Shields Date Garden is a historic date palm orchard and tourist attraction in Indio

Indio, California

Indio is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, east of Riverside, and east of Los Angeles. It is about north of Mexicali, Baja California on the U.S.-Mexican border...

, Riverside County, California

Riverside County, California

Riverside County is a county in the U.S. state of California. One of 58 California counties, it covers in the southern part of the state, and stretches from Orange County to the Colorado River, which forms the state border with Arizona. The county derives its name from the city of Riverside,...

, U.S.

History

The company was founded in 1924 by Floyd and Bess (Lugton) Shields. Floyd Shields was one of the pioneering date farmers in the still-young date industry of the Coachella Valley

Coachella Valley

Coachella Valley is a large valley landform in Southern California. The valley extends for approximately 45 miles in Riverside County southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains to the saltwater Salton Sea, the largest lake in California...

. He bred a number of his own hybrids and varieties including the "Blonde" and "Brunette" varieties, grown exclusively at Shields to this day.

Romance and Sex Life of the Date

To help promote the exotic, difficult-to-grow fruit, Shields presented lectures to his customers on the cultivation of the date. The lectures proved to be a popular draw, leading Shields to incorporate a slide show and recorded soundtrack into a multimedia presentation designed to run on a continuous basis. The fifteen-minute presentation, Romance and Sex Life of the Date, modified only slightly over the years, is still shown today in a small theater at Shields. A modified and improved version of the Romance and Sex Life of the Date was created in 2008 and now shown in the same theater.

Date Crystals

Shields was also the inventor of Date Sugar and the Date Crystal. Date Sugar adds flavor to recipes. Date Crystals are a unique, dry blend of dates for use in cooking, on cold cereals and in date milkshake

Date shake

The Date Shake is a Milkshake primarily flavored with dates. It became one of the iconic symbols of Palm Springs and surrounding desert.- Origins :Dates and sheep-milk were an important Arabic foodstuff for hundreds of years...

s. Date shakes and black date ice cream are popular treats sold over the counter at Shields.

Visiting

The current building, with its Googie sign depicting a knight in armor pointing toward the main entrance off Highway 111

California State Route 111

State Route 111 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. It is the main north/south state highway and retail corridor through the Coachella Valley, a part of the Colorado Desert in the southeastern corner of the state and famous as a resort destination...

 has been in use since 1953. Skyrocketing land values in the area threatened the continued existence of Shields Date Gardens when the property was placed on the market. It was purchased by The Jewel Date Co in nearby Thermal

Thermal, California

Thermal is a census-designated place located approximately 25 miles southeast of Palm Springs and about 9.5 miles north of the Salton Sea. Although one can find sunny skies most days, residents occasionally endure strong winds and sizzling summer temperatures well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The...

, who is carrying on the traditions of the Shields at the same location with no intention of moving the Ranch Store.

External link and reference

• Official Shields Date Garden website

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