through the city which connects the northern end with the I-10 in Whitewater, CA to the southern end in Mexicali.

Health care

John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital is a General Acute Care Hospital in Indio with Basic Emergency Services as of 2006. One of three hospitals in the Coachella Valley, JFK hospital has one of the state's busiest maternity wards and in 2005, opened a new maternity center in part of hospital expansion plan for more surgical rooms, intensive care units and a new concrete emergency heliport. The Indio (renamed John F. Kennedy) hospital opened in a new location in 1983 on land donated by hospital co-founder Dr. Reynaldo J. Carreon.

Parks and recreation

The city of Indio has 18 public parks (all operated by the City of Indio), a city-operated park near the municipal golf course, a community recreation center, a new senior center located one block from the new teen center located across from Indio High school and a Desert Park wildlife refuge north of 40th and 42nd Avenues.

• City of Indio Park.
• Miles Avenue Park near the Coachella Valley History Museum.
• Doug York Plaza.
• Downtown Indio Park (Grass lot).
• Fiesta Tamale Park (Grass lot).
• Indio Community Center and Park, across from Indio High School.
• South Jackson Park with Pawley Pool facility, a soccer field, a little league baseball stadium (Davis Sports Complex) and a YMCA/Boys & Girls club.
• North Jackson Park, near Jackson School.
• Tingman Park under the Jackson street bridge/Indio Boulevard (Historic US Route 99), named for city co-founder Pat Tingman.
• Dominguez Park on Crown Way, named for Al Dominguez, the city's first Mexican-American councilman in the 1950s/1960s.
• Carreon-Nobles Ranch Park with water tower arts mural of local history.
• Yucca (Lane) Park-Playground.
• Cahuilla Park- formerly called Indio Terrace Park.
• Shields/Westside Park-Playground.
• George S. Patton Park.
• Hjorth Park-Playground.
• Mulligan Dog park.
• Nairobi Village park.

And there is the Indio Hills Palms County Park north of the city.

Notable people

2

Pop culture

Indio has appeared in movies, television and music.

The city's namesake appeared on a circus poster in a fast food joint scene of the 1990 comedy movie Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. A little league record-holding batter from Indio was one of the talented youth athletes on the intro of sports comedy movie Jerry Maguire.

Indio was also the site of an episode of Monster Garage in which a Ford Mustang convertible was converted into a lawn mower. Huell Howser's state travel show California Gold stopped by "Old Town Indio" to report on the city's older dwellings had swamp coolers for permanent residents to stay cool in the summer.

In addition, Visiting. . . with Huell Howser came to the 1997 Indio International Tamale Festival (episode #529) where he spent time eating tamales and interviewing various vendors and visitors at the Festival. He returned to the festival the next couple of years to serve as a judge in the Best Tamale Contest.

The Jackie & Bender morning show's Harry Potter E! True Hollywood Story parody mentions Indio as the town that Harry Potter is arrested in during a Meth lab bust.

On October 11, 1991 Jimmy Swaggart was pulled over on Indio Blvd. Swaggart was with the company of a prostitute that admitted that Swaggart had propositioned for sex. There is a plaque marking the gas station location where Swaggart was arrested.

Indio was a location for film, The Beast with a Million Eyes, starring Dona Cole and Chester Conklin.

An episode of the animated The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show titled The Ruby Yacht of Omar Khayyam announces the upcoming second installment of the episode as Rimsky & Korsakov Go to Palm Springs, or Song of Indio.

Indio was mentioned 3 times on the Phil Hendrie Show radio comedy, once about the bus station, a car wash business and a grocery store that the host made jokes about his travels in the city.

ABC's Scoundrels is set in Indio and other Desert Cities' however, it is being filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Big 4 of thrash metal, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax played the first U.S. Big 4 show at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio.

"Indio" is the opening track on the 2012 album 'Coyote' by Matt Mays. It makes reference to "some of that old fashioned California sin".

"Indio" was the name chosen by Canadian folk singer Gordon Peterson's environmental project album, "Big Harvest" (1989), featuring the hit, (big) Hard Sun, which was also covered by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. The name "Indio" came to Peterson in the California desert when he was driving to Mexico, and Indio was the last town he traveled through before crossing the border.

Miscellaneous

The annual National Date Festival's main attraction is the nightly musical pageant Arabian Nights in an open-air amphitheater. After the National Date Festival, a "SuperFiesta del Sinaloa" follows to honor Indio's historic ties with the Mexican state of Sinaloa, a large source of local immigration. A great amount of immigrants also come from the Mexican state of Michoacán, especially from the municipalities of Jiquilpan, Sahuayo and even from small communities such as La Lagunita and Paredones.

The Landmark Golf Club opened in 1998 and had the Skins Game for four years. It is now known as Terra Lago and includes the residential community of Terra Lago. There are golf courses in Indio: such as the Plantation, Heritage Palms, Sun City Shadow Hills, Indian Springs and Indian Palms. The Indio (municipal) Golf Club is the second longest par-3 executive course in the USA, it is the only night lighted course in the Coachella Valley and is open until 10:00 PM.

It has two world famous polo clubs: Empire and Eldorado on the city's southwestern end that hold annual polo and special events. The Prince of Wales and Sarah, Duchess of York were seen in the polo clubs.

The local electricity provider, Imperial Irrigation District rates are 30% less on their electric bills than neighbors to the west, under Southern California Edison. In 2001, Forbes magazine designated part of the Valley that included Indio west of Monroe Street (and nearby La Quinta, Bermuda Dunes and Indian Wells, all the way to Gene Autry Trail in Palm Springs) as one of America's wealthiest areas.

In 1999, Larry Fortensky one of actress Elizabeth Taylor's husbands, was arrested for drug possession near Indio. In the following year (2000), actor Robert Downey Jr. attended trial for drug possession (he was in Palm Springs) in the Larson Justice Center county court house with media coverage.

Sister cities

• Mexicali – International Sister Cities program.

Also the city had a chamber of commerce relationship with the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

Indio had city-to-city economic exchange programs with San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Mexico in the Sister Cities International (SCI) program. There are similar inter-city exchange agreements with Lynwood, California; Farmington, Minnesota; and American Fork, Utah in the U.S., and officials from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games visited the 2010 National Date Festival to promote the Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada area.

External links

• Indio Chamber of Commerce website
• The Desert Sun, Coachella Valley Newspaper
• Indio at DMOZ