La Quinta (Spanish for “The Fifth”) is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States. Take a look below for 15 interesting and obscure facts about La Quinta, California, United States.

1. Located between Indian Wells and Indio, it is one of the nine cities of the Coachella Valley.

2. The population was 37,467 at the 2010 census, up from 23,694 at the 2000 census. The Robb Report credits La Quinta as the leading golf destination in the US.

3. Among those destinations is the La Quinta Resort and Club, a resort dating to 1926, where director Frank Capra wrote the screenplay for Lost Horizon. The Tom Fazio-designed golf course at The Quarry at La Quinta is ranked among the top 100 golf courses in the United States.

4. In January 2008, the Arnold Palmer Classic Course at the city’s SilverRock Golf Resort became one of the four host golf courses for the annual Bob Hope Chrysler Classic PGA golf tournament.

5. The Cahuilla Indians were the first inhabitants of La Quinta.

6. In 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.

7. In 1926, 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.

8. 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).

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. The city has been home to a number of celebrity residents, including the late Merv Griffin. 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, La Quinta’s first equestrian-oriented resort residential neighborhood.

12. Two city restaurants are owned by notable residents including professional golfer Arnold Palmer, The Arnold Palmer Restaurant, and Devane’s Old Town, owned and operated by actor William Devane. Both restaurants are located in the La Quinta Village.

13. Additionally, the musician/actor Tyler Hilton, professional golfer Anthony Kim, and singer/dancer Aubrey O’Day of Danity Kane were also former residents of La Quinta, and all three attended La Quinta High School.

14. Colonel Mitchell Paige is a World War II Medal of Honor veteran who resided in nearby Palm Desert and had a middle school in La Quinta named for him.

15. NFL Football player Jeff Webb of the Kansas City Chiefs went to La Quinta High School, though he lived in Indio. Another local and pro football player, Oscar Lua played for the New England Patriots. Current NFL player James Dockery grew up in neighboring Palm Desert and attended Palm Desert High School.