La Quinta (a Spanish idiom meaning "the country villa") is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States.

[7] 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.

[9] 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.

La Quinta is located on the floor of the Coachella Valley, and is surrounded on three sides by the Santa Rosa Mountains.

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 Lake Cahuilla, which was fresh water.

[34] As of January 1, 2012, the California Department of Finance Demographic Research Unit estimated the City of La Quinta's population to be 38,075.

According to the 2010 United States Census, La Quinta had a median household income of $72,099, with 8.0% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

Others, in alphabetical order, include: Armenians, Bosnians, British, French, Germans, Italians, Poles and Jews of multiple nationalities.

There are also several RV or mobile home parks in La Quinta with many seasonal residents, common throughout the eastern portion of the Coachella Valley.

Many residents work for the tourist industries in hotels, resorts, golf courses, and nearby casinos.

La Quinta has sought to attract professional businesses, and has benefited from neighboring cities' growth.

[42] The Village District includes private commercial developments such as Old Town and Plaza Calle Tampico, and contain professional offices, the city museum, small tourist-oriented shops and boutiques, and restaurants.

[43] Old Town La Quinta is a commercial real estate development[44][45] of 30 cafes, shops, boutiques, salons, services, and offices.

[51] Public schools directly within the city limits include: Students in north La Quinta are also zoned to the following Desert Sands Unified schools which are near, or directly across in the case of Earhart and Glenn, from the city borders: Police services are provided under contract with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department through the Thermal Station, which also serves the city of Coachella and unincorporated areas of the eastern Coachella Valley.

California State Route 111, the main surface street thoroughfare in the Coachella Valley, passes through La Quinta.

The city hosts multiple stops for the SunLine regional transportation agency, which provides bus service in the Coachella Valley.

Griffin was the driving force behind the annual La Quinta Arts Festival, one of the country's leading plein air art shows, and was instrumental in the development of Griffin Ranch, a equestrian-oriented resort residential neighborhood.