The Celebration and the Valley: NPR

Every April, hundreds of thousands gather at the core of Coachella Valley to camp, dance, and enjoy the music festival of the same name.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival boasts a comprehensive lineup of performers across multiple stages over two consecutive three-day weekends. This year, performances from artists such as Lady Gaga, Charli XCX, Post Malone, and even an appearance by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., quickly became trending topics.

With its diverse roster, celebrity presence, and significant commercial appeal for brands and social media influencers, it has become one of the most renowned and profitable music festivals globally. In combination with the following weekend’s country music event Stagecoach, it sold approximately 250,000 tickets in 2024.

But here’s the twist?

The Coachella festival is not actually held in the city of Coachella. Since its inception in 1999, it has taken place in nearby Indio. Both cities are part of the Coachella Valley, located in Southern California’s Colorado Desert, which also includes locales like Palm Springs and Indian Wells.

“Many visitors coming from other areas might not be fully aware of what’s where, but they often don’t seem to mind,” remarks Jeff Crider, a freelance writer and historian who has documented the Coachella Valley in a book. “They generally come just to have a great time.”

However, understanding both Coachella the location and the festival is beneficial. The two main industries of the Coachella Valley, agriculture and entertainment, have intriguing histories that intersect in complex ways.

The Coachella Valley conjures images of opulence and celebrity, given its roster of renowned guests and seasonal residents, including numerous former U.S. presidents and Hollywood elites. Nonetheless, the area — known for its agricultural output, especially dates — also houses a significant number of farmworkers, many of whom are immigrants.

“Indeed, the wealthy and famous possess winter homes here. Yes, we host some of the globe’s most prominent entertainment events,” concurs Crider. “Yet the overwhelming majority of residents who live and work here year-round are not affluent. A substantial number of them struggle to make ends meet.”

What’s the origin of the term? 

Coachella’s name is a result of both the development of the nation’s railroad system and a typographical error.

According to information from the city of Coachella’s website, the Southern Pacific Railroad installed the first rail lines throughout the valley in 1876, connecting it to a growing network of railroads across California. A secondary track, known as a side spur, was established in what is now Coachella.

“It was essentially just a side track off the railroad,” Crider describes.

Jason Rector, an employee of the railroad, was tasked with clearing trees in the area, initially referred to as Woodspur. He became the first permanent resident and “unofficial mayor” for the remainder of his life. Additionally, he played a role in naming the town.

According to the city’s website, while planning the townsite in 1901, Rector suggested “Conchilla,” which translates to “little shell” in Spanish, reflecting the fossils found in the region.

The developers agreed on the name and created a prospectus to announce the town’s opening. However, the printed prospectus misspelled “Conchilla” as “Coachella.” Rather than delay the announcement, the founders opted to keep the name, which subsequently gained popularity in the valley itself, although the town did not officially become a city until 1946.

“‘Coachella’ was an error,” Crider explains. “They decided to stick with the name, despite it not having any meaning. It holds no significance in Spanish or English, aside from denoting the location we recognize as Coachella.”

Over the ensuing decades, the region’s dry and sunny weather along with fertile ground began attracting both farmers and celebrities.

Initial growers discovered they could harvest their crops much earlier than other regions, resulting in planting dates and other produce to sell unchallenged. The area also played a crucial role in the labor movement: The first major farm labor strike against table grape growers occurred in the Coachella Valley in 1965, partly led by Cesar Chavez.

Concurrently, premier hotels such as Palm Springs’ El Mirador started attracting affluent visitors from Los Angeles, located about 100 miles away. The 1960s greatly enhanced tourism, as Crider notes, thanks to the introduction of the interstate highway system and air conditioning.

In essence, the Coachella Valley had garnered a reputation as a key venue for golf, tennis, and various entertainment forms long before the music festival emerged. Crider suggests it has been “a retreat for the elite for literally a century,” and the Coachella festival has only further heightened the area’s visibility since then.

“Just as in the 1920s and ’30s, when the images of Hollywood stars lounging by the pool made this location famous a century ago, today it’s images of current celebrities like Lady Gaga that enhance Coachella’s fame,” Crider states. “They’re not only elevating this location’s stature but the entire valley’s as well.”

How has the term evolved over time?

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival made its initial appearance in early October 1999, with headliners such as Beck and Rage Against the Machine, ticket prices starting at $50 per day.

It was conceived by concert promoters Rick Van Santen and Paul Tollett, organized by Tollett’s company Goldenvoice — which gained its reputation in the 1980s by booking punk rock acts that other promoters overlooked.

Tollett also facilitated Pearl Jam’s alternate venue bookings during its Ticketmaster boycott after a dispute in the early 1990s. One performance ended up at the Empire Polo Club and illustrated to Tollett the venue’s potential for his envisioned large-scale festival.

Coachella’s organizers aimed to replicate the multi-act, multi-day music festivals that had gained popularity overseas, such as those in Reading and Glastonbury in the UK.

“For Southern California, this could be the inception of something truly spectacular,” Tollett expressed to the Los Angeles Times in 1999.

However, the inaugural year wasn’t a resounding success due to intentional avoidance of corporate sponsorships, soaring temperatures, and decreased advance ticket sales following the violent events at Woodstock ’99. Tollett later disclosed that the festival’s first year resulted in a $750,000 loss for the company.

Coachella was not held in 2000 but made a comeback in 2001, this time reduced to a single day and rescheduled for the cooler April weather. The lineups, ticket prices, and attendee numbers continued to increase.

“The desert town of Indio has transformed into an unexpected site for one of the hottest music festivals in the nation,” NPR’s Stacey Bond noted in 2004.

That year marked the first time tickets sold out, with 120,000 attendees coming to watch performances from acts like Radiohead and The Cure, and the reunited Pixies (the first of many reunions at Coachella).

Coachella has since expanded and transformed: It eliminated single-day tickets in favor of three-day passes in 2010, added a second weekend starting in 2012, and consistently shattered attendance records until the city increased the cap to 125,000 in 2017.

Today, general admission tickets start around $600, excluding additional fees for camping and parking. The festival, which initially resisted sponsorship arrangements, now has numerous corporate partners from the food, beverage, and cosmetics sectors.

While it still features many of the largest contemporary artists (144 acts this year), it has evolved into something far more than just music, particularly in the age of social media and influencers.

As the Los Angeles Times remarked in 2019, during the festival’s 20th anniversary, the term “Coachella” has become synonymous with a trend-setting event.

Why does the term hold significance today?

Crider states that local businesses heavily rely on events like Coachella to attract visitors, considering the influx of festival attendees “a tremendous boost for our economy.”

“Having lived in this valley for much of my life, it’s heartening to see young people arrive, shopping in our stores, picking up drinks, sunscreen, or whatever else they may need,” Crider notes. “Then they board buses that transport them to … the polo grounds, where they can enjoy the live music. It’s a fantastic experience.”

Nonetheless, the reality of the region — and the stark wealth disparities — aren’t always visible to those who equate Coachella solely with the festival associated with its name.

He notes that attendees who complain about the heat at Coachella may not be aware that farmworkers are harvesting crops under the same blazing sun just a few miles away, or that many of the individuals preparing the food at restaurants are reliant on food banks for their livelihoods.

“That’s something attendees might not register when they’re out enjoying a lavish experience at a music festival, often at inflated prices for drinks, as is commonly known,” Crider remarks. “It’s surprising to think about the level of poverty existing right alongside this event.”

Crider mentions that many young residents leave the region for college and do not return due to a shortage of job opportunities, a challenge that local business interests are striving to address.

“Efforts are underway to diversify the economy … ensuring we’re not forever reliant solely on agriculture or tourism,” he elaborates. “Nevertheless, that’s the foundation of how this area was established — and it continues to function.”