Coachella Valley

The Coachella Valley is an irrigated agricultural and recreational desert valley in southern California east of Los Angeles. The valley extends for approximately 45 miles (72 km) in Riverside County southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains to the Salton Sea. It is approximately 15 miles (24 km) wide along most of its length, bounded on the west by the San Jacinto Mountains and the Santa Rosa Mountains and on the north and east by the Little San Bernardino Mountains. The San Andreas Fault crosses the valley from the Chocolate Mountains in the southeast corner and along the centerline of the Little San Bernardinos. The fault is easily visible along its northern length as a strip of greenery against an otherwise bare mountain. The Chocolate Mountains are home to a United States Navy live gunnery range and are mostly off-limits to the public.

Notable companies based in the Coachella Valley

• United States Filter Corporation headquarters, Palm Desert - manufacturers of industrial water filtration systems.
• Guthy-Renker, Palm Desert and Thane International, La Quinta - the nation's leading producers of mail order infomercials.
• Western Golf Car, Desert Hot Springs - one of the world's largest golf car design and manufactuing facilities. Lido Motors, a company founded by Lee Iacocca, produces neighborhood electric vehicles in conjunction with Western Golf Car.
• West Coast Turf, Indio - official suppliers of sod to the Super Bowl. West Coast Turf was also the site of an episode of Monster Garage in which a Ford Mustang convertible was converted into a lawn mower.
• Ernie Ball, one of the world's leading manufacturers of electric guitar strings, opened a manufacturing facility in Coachella in 2005.
• Valley Computer Solutions, VCS is a computer consulting company serving the entire Coachella Valley. VCS specializes in home and small business PC repair, upgrades, and networking.