Cathedral City, California

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The "Fountain of Life" in front of the city hall

Cathedral City is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 42,647 at the 2000 census. Sandwiched between Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, it is one of the cities in the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs area) of southern California.

The town's name derives from "Cathedral Canyon" to the south of the town, so named in 1850 by Henry Washington because its rock formations were reminiscent of a cathedral. The city itself started as a housing subdivision in 1925, but was not incorporated until 1981. The city grew 4-5 times in two decades, as the 2006 population estimate is 48,000.

Locals gave it the nickname "Cat City", short for Cathedral. Others like historians claim that came from the reputation as a slinger gaming gulch in the late 1800]s, and a safe haven for bars or saloons during prohibition of the 1920's. There are locals opposed to the nickname they believe gave Cathedral City a bad name and negative image of a place full of low-income families, homeless drifters and youth gang crime.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Geography

Cathedral City is located at 33°48′28″N, 116°27′53″W (33.807761, -116.464731)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 50.4 km² (19.5 mi²). 49.7 km² (19.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.7 km² (0.3 mi²) of it (1.44%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 42,647 people, 14,027 households, and 9,622 families residing in the city. The population density was 858.5/km² (2,224.0/mi²). There were 17,893 housing units at an average density of 360.2/km² (933.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 65.29% White, 2.74% Black or African American, 1.03% Native American, 3.69% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 23.06% from other races, and 4.11% from two or more races. 49.97% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Cathedral City always had Hispanics, mainly of Mexican-American descent and are attracted to domestic and resort jobs in nearby Palm Springs and Palm Desert. Other racial and ethnic groups are represented in a notably tolerant, but culturally stratified city. According to the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce puts the city's Latino percentage over half or 60 percent. The bulk of Latinos live in the older central sections and the section locally known as "little Mexico" replaced the negative label "the Square Mile" on Ramon Road, from Cathedral canyon Drive to Landau Blvd. Another densely Hispanic section is called "the Golden Mile" on Date Palm Drive, from Ramon Road to 30th Ave, and "el Barrio Viejo" from Date Palm dr. from Dinah Shore to Gerald Ford Drives.

There were 14,027 households out of which 39.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.7% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.4% were non-families. 23.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.03 and the average family size was 3.63, which is above state and national average. Young couples and singles, esp. the gay and lesbian community picked Cathedral City their home, because of the proximity to the "Village" of Palm Springs and the large availability of apartment units.

In the city the population was spread out with 31.1% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 17.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 102.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.0 males. Cathedral City has a dozen senior citizen communities and mobile home parks, some have golf pars, tennis courts and amentities.

The median income for a household in the city was $38,887, and the median income for a family was $42,461. Males had a median income of $29,598 versus $25,289 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,215. About 10.2% of families and 13.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.3% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over, despite Cathedral City has a history being a retirement haven.

[edit] Trivia

Cathedral City had a downtown revitalization program in the late 1990's, completed in 2005, called for a permanent building to have City hall, an IMAX/ Mary Pickford movie theater complex, and a total of 130 acres of new or remodeled stores.

The Field of Dreams softball complex on the corner of Date Palm and Dinah Shore drives, made up of four softball fields designed as replicas of four major league ballparks. The Pepsi All-Star Softball Game was held there since 1998.

Cathedral City High School opened in 1991 is a major educational and recreational center to the city. The varsity football and basketball teams had earned CIF-southern California championship runs in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

In 1991, Wal-Mart selected Cathedral City (and La Quinta) as one of the company's first stores in California, but the Cathedral City store closed and moved to a supercenter in nearby Palm Springs in 2004.

Three hotels: The Elm nearby the Outdoor Resorts RV resort first opened in 1964, Doral Resorts-Desert Princess is a hotel on a golf course, and the new Radisson Resorts in downtown on the corner of State Highway 111 and Date Palm Drive.

The neighborhood of Minerva Drive has an annual christmas time light event every December. The homeowners heavily decorate the block's 35 homes and lawns, and streetlights are even covered in holiday decor draws in tens of thousands of spectactors to Minerva Drive for a look.

Cathedral City hosts an annual Mexican independence festival every third weekend of September, also has an "el Grito de Dolores" to commemorate the event. The city has an economic partnership with the Mexican state of Jalisco, a large source of local immigration.

Chicano folk musician, Lalo Guerrero lived in Cathedral City in his final years. Also the city was the teenage home of actress Suzanne Somers, and a winter residence for actors Robert Duvall in the 1960s and Monty Hall in the 1990s.