The oldest things along Highway 111 in Indian Wells are older than the city. The City of Indian Wells says the palms now coming out of the corridor were planted nearly 100 years ago, when the area was mostly date farms. That's roughly four decades before the city was incorporated on July 14, 1967.
About a mile south, a 1961 house on Fairway Drive went the other way this spring. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places, the first home in Indian Wells to get there. The anniversary year treats the town's two histories differently. The farm-era landscape gets renewed with fresh trees of the same kind, and the founding-era architecture gets plaques, listings and street signs. Most of this is happening on roads residents drive every week.
Sixty Years, Counted From the Date Farms
Indian Wells became California's 400th city in July 1967. In the July 2026 City Manager Corner, the city promised its 60th would be celebrated "all year long." The City Council has since approved a formal 60th Anniversary Celebration Program. It covers commemorative projects, community events and engagement from July 2026 through July 2027, according to the city's October 2026 newsletter.
The anniversary isn't one big event. It's a program of physical changes around town:
- New Civic Center signage, designed with the 60th Anniversary Committee to complement the city's existing monument signs. It's scheduled for August 2026 through January 2027 and will be unveiled during the anniversary celebrations.
- The community garden is being renamed for Jan Oliphant, founder of the Indian Wells Garden Club, and getting more plot space, on an August 2026 to January 2027 timeline.
- The fire station is being renamed Richard Oliphant Fire Station No. 55, honoring a former mayor who was also the city's first fire chief. That project runs August 2026 through February 2027.
- The Eisenhower Memorial expansion adds another stone honoring service members who live in Indian Wells, plus new walkways and landscaping.
The program honors people and places from the city's own six decades. The Highway 111 corridor tells a longer story.
The Palms Coming Down Were Planted for Dates
The Highway 111 Palm Tree Replacement is scheduled for October through December 2026. The city's project page rates 35 of the corridor's palms in "poor" condition and 195 in "fair" condition. It also says the city moved from a phased approach to doing the work all at once, to get quantity pricing and remove trees flagged as potential hazards. The city's September 4 announcement, "Rooted in Excellence," put the number being replaced at 95.
According to the announcement, some of these trees look healthy from the outside but have reached the end of their expected lifespan. They won't be relocated once they come out. New date palms are going in, so the corridor keeps the species that marked the area before there was a city. The announcement presents the replanting as part of the city's commitments as a Tree City USA community, citing shade against the heat island effect from asphalt and concrete.
The palm work comes right after a quieter summer project on the same road. From July through September, the city scheduled removal of 4.45 acres of city-owned or city-maintained turf along Highway 111. The turf is coming out behind the sidewalks on both the north and south sides and being replaced with drought-tolerant planting, mulch and smart or drip irrigation. The project page explains why the turf next to the roadway was left alone:
"Removing turf behind the sidewalk and keeping the turf next to the roadway will allow the City to maintain the appearance of its iconic corridor."
The changes are aimed at preserving how the corridor looks. Different trees and ground cover are going in, with the familiar outline kept. The houses behind those palms are getting the opposite treatment, where the goal is to keep the original buildings.
A Model Home Becomes a National Register Listing
The National Park Service's weekly list records the Desert Bel Air Showcase House at 75900 Fairway Drive as listed on April 6, 2026, under reference SG100012886. California's State Historical Resources Commission reviewed the nomination on February 6, 2026. The Office of Historic Preservation described the property as a William Cody design and a local expression of Desert Midcentury Modernism.
The listing caps a long run of recognition for this house. Under another name it was already on the city's own list. The Indian Wells Preservation Foundation's chronology records the Crank-Garland House, 1961, at 75-900 Fairway Drive, as Historic Landmark #4, dedicated October 14, 2019. It was the model home for Desert Bel Air Estates. The house that once showed buyers what the new neighborhood would look like is now the city's first entry on the National Register. In March 2026 the Foundation and the city co-hosted a fundraiser celebrating the nomination, with guests including Mayor Toper Taylor, Modernism Week CEO Lisa Vossler Smith and Catherine Cody, author of a book on her father's architecture.
Indian Wells' local landmark list now covers more than a century of desert building, from adobes to Cody ranch houses:
| Landmark | Name | Location |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Cavanagh Adobe | 45-410 Cook Street |
| #2 | Beck Adobe | 45-700 Purple Hills Road |
| #3 | Desi Arnaz Western Hills Hotel, 1957 | 76-661 Highway 111 |
| #4 | Crank-Garland House, 1961 | 75-900 Fairway Drive |
| #5 | Erawan Garden Hotel | 45-000 Indian Wells Lane |
| #6 | Casa Dorado Condominium Community and Clubhouse | 45-005 Camino Dorado |
| #7 | Sandpiper Garden Condominiums | Indian Wells |
| #8 | Petrie House, 1964 | Indian Wells |
Two of these show the same pattern as the palms. The Foundation notes that the Erawan Garden Hotel, admired for its Thai temple-inspired rooflines, was demolished in 1996 to become what is now Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa. At the Desi Arnaz Western Hills Hotel site on Highway 111, the current building was designed in 1987 by Indian Wells architect John Walling. Lucie Arnaz attended the 2016 landmark dedication. In both cases the landmark marks a place and its story rather than an original structure. The newest designation, the Petrie House, is the clearest example of the opposite approach. It's a 1964 Cody design, described by the Foundation as a Mid-Century Modern Spanish Monterey Ranch House, and it was recognized with a plaque unveiling on December 3, 2025.
The Street Names Get a Second Line
The anniversary's preservation work is also reaching street signs. In September 2025 the Preservation Foundation proposed a Historic Neighborhood Recognition Program to the city. On April 16, 2026, the City Council approved a pilot for historic sign toppers in two neighborhoods whose residents had expressed support to the Foundation. Installation was scheduled for September through October 2026.
- Desert Bel Air: the streets around Fairway Park, including Fairway Drive between Eldorado Drive and west of Cielito Drive, Vista Dorado, Altamira, Alta Colina Way, Painted Desert between Alta Colina Way and Cielito Drive, Villa Serena, Calle Tranquilidad, and Eldorado Drive between Fairway and Painted Desert.
- Indian Wells Village: Miles Avenue, Elkhorn Trail and Cheyenne Drive.
The Desert Bel Air pilot area contains the Fairway Drive address of the new National Register house, so the street sign and the house tell the same story. The city's project page says more neighborhoods can be added if the pilot is judged successful. One likely candidate already has a public following. The Foundation's April 2026 walking tour of El Dorado Palms Estates, established in 1959, featured homes by John Walling, Charles Doty, John Outcault, Charles DuBois and Hugh Kaptur.
Where the Anniversary Goes Next
Through the winter, the anniversary moves from street-level projects to events where residents can see and hear the history firsthand:
- December 2026. The palm replacement on Highway 111 runs through the end of its October to December window.
- January 2027. The Preservation Foundation's Indian Wells Oral History Symposium, with Council Member Greg Sanders and special guests from CSUF. Time and location are listed on the Foundation's events page. The Civic Center signage and the garden renaming both run on timelines through January as well.
- February 11 to 21, 2027. Modernism Week returns. Festival tickets went on sale November 1, 2026. Its Indian Wells Signature Home Tour is billed as a celebration of the city's 60th. It visits four homes covering six decades: a 1962 Richard Dorman house, Cody houses from 1963 and 1964, and a 2022 residence by Lance O'Donnell. It also includes a drive-by of a 1961 house by Los Angeles architect Welton Becket, a look at the history of golf in Indian Wells, and a lunch with mountain views. The tour is for ages 21 and older.
- July 14, 2027. The city's 60th birthday, which closes the celebration program's July 2026 to July 2027 run.
The Modernism Week tour includes a home finished in 2022 alongside the Cody and Dorman houses, so the anniversary's architecture story isn't limited to the 1960s. The 2022 residence is the newest house on a tour built around the city's 60th.
If you live along Fairway Drive, own one of the Cody-era houses, or wonder how heritage recognition might apply to a home you know, Nyla Doering would be glad to talk it through. Nyla's family has been in the Coachella Valley for five generations, and she welcomes the chance to compare notes on the streets and houses being honored this year.
