hen Derek Laxdal signed on as the new head coach of the Coachella Valley Firebirds in 2024 — only the second coach in the franchise’s history — it was the hiring equivalent of winning a Stanley Cup. Laxdal grew up in Canada, where hockey is a national pastime. “Everybody there wants their kids to try playing hockey and enjoy it,” he says.
Was the IndyCar Thermal Grand Prix a One-Hit Wonder?
In March 2024, Álex Palou won the $1 Million Challenge, a 20-lap, made-for-TV race at The Thermal Club. The winner was not exactly a surprise, but his postrace comments were. He dedicated the jackpot to buying diapers for his baby, Lucia. Palou then blasted through...
Eagle Falls at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino The nerve-rackingly narrow par-5 seventh. The short but strategic par-4 11th. These and other diabolical setups make this Clive Clark track an unforgettable tester. Golfweek rates Eagle Falls a Top 50 Casino Course; for...
Figure skating isn’t just a sport — it’s art. For years, champion figure skaters have won the hearts of audiences around the world with their athleticism and grace. Generations of families have gathered around their television sets to watch Olympic greats like Dick...
The NTT IndyCar Series returns to The Thermal Club March 21–23, and this time, points are on the line. That’s a big deal for race fans and a step up from last year’s event, which doled out hefty cash prizes but zero points, making no impact on championship standings....
Ice hockey in the desert might seem like a funny contradiction, but the Coachella Valley Firebirds have built a loyal fan base since their founding in 2021. As the AHL affiliate for the Seattle Kraken, the Firebirds made an exciting debut in the 2022–’23 season,...
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The Thermal Club is taking the expression “build it and they will come” to new lengths — or, considering its elevation of 115 feet below sea level, depths. Last February, the private club welcomed the NTT IndyCar Series for an exhibition race, dubbed The Million...
You can call 5K runs demanding and worthy feats. But the race director of the Palm Springs Aerial Tram Road Challenge says nothing compares to his October event, when hundreds of people walk and run 3.7 miles on a course with an 1,840-foot elevation gain to reach the...
At sunrise on a Sunday morning in late March, as the San Jacinto Mountains tinged with a purple glow, the eastern end of the Coachella Valley sat shrouded in a shimmering haze. Dust. The fallout of a windy weekend with temperatures that fell almost 15 degrees...
Morgan Parrill remembers “visible twisters, like tornadoes on the water” during the Salton Sea’s only sailboat regatta, held April 18–19, 1964. “It was blowing 40 to 50 knots, and a lot of boats were capsizing,” Parrill recalls of the first day. At 10 years old, he...
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the weirdest of times at the 2024 BNP Paribas Open this month (March 3–17). A new attendance record was set at nearly half a million. Rain disrupted play on several days, and people donned puffer jackets more...
Tennis legend Alice Marble’s path to greatness epitomized the American dream. Born in 1913 to a blue-collar family in Northern California, Marble fell in love, first, with baseball. “We were poor, so naturally we picked a hobby that was cheap,” she explained in her...
The first time Eddie Elguera heard the story, he couldn’t believe it: A couple of locals on motorcycles had stumbled upon an abandoned swimming pool in the middle of the desert outside Palm Springs. For Elguera, a two-time world champion skateboarder, the rumor...
Member of the Los Angeles Angels.PHOTO COURTESY PALM SPRINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETYSomething remarkable happened seemingly overnight: Our desert oasis became an ice hockey hub, with the Coachella Valley Firebirds playing to sellout crowds during a wildly...
The limited-edition Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato is already sold out.PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY LAMBORGHINI AUTOMOBILIThe smoothly paved surface of the track at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway in Desert Center, an hour or so east of Palm Springs, had ended, and my...
Take a ride to the top.PHOTO COURTESY PALM SPRINGS AERIAL TRAMWAYFind Higher Ground.Explore the natural beauty of the surrounding mountains, where daytime temperatures are 20 to 40 degrees cooler than the desert floor. Ride up the Palm Springs Aerial...
IndyCar will return to The Thermal Club for preseason practice in 2024.PHOTOGRAPHY BY PATRICK MAUSAdecade ago, paving machines crawled around The Thermal Club, laying down 5 ½ inches of polymerized asphalt to create a racetrack. This year, in early...
The last thing on Tim Bradley’s mind 15 years ago, on a lonely May night in Nottingham, England, was the International Boxing Hall of Fame. It was May 10, 2008, and survival, not fame, was the order of the day.He had flown from the California desert to...
Sundown is just the beginning of the fun at these area attractions.PHOTO BY DANIELA STALLINGERSWINGThe Lights at IndioAmong the longest par-3 courses in the country, The Lights at Indio presents 2,800 yards of night-lit play, along with a full driving...
Taylor Ward will arrive at spring training this year a new man. He will face neither the anxiety of winning a job nor the pressure of having to look good. Tempe, Arizona, will be a place to grow and flourish rather than hope and pray for survival.The...
