Agua Caliente Cultural Museum

Museum of the Cahuilla people who have lived in the Coachella Valley for millennia

Website https://www.accmuseum.org
Address 401 N. Museum Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262

The Cahuilla people have lived in the Coachella Valley for at least two thousand years, developing a sophisticated culture adapted to the desert environment. This museum, operated by the Agua Caliente Band, tells that story through art, artifacts, and contemporary installations — covering traditional basket weaving, the significance of the palm oases, the history of the hot springs (séc-he, the Cahuilla name for Palm Springs), and the political and legal battles the tribe fought through the 20th century to reclaim control of their land.

The museum has undergone significant expansion and serves as a community and cultural anchor for the tribe as much as a visitor attraction. It is one of the few places in Palm Springs where you can understand the landscape in terms of deep time rather than Hollywood glamour and mid-century modernism.

things to do museum
A story
The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians own roughly half of downtown Palm Springs — including the land under many of its best-known hotels and shops — as part of a checkerboard land allocation made by the federal government in the 19th century. The band did not receive permission to lease this land until 1959, and the first commercial development only began in the 1960s. The museum tells that story alongside the far longer history of life in this desert.

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