The Brief

Each April, tens of thousands of people flock to the heart of the Coachella Valley to camp, dance and let loose at the music festival by that same name.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival features hundreds of performers on some half a dozen stages, spread out across two consecutive three-day weekends. This year, performances by the likes of Lady Gaga, Charli XCX, Post Malone, Benson Boone and even an appearance by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., instantly went viral.

Coachella's diverse lineup, celebrity-studded audience, and ample commercial opportunities for brands and social media influencers make it one of the most popular and profitable music festivals in the world. The event — combined with the country music festival Stagecoach, which is always the following weekend — sold about 250,000 tickets in 2024.

The catch?

Coachella the festival does not actually take place in Coachella the city. Since its founding in 1999, it's been held in nearby Indio. Both are part of the Coachella Valley, which is in Southern California's Colorado Desert and is also home to the cities of Palm Springs and Indian Wells.

"I think a lot of people who come to this area from other places aren't really sure what's what, and I don't think they really care," says Jeff Crider, a freelance writer and historian who has written a book about the Coachella Valley. "I think they just come and want to have a good time."

But it's worth learning about Coachella, both the place and the festival. The Coachella Valley's two primary industries, agriculture and entertainment, have rich histories that intertwine in fascinating ways.

The Coachella Valley is synonymous with wealth and celebrity, given its long list of famous visitors and winter residents, including many former U.S. presidents and Hollywood stars. But the region — which is also known for its agricultural production, particularly dates — is also home to a large population of farmworkers, many of whom are immigrants

"Yes, the rich and famous have winter homes here. Yes, we have some of the most famous entertainment events in the world taking place here," Crider says. "But the majority of the people who live and work out here year round are not rich and famous. Many, many, many of them are struggling to make it."

Celebrities including Zeppo and Harpo Marx play backgammon in Palm Springs in this undated photo.

(

Bettmann Archive

/

‎

)

Where did the word come from? 

Coachella itself was a product of the country's railroad system — and a typo.

As the City of Coachella's website explains, the Southern Pacific Railroad laid the first tracks throughout the valley in 1876, linking it to a growing network of railways across California. A secondary track, called a side spur, was built in present-day Coachella.

"It was literally just like an offramp from the railroad," Crider explains.

A railroad employee named Jason Rector was tasked with clearing the trees in that area, which became known as Woodspur. Rector is credited with becoming the town's first permanent resident and "unofficial mayor" for the rest of his life. He also helped name it.

According to the city's website, during the process of laying out the townsite in 1901, Rector proposed "Conchilla," which means "little shell" in Spanish and references the fossils that were found in the area.

The developers, in agreement, designed a prospectus that would announce the opening of the new town. But the product they got back from the printer misspelled "Conchilla" as "Coachella." Rather than delay the announcement, the founders decided to roll with the name — which the valley itself went on to adopt. The town, however, didn't become a city until 1946.

"'Coachella' was a mistake," Crider says. "They decided just to keep the name, even though 'Coachella' itself does not mean anything. It doesn't mean anything in Spanish, it doesn't mean anything in English, other than the place that we know as Coachella."

In the decades that followed, the region's dry, sunny climate and fertile soil began to attract both farmers and celebrities.

Early growers realized their crops could be ready to harvest long before other regions, and started planting dates and other types of produce to sell without competition. It has an important place in the labor movement too: The first significant farm labor strike — against table grape growers — took place in the Coachella Valley in 1965, led in part by Cesar Chavez.

At the same time, grand hotels like Palm Springs' El Mirador began drawing high-profile visitors from Los Angeles, about 100 miles away. The 1960s further boosted tourism, Crider says, thanks to the interstate and air conditioning.

In other words, Coachella Valley was a prominent venue for golf, tennis and other forms of entertainment long before the music festival came on the scene. Crider says it's been "an escape for the elite literally for a century" — and the Coachella festival has only made the area more famous since then.

"Because just like in the 1920's and '30s, when you had the photos of the Hollywood stars lounging by the swimming pool that made this place famous 100 years ago, today what makes this place famous is having pictures of the latest celebrities, Lady Gaga, for example, and others who are at Coachella right now," Crider adds. "They're making this place famous, but they're making the whole valley famous."

It took a few years for the Coachella festival — pictured here in April 2001 — to grow into the phenomenon it is today.

(

Tim Mosenfelder

/

Getty Images

)

How has the word been used over time?

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival made its debut in early October 1999, with headliners including Beck and Rage Against the Machine and tickets costing $50 a day.

It was the brainchild of concert promoters Rick Van Santen and Paul Tollett, organized by Tollett's company Goldenvoice — which made its name in the 1980s booking punk rock acts that other promoters wouldn't.

Tollett also helped the band Pearl Jam book alternate venues during its boycott of Ticketmaster after a dispute in the early 1990s. One of their gigs ended up at the Empire Polo Club — and showed Tollett how prime the venue could be for the large-scale festival of his dreams.

Coachella's organizers hoped to emulate the multi-act, days-long music festivals that were so popular overseas, such as those in Reading and Glastonbury in the United Kingdom.

"For Southern California, this could be the start of something really special," Tollett told the Los Angeles Times in 1999.

But that first year wasn't a huge success, in part because of the intentional lack of corporate sponsors, blazing triple-digit temperatures and a drop in advance ticket sales after Woodstock '99 descended into violence. Tollett revealed much later that the festival's first year cost the company $750,000.

Coachella took a break in 2000 and returned in 2001, this time scaled back to a single day and scheduled for the milder weather of April. Its lineups, ticket prices and crowd sizes kept growing.

"The desert town of Indio has become the unlikely location of one of the hottest music festivals in the country," NPR's Stacey Bond reported in 2004.

That was the year tickets sold out for the first time, drawing a crowd of 120,000 to see acts including Radiohead and The Cure, as well the reunited Pixies (the first of many reunions on the Coachella stage).

Coachella has expanded and evolved over the years: It eliminated single-day tickets in favor of three-day passes in 2010, added a second weekend starting in 2012 and increasingly broke attendance records until the city increased its cap to 125,000 in 2017.

These days, general admission passes start around $600, not including extra fees for camping and parking. The festival that originally resisted sponsorship deals now boasts dozens of corporate partners, including food, beverage and cosmetic companies.

And while it still showcases dozens of the moment's biggest artists (144 acts this year), it's about much more than just music, especially in the era of social media and influencers.

"The word 'Coachella' itself has become shorthand for a tastemaker event," the Los Angeles Times declared in 2019, the festival's 20th anniversary.

Festivalgoers enjoy the first weekend of the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club on Sunday.

(

Amy Harris

/

Invision / Associated Press

)

Why does the word matter today?

Crider says the local economy is dependent on events like Coachella to draw people in, calling the influx of festival goers "a huge shot in the arm for our economy."

"As someone who has lived in this valley for half of my lifetime, I love seeing the kids come in, come into our stores, buying alcohol, sunscreen, whatever else they need, souvenirs," Crider says. "And then they line up at grocery stores and they go on buses that take them down to … the polo grounds, where they're going to see all the music performed. And it's just a great time."

That said, the reality of life in the region — and the huge discrepancies in wealth — are not necessarily apparent to people who associate Coachella simply with the festival that bears its name.

He says festival goers who complain about the Coachella heat likely don't realize that there are farmworkers harvesting produce in that same sun just miles away, or that many of the people putting the food on their restaurant tables rely on food banks themselves.

"That is something that people might not realize when they're out here spending a gazillion dollars to attend a music festival and being overcharged for drinks and whatnot, as we know that happens," Crider says. "You wouldn't think that there would be so much poverty out here at the same time."

Crider says a lot of young people leave the area for college and don't return because of a lack of jobs, which is something business interests in the valley are trying to change.

"There have been efforts to try to diversify the economy … so that we don't remain forever dependent on just agriculture or tourism," he adds. "But that's how this area was really created — and it works."

Copyright 2025 NPR

Republican Sonja Shaw conceded the race for California Superintendent of Public Instruction to Democrat Richard Barrera late Wednesday evening.

“Last night voters made their choice. I would be lying if I said my heart wasn’t heavy,” Shaw said in a statement shared on social media. “As a mother and a protector of children, I feel deeply saddened for the kids. They are the ones who deserve so much better.”

In her social media post, which included a photo of Shaw locking hands with her husband and two daughters, Shaw said her kids had motivated her to run for state superintendent. Shaw won election to the Chino Valley Unified school board in 2022, fueled by support from conservative parents.

“The problem is that for decades, the same people have had their hands on our education system while our children have continued to fall behind,” Shaw said. “I believe we had an opportunity to change that.”

The office of California superintendent of public instruction is nonpartisan, with no party affiliation listed on the ballot. In past races, it was not unusual for two Democrats to advance to the November election. But this year, endorsements, campaign funding and campaigning broke largely along partisan lines.

Shaw, a Republican and board president of Chino Valley Unified, emerged as the top vote getter in a crowded June primary that featured several Democratic state lawmakers. But she contended in her statement that her race didn’t have the “money or machinery” that her opponent did in the November election.

Shaw trailed Barrera by nearly 15 percentage points, according to the latest election results Thursday morning. Shaw’s campaign raised about $595,000 compared to Barrera’s $812,000. However, the California Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers union and a heavy spender in state superintendent races, also spent $8.4 million to support Barrera, the board president of San Diego Unified.

That pales in comparison to the combined $50 million raised in the 2018 state superintendent race Tony Thurmond won against Marshall Tuck in 2018. The 2026 state superintendent race had the distinction of featuring two local school board members.

Shaw said she’s not sure what her next steps will be.

“I don’t know exactly what God has next, but I know He isn’t finished,” she said.

Shaw will not be returning to the Chino Valley Unified school board where she began her political career. Her husband, Chris Shaw, ran for her open seat and is trailing his challenger by 11 points, according to the San Bernardino County Register of Voters.

This story was originally published by EdSource.

The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills is set to officially open next month, but that hasn’t stopped some wildlife from already using it.

Cameras captured coyote footage twice — once last week and again on Thursday morning — making the mammal the first large animal species seen using the crossing.

“This is amazing — obviously, the wildlife are not waiting for our opening date,” said Beth Pratt, president of the Wildlife Crossing Fund. “The animals are already blessing this crossing and saying, ‘Yep, you got it right.’”

Construction of the expansive bridge began in 2022, aimed at giving wildlife safe passage between the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills after years of research.

Pratt said it’s unclear whether the images of the coyote are of the same animal. The coyote in the most recent image from Thursday morning can be seen on the 101 structure holding a bone or a stick in its mouth.

“The coyote is validating that we got this designed right, and I think that there's something also about a coyote being first — kind of the L.A. mascot next to P-22,” Pratt said.

The National Park Service is installing more cameras along the crossing to document and study how animals use it. While images will be made publicly available, there will not be a livestream.

“We can't, for security reasons, because this is L.A., and if there's a mountain lion going across, somebody's gonna go try to pet it,” Pratt said.

Topline:

• How we got here: Roy held on to a strong lead over McKinney ever since polls closed and is currently ahead by more than twice as many votes. Roy will be a fresh face to the role after the incumbent city attorney, Hydee Feldstein Soto, was ousted in the June primary in a rare defeat of an elected city official. 

• What the candidates had to say: 
  
  • Roy said on social media Wednesday that election night was “a really good night for the people who believe that we should take care of one another, that we can stand up for our rights — even in what feels like an increasingly lawless world — and that we will achieve justice when we fight for it.”
  • McKinney posted on social media Thursday that he’s back in his old office at the Hall of Justice. “The run for City Attorney was an incredible journey, and I’m truly grateful for everyone who believed in me, supported me, and stood by my side,” McKinney wrote. "While I’m disappointed things didn’t turn out the way we hoped, I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything." He acknowledged Roy in a social media video earlier this week, describing her as a “hard worker” who put together a strong coalition of support. McKinney added that he would be “rooting for her.”
  • Neither campaign immediately responded to LAist’s requests for additional comment.
• What’s at stake: The city attorney runs an office of more than 550 lawyers representing L.A. in all legal matters, including filing lawsuits and defending against them. Roy, backed by powerful progressives like U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, has vowed to take on the Trump administration in court.
• Go deeper: Read more about the city attorney's role and what's on the table for Roy's first term.

Construction of the green metal fence around MacArthur Park will begin Monday, Nov. 16, with work scheduled to continue through fall 2027.

The city announced the start date Nov. 4, saying crews will install an 8-foot fence around the park’s perimeter. Nearby residents and businesses can expect some noise, dust and vibration during construction, although the city said mitigation measures will be in place.

Crews will work Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the park will remain open while crews are working. 

The fence is the city’s latest attempt to tackle longstanding problems at MacArthur Park, including drug use, homelessness and crime.

The city first approved plans for the fence in October 2025, and the proposal has since drawn both support and criticism from residents and community groups.

Some say they hope the fence will make the park safer, while others question whether it will actually improve conditions there. Police and city officials say the fence will give them more control over the space and make it easier to enforce the law.

Ana Luz Vazquez, a street vendor near MacArthur Park, said her main concern about the fence is what will happen to the unhoused people who stay in the park throughout the day and whether the city plans to address that issue directly.

She is also concerned that construction during the day could affect her ability to work because of traffic, less parking availability and loud noise.

Vazquez said she would prefer construction to take place at night so it would have less of an impact on street vendors.

“If they’re working in the day then how are we supposed to come here and who is going to help us survive,” Vazquez said.

Construction will happen in two phases

Phase 1

• Alvarado St. from W. 6th St. to Wilshire Blvd.
• S. Park View St. from Wilshire Blvd. to W. 6th St.
• Wilshire Blvd. from Alvarado St. to S. Park View St.

Phase 2

• Alvarado St. from Wilshire Blvd. to W. 7th St.
• S. Park View St. from W. 7th St. to Wilshire Blvd.
• Wilshire Blvd. from S. Park View St. to Alvarado St.
• W. 7th St. from Alvarado St. to S. Park View St.

Existing trees will be protected and monitored during the work, according to the Department of Recreation and Parks. Traffic control measures will be in place during work hours, and crews will post temporary “No Parking” signs near active work areas in advance.

Services at the park are expected to remain the same throughout construction. The schedule could change because of weather or other unforeseen circumstances, according to the city.

The city has allocated $2.3 million for the project, but officials have not said whether that will cover the full cost.

After the fence is installed, the city plans a second phase focused on adding decorative elements. Officials have said residents will have an opportunity to provide input on the design.

Residents with questions or concerns about the project can contact Recreation and Parks at RAP.PublicInfo@lacity.org or 213-202-2700.

The post MacArthur Park fence construction to begin Nov. 16 appeared first on LA Local.