Palm Springs, California

Palm Springs is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 55 mi (89 km) east of San Bernardino, 107 mi (172 km) east of Los Angeles, 123 mi (198 km) northeast of San Diego, and 268 mi (431 km) west of Phoenix, Arizona. The population was 44,552 as of the 2010 census. Palm Springs covers approximately 94 square miles (240 km²), making it the largest city in the county by land area.

Biking, golf, hiking, horseback riding, swimming, and tennis in the nearby desert and mountain areas are major forms of recreation in Palm Springs. The city is also famous for its mid-century modern architecture and design elements.

History

Founding

Native American settlement

Archaeological research has shown that the Cahuilla people have lived in the area for the past 350–500 years. The Cahuilla name for the area was "Se-Khi" (boiling water). When the Agua Caliente Reservation was established by the United States government in 1896, the reservation land was composed of alternating sections (640 acres) of land laid out across the desert in a checkerboard pattern. The alternating non-reservation sections were granted to the Southern Pacific Railroad as an incentive to bring rail lines through the open desert.

Palm Springs (film)

Palm Springs (alternate title: Palm Springs Affair) is a 1936 film directed by Aubrey Scotto which features an early performance by David Niven.

Plot

The Earl of Blythstone's gambling losses have left him with debts. Unaware of this is daughter Joan, who is in finishing school but has gambling issues of her own, getting expelled after being caught doing exactly that.

Identifying himself as Captain Smith, the earl travels to Palm Springs, California. In time his daughter pursues him there, and is surprised when a wealthy man named George Brittel at a casino identifies the man as a cheat, unaware that "Captain Smith" is the girl's father.

Joan decides to land a rich husband. Believing her to be Lady Sylvia, daughter of the earl, Brittel is immediately interested. So is a cowboy called Slim, who even gives Joan a horse.

Aunt Letty invites a British counsel of her acquaintance, Bruce Morgan, to come visit Palm Springs and help sort things out. The earl explains his situation and why he is using a different name. Joan accepts a proposal of marriage from Brittel, who balks when he learns she is not a woman of wealth. Slim takes her back with open arms.

Palm Springs station

Palm Springs is a train station in Palm Springs, California, United States, served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system. The Sunset Limited and the Texas Eagle, combined, provide a thrice-weekly service in each direction.

This is not a full-service station. It is only a platform and open-air shelter with a roof built in 1999. There are no services offered. It is approximately 7 miles (11 km) from downtown Palm Springs, and there are no connecting transportation services between the station and downtown except for taxi cabs.

Ridership

Ridership at the Palm Springs station has steadily declined in recent years, in large part due to the normally inconvenient service times to and from Los Angeles. In FY2010, the station served 6,061 passengers. This declined to 5,897 passengers in FY2011 (-2.71%), and then to 4,945 passengers in FY2012 (-16.14%). As of FY2013, Palm Springs station's ridership further declined to 3,113 passengers, corresponding to an average boarding or detraining of just 8-9 passengers daily, making Palm Springs the 71st-busiest of the 74 stations served by Amtrak in California in FY2013.