Cathedral City, California

Cathedral City, California
City
Cathedral City Hall
Location in Riverside County and the state of California
Country	United States
State	California
County	Riverside
Government
• mayor	Kathleen J. DeRosa
Area
• Total	19.5 sq mi (50.4 km2)
• Land	19.2 sq mi (49.7 km2)
• Water	0.3 sq mi (0.7 km2)
Elevation	328 ft (100 m)
Population  (2000)
• Total	42,647
• Density	2,187/sq mi (846.2/km2)
Time zone	UTC-8 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP codes	92234-92235
Area code	760
FIPS code	06-12048
GNIS feature ID	1656454

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 1800s, and a safe haven for bars or saloons during prohibition of the 1920s. 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.

Geography

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

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

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 42,647 people, 14,027 households, and 9,622 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,224.0 people per square mile (858.5/km²). There were 17,893 housing units at an average density of 933.1/sq mi (360.2/km²). 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. Roughly half (49.97%) of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

A 2006 study by the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce puts the city's Latino percentage at over 60%. The bulk of Latinos live in the city's older, central section and in the area along Ramon Road between Cathedral Canyon Drive and Landau Boulevard, a section once known as "the Square Mile" but now commonly referred to by the city's denizens as "Little Mexico." To the city's west, along Ramon Road and San Luis Rey Drive, is an area of multi-racial low-income "Dream Homes" politely called "the Circle." Two other largely Hispanic sections of Cathedral City are "the Golden Mile" on Date Palm Drive, from Ramon Road to 30th Avenue and "el Barrio Viejo," also on Date Palm from Dinah Shore to Gerald Ford Drives.

According to the 2000 Census, Cathedral City had a total of 14,027 households, 39.3% of which had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.7% of which were married couples living together, 11.9% of which had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.4% of which were non-families. Approximately 23% of all households were made up of individuals with 11.0% of them consisting of single individuals 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.03 people and the average family size was roughly three and a half people (3.63), which puts Cathedral City above both the California and U.S. averages in those categories. Young couples and singles, and especially the gay and lesbian community are drawn to the city because of its proximity to the Palm Springs and the large availability of apartment units.

As reported in the most recent census, the city's population was distributed across all age groups, 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 many senior citizen communities and mobile home parks.

The median income for a household in the city was $38,887, and the median income for a family was $42,461. Men had a median income of $29,598, and the median income for women was $25,289. The per capita income for the city was $16,215. About 10.2% of families and 13.6% of the total population had incomes below the poverty line, including 16.3% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over (this despite the fact that many consider Cathedral City a retirement haven).

Politics

In the state legislature Cathedral City is located in the 40th Senate District, represented by Democrat Denise Moreno Ducheny, and in the 80th Assembly District, represented by Republican Bonnie Garcia. Federally, Cathedral City is located in California's 45th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of R +3 and is represented by Republican Mary Bono Mack.

Trivia

• Cathedral City had a downtown revitalization program in the late 1990s, 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 (0.53 km²) of new or remodeled stores.

• The Big League Dreams Sports Park 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 1990s and early 2000s.

• Date Palm Country Club and golf course, designed in 1967 and opened in 1971, has an 18-hole "executive style" facility designed by Ted Robinson, ASCCA. It features 3,100 yards (2,800 m) of golf from the longest tees for a par of 58. The course rating is 54.9/57.2 and it has a slope rating of 90/93. It is landscaped in Bermuda Greens and includes lakes and sand traps. The most memorable tee is the 175 yard 8th hole, which has an accurate tee shot over a lake. The Phil Harris Golf Classic was held there for many years. Though built on part of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation, an exclusive retirement community of manufactured homes line the greens. The course is walkable and quiet.

• Forest Lawn - Cathedral City Cemetery and Desert Memorial Park are located in Cathedral City. These parks are across Ramon Boulevard from each other. These cemeteries are visited by many tourists because of those who are buried there. Among them are Frank Sinatra, Alice Faye, Phil Harris, Sonny Bono, "Papa" John Phillips, Jane Wyman, Dinah Shore, George Montgomery, Cameron Mitchell, Harold Robbins, Busby Berkeley, William Powell, Betty Hutton, Guy Madison, Buddy Rogers and many more.

• In 1991, Wal-Mart selected Cathedral City as one of the company's first retail outlets in California, but the store closed when the company opened 2 "Supercenters" nearby, one in nearby Palm Springs and another in La Quinta, both in late 2006.

• Cathedral City boosts of three major resort hotels: The Elm near the Outdoor Resorts RV resort opened in 1964, The Doral Resort-Desert Princess is a hotel and championship golf course and the new Sheraton Resort complex is being built in downtown on the corner of State Highway 111 and Date Palm Drive.

• The neighborhood of Minerva Road has an annual christmas time light event every December since the first event held in 1987. The homeowners heavily decorate the block's 46 homes and lawns, and streetlights are even covered in holiday decor draws in tens of thousands of spectactors to Minerva Road for a look. The street is renamed Candy Cane Lane during this time.

• Cathedral City hosts an annual Mexican Independence Day festival on every third weekend of September, also has an "el Grito de Dolores" to commemorate the event at the city hall/movie theater complex. 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 (she still maintains a second home in nearby Palm Desert), and a winter residence for actors Robert Duvall and Martin Landau in the 1960s, and TV show host Monty Hall in the 1990s. Also US representative and football athlete Jack Kemp owned an auto dealership in Cathedral City.

• Cathedral City has one of the first automobile dealership mega-malls in Riverside County(most are located on Perez Road, just off Highway 111); among the car makers represented are: Chrysler, Lincoln-Mercury, Honda, Toyota-Scion and Cadillac. There was a Volkswagen dealership on Highway 111 (Livreri's Paradise Volkswagen) on Highway 111 for many years until the City of Indio(and VW of America officials) encouraged the Livreri family to move it to an unincorporated area just outside Indio's western boundary.

External links

• Cathedral City homepage
• The Desert Sun, Coachella Valley Newspaper
• Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities Convention & Visitors Authority