Palm Springs Prepares to Welcome All-New Cultural Experience at Agua Caliente Cultural Center

Palm Springs, California, has long had a reputation as a playground for the rich and famous, drawing visitors to its luxurious resorts, world-class golf courses and high-end shopping venues. The city’s latest development, Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza, is about to add cultural destination to the list of reasons Palm Springs continues to be so popular. Designed to preserve and honor the history and culture of the region’s Agua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians, the new center makes Palm Springs the place to be for family travelers looking for a deeper connection to the area.

Currently under construction, the plaza will feature a museum, a spa, a greenbelt and a gathering space, all centered around the 12,000-year-old Agua Caliente Hot Mineral Spring that helped put Palm Springs on the map. The 48,000-square-foot museum, which will include an education center and a garden, will showcase native artifacts, history and stories of the people who have always called this Southern California desert region home. The 40,000-square-foot spa, named Séc-he, will not only utilize the sacred hot spring for treatments, but its name will also pay homage to the original name of the hot spring itself.

The gathering space and the greenbelt weaving through the grounds will be both interpretive and educational. The center, designed by JCJ Architecture of Phoenix, took inspiration from native Agua Caliente traditions like basket weaving and will feature a native landscape with Washingtonia filifera, also known as California fan palm.

Once completed, the center will be the perfect place for tribal members and visitors alike to explore the culture and history of the Agua Caliente people, build upon the sense of community that brings us together and gain a greater understanding of how a hot spring helped create the Palm Springs we know and love today.