Agua Calientes plan museum

Public Record, The, Jul 23, 2002

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians is calling for public comments on their proposed Cultural Museum to be built at the intersection of South Palm Canyon and Acanto Drives.

Plans for the 52-acre site include a museum building, entrance road and parking in Phase I. The two-story museum will have space for exhibitions, a museum store, a small cafe, a 150-seat performance theater, a research library, curatorial and administrative facilities and education classrooms. A permanent gallery will house and interpret Cahuilla Indian culture, while a changing gallery will provide a forum for traveling exhibits. The theater will be used for Cahuilla cultural performances and serve as a venue for performances for the Palm Springs community.

In Phase II, a 10,550-square-foot banquet hall and cafe, with one story and a partial basement, will be added. The banquet hall will seat some 500 guests and include a commercial kitchen, a bar, indoor dining for 200 and outdoor terrace seating for 300. In addition to functioning as a museum, the building can be used for weddings, special events and cultural celebrations.

Outdoor areas will be planted with native desert plants. The gardens comprise about one acre, excluding plantings at terraces and along roads and pedestrian paths. Other development on the site is reserved for parking lots, roads, pedestrian paths, courtyards and plazas. The remaining acreage (about 82 percent of the site) will be preserved or restored Aqua Caliente to the desert scrub native Cultural Museum to the region.