A small community with very high LGBTQ resident population.
It is estimated that 33-50% of the residents in sunny Palm Springs are members of the LGBTQ community, considered the city with the largest per capita population of gay and lbtq residents in a community population of around 50k residents. If you like sunshine, then this is the place for you, boasting area well over 300 days a year of sunshine. It makes Palm Springs among the world’s most popular outdoor adventure areas with great hiking trails, nature walks, beautiful mountains, and world-class year-round Golf with 125 Palm Springs golf courses in the area. It is an area with a hot desert climate, Jan to March offers sunshine as well as comfortable temperatures ranging between 22 to 27 degrees celsius generally, making it a great choice for a vacation home as well. It has been a popular spot for famous Hollywood actors to get some privacy and not be outed for being gay in the past, being only about a 2 hour drive from movie studios.
Palm Springs also hosts a lesbian favorite, the Dinah Shore Weekend, a getaway and music festival in April every year. With parties, performers, DJ’s, dancing, pool parties, its annual event where women cut loose. In 1991, Mariah Hanson hosted her first party it has since grown to a world renowned event. The five-day event, filled with music, dancing, comedy, DJ battles and pool parties, now markets itself as “the largest queer/lesbian/nonbinary event in the world” because “it’s bigger than just a party,” Hanson said. “It’s an opportunity for our entire community to come together and celebrate in a peaceful, loving and celebratory way.”
The LGBT Community Center of the Desert, nicknamed “The Center” has tens of thousands of visitors every year and hosts the Red Dress Dress Red Dance Party. It is an event that is known for selling out quickly, “The biggest party in Palm Springs, “Red Dress/Dress Red,” is a night of community, fun, and fantasy where we dance the night away. The theme of “Red” guides our imagination as everyone comes dressed to impress. Imagine the best Halloween and Mardi Gras parties you’ve ever attended; combine them together beneath the spectacular mountains of the Coachella Valley, dress it all in red, and you have a sliver of the living fantasy that is Red Dress Dress Red.”
LGBT members have consistently been part of their local government, in 2018 they elected the first all-LGBT city council. The elected five-member council being three gay men, a queer woman, and a transgender woman. The city is hopping on weekends as people from L.A. and others areas swarm in to the desert oasis. Offering a range of trendy, casual, sports and leather bars where you can bar hop around the E. Arenas Rd area. If you want karaoke, you can check out the RetroRoom Lounge, or drag shows Toucans Tiki Lounge or Illusions offering a dinner show.
If you like a laid back lifestyle, Palm Springs may be your place, where shorts, sunglasses, and sandals is the non-official uniform. Warm temperatures, low humidity, and major permanent vacation energy, living in Palm Springs is as easy-going and carefree as it can get. It is a golfers paradise, with hiking and safer with less traffic than a lot of cities, if you like cruising around on your bicycle and soaking up that sunshine. It is a popular destination for retirement, with the major economic driver being tourism and healthcare job opportunities with the retired community. Housing prices may seem like a bargain compared to some other California cities, like Santa Barbara or L.A. You may enjoy parks, restaurants and cafes
