The La Quinta Resort & Club is a historic resort in present-day La Quinta, California. Designed by Gordon Kaufmann and built by Walter H. Morgan, the hotel opened in 1926 as a desert getaway.
Originally built as a series of adobe bungalows on 45 acres (182,000 m²) of fruit trees at the foot of the Santa Rosa Mountains in an area originally named "Marshall's Cove" and now referred to simply as "La Quinta Cove," the La Quinta Resort & Club now has 796 casitas, suites, and villas, 41 swimming pools, 53 whirlpool spas, 23,000-square-foot (2,100 m2) Spa La Quinta, over 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) of meeting facilities, 23 tennis courts, 11 retail outlets, 7 restaurants, and 90 holes of golf, both on-property and at nearby PGA WEST, designed by Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman. The courses regularly play host to the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic charity golf tournament. La Quinta was expanded to its current size by Landmark Land Company in 1989.
Hollywood
A hangout for star celebrities since its inception, La Quinta Resort's greatest claim to fame is as the site which film director and frequent guest Frank Capra wrote the screenplay for Lost Horizon poolside in 1937.
Both La Quinta Resort & Club and PGA WEST were acquired by the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, the real estate investment fund of Morgan Stanley, in 2007. In 2011, lenders including Paulson & Co., Winthrop Realty Trust and Capital Trust foreclosed on 8 of the former CNL hotels. in 2013, the owners reached a deal to sell the La Quinta and three other properties to the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. Hilton Hotels Corporation, based in McLean, Virginia, manages the hotel as a member of Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts.