La Quinta Resort and Club Front Entrance

The La Quinta Resort & Club is a historic resort in present-day

La Quinta, California La Quinta ( Spanish for "The Fifth") is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States. Located between Indian Wells and Indio, it is one of the nine cities of the Coachella Valley. The population was 37,467 at the 2010 c ...

. Designed by

Gordon Kaufmann Gordon Bernie Kaufmann (19 March 1888 – 1 March 1949) was an English-born American architect mostly known for his work on the Hoover Dam. Early life On 19 March 1888, Kaufmann was born in Forest Hill, London, England. Education K ...

and built by Walter H. Morgan, the hotel opened in 1926 as a desert getaway. Originally built as a series of adobe bungalows on of fruit trees at the foot of the Santa Rosa Mountains in an area originally named "Marshall's Cove" and now referred to simply as "La Quinta Cove," the La Quinta Resort & Club now has 796 casitas, suites, and villas, 41 swimming pools, 53 whirlpool spas, Spa La Quinta, over of meeting facilities, 23 tennis courts, 11 retail outlets, 7 restaurants, and 90 holes of

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

, both on-property and at nearby

PGA WEST PGA West is a set of 6 golf courses located in La Quinta, California. The PGA West Stadium Course was designed by Pete Dye and is viewed as the sequel to the TPC at Sawgrass. It was inspired by the Scottish links-style courses and at one point ...

, designed by

Pete Dye Paul Dye Jr. (December 29, 1925 – January 9, 2020), known as Pete Dye, was an American golf course designer and a member of a family of course designers. He was married to fellow designer and amateur champion Alice Dye. Early life Dye was ...

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...

and

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman AO (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian entrepreneur and retired professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 89 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA Tour tournament ...

. The courses regularly play host to the

Bob Hope Chrysler Classic The Desert Classic (currently known as The American Express for sponsorship reasons; previously known as the CareerBuilder Challenge, Palm Springs Golf Classic, the Bob Hope Desert Classic, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, and the Humana Challen ...

charity golf tournament. La Quinta was expanded to its current size by Landmark Land Company in 1989.

Hollywood

A hangout for star celebrities since its inception, La Quinta Resort's greatest claim to fame is as the site which film director and frequent guest

Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s ...

wrote the screenplay for ''

Lost Horizon ''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called ''Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by director Frank Capra. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamaser ...

'' poolside in 1937. Both La Quinta Resort & Club and PGA WEST were acquired by the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, the real estate investment fund of

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

, in 2007. In 2011, lenders including Paulson & Co., Winthrop Realty Trust and Capital Trust foreclosed on 8 of the former CNL hotels. in 2013, the owners reached a deal to sell the La Quinta and three other properties to the

Government of Singapore Investment Corporation GIC Private Limited is a sovereign wealth fund in Singapore that manages its foreign reserves. Established by the Government of Singapore in 1981 as the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, its mission is to preserve and enhance the ...

Hilton Hotels Corporation Hilton Worldwide (legally Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.) is an American multinational hospitality company that manages and franchises a broad portfolio of hotels and resorts. Founded by Conrad Hilton in May 1919, the corporation is now led b ...

, based in

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxim ...

, manages the hotel as a member of Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts. In July 2020,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

reality dating show ''

The Bachelorette A bachelorette is an unmarried woman. Bachelorette may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Bachelorette'', a reality television dating show part of ''The Bachelor'' franchise with numerous versions: ** ''The Bachelorette'' (American TV ser ...

'' began filming its sixteenth season in La Quinta, as all hotels were closed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in California Ten of the first twenty confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States occurred in California, the first of which was confirmed on January 26, 2020. All of the early confirmed cases were persons who had recently travelled to China, as testing wa ...

References

External links

*
''Palm Springs Life'' article on the history of La Quinta Resort
La Quinta, California Hotels in California Buildings and structures in Riverside County, California La Quinta, Resort Resorts in California Golf clubs and courses in California Golf clubs and courses designed by Pete Dye Hilton Hotels & Resorts hotels Hotels established in 1926 1926 establishments in California Tourist attractions in Riverside County, California {{California-sports-venue-stub