Rancho Mirage is a city in
Riverside County,
California,
United States. The population was 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. In between
Cathedral City and
Palm Desert, it is one of the eight cities of the
Coachella Valley (Palm Springs area). Rancho Mirage was incorporated in
1973 from a merger of Mirage Cove with five unincorporated areas known as the "Cove communities" (Desert, Magnesia, Palmas, Tamarisk and Thunderbird), but had 3,000 permanent residents at the time.
Although the first modern settlements date back to the 1920s and 1930s, Rancho Mirage got its claim to fame after World War II. The Annenberg Estate or Sunnylands in the area had long been popular with the wealthy and powerful, including Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Mary Martin, Harry Caray and Lloyd Campbell and the Campbells. Several US presidents have vacationed here, and Gerald Ford was a frequent visitor who later bought a house. The Betty Ford Center is located in the Eisenhower Medical Center of the town. President Gerald Ford was living in the town at the time of his death.
Rancho Mirage boasts of 12 golf courses, also known as country clubs. The city's first golf resort was the Thunderbird Guest Ranch, opened in 1946 for entertainers and business clientele. Other golf resorts are the Tamarisk, Mission Hills, the Springs, Sunrise, KSL Resorts' Rancho Las Palmas hotel (opened in 1979 to replace the Desert Air golf and private airport from 1954-1978), Rancho Mirage, Morningside, Mission Hills North Course, Westin Hotels Mission Hills resort, and Tuscania by Sunrise Company opened in 2006.
The Agua Caliente Mission Band of Cahuilla Indians of Palm Springs runs the Agua Caliente Casino on the intersection of Bob Hope Drive and Ramon Road off the I-10 freeway, opened in 2002. The thriving casino is a popular destination for locals, tourists, and gaming enthusiasts, and the tribal board announced in 2006 that Agua Caliente Casino will include a 12-story hotel, two golf courses, tennis courts, a shopping mall, and a convention center-sports arena facility, but will break ground after a federal environmental report.[citation needed]
