Rancho Mirage, CA

Rancho Mirage is a city located in Riverside County, California. The population was 33,814 at the 2010 census. Rancho Mirage is known for its luxury real estate and golf courses. The city is also home to the University of California, Riverside which has a campus in Rancho Mirage.

The history of Rancho Mirage can be traced back to 1876 when John D. Spreckels purchased 640 acres of land in what is now Rancho Mirage from the Mexican government for $60,000. At that time, the area was known as " Spreckelsville." In 1882, he built his first adobe house on this land and called it "El Mirador." In 1886 he built a second house on the property and called it "The Palms." These two houses are now part of the John D. Spreckels State Historic Park.

In 1889, Mr. Spreckels hired Frederick Law Olmsted to design a landscape for his property which became known as El Mirador Estate or simply El Mirador. Olmsted designed several gardens including an English garden with clipped yews and formal flower beds; an Italian garden with cypresses and statuary; a Japanese garden with a pond; and an American garden with fruit trees and flowers such as roses, lilies-of-the-valley, camellias and magnolias.

In 1904 Mr. Spreckels hired another famous landscape architect named George Washington Smith to redesign El Mirador Estate into what we now know as The Palms Hotel & Resort which opened on December 8th of that year. Smith redesigned many parts of the hotel including adding Spanish Colonial Revival architecture throughout much of its exterior while keeping much of Olmsted's original design inside including terra cotta tile floors in some areas and ornate plaster ceilings in others such as the ballroom which still features its original crystal chandeliers from 1904!

In 1922 Mr. Spreckels' son-in-law Walter Annenberg bought El Mirador Estate from Mr. Spreckels' estate for $2 million dollars (which at that time was equivalent to over $30 million today). Annenberg renamed El Mirador " Rancho Mirage" after his family's ranch in New Mexico where he had grown up horseback riding! In 1944 Annenberg sold Rancho Mirage to developer Averell Harriman who developed it into one of Southern California's most luxurious resort towns complete with golf courses (including Arnold Palmer's first course), tennis courts (including Arthur Ashe's first tennis court), swimming pools (including one that held President Franklin D Roosevelt), movie theaters (including Grauman's Chinese Theatre) , spas (including one owned by actress Marilyn Monroe) , restaurants (including Charlie Trotter's) , shopping malls (including The Shops at Mission Viejo) , etc... Today Rancho Mirage remains one of Southern California’s most popular luxury resort destinations boasting over 30 hotels ranging from 5 star resorts like The Ritz Carlton®, Four Seasons®, Sheraton®, Westin®, St Regis® & more down to more modest 3 star resorts like Best Western®, Days Inn® & Hampton Inn® .