Shields Date Garden

Retro Roadside Attractions

If you’re looking for a unique retro roadside attraction within driving distance of Palm Springs (35 minutes East on Hwy 111), consider Shields Date Garden.

Founded in 1924 by Floyd & Bess Shields, the couple made a name for their Indio-based date farm by giving lectures to locals & tourists on date cultivation. The lectures became so popular they were later turned into a slide show presentation and now run on a continuous loop at the date garden theater as a short film entitled “Romance and Sex Life of the Date” … really!

Shields’ “salesroom” building, with vintage giant knight-in-armor sign out front, has been in use since the early 1950s and acts as their ranch store & soda fountain where an assortment of nostalgic retro novelty items, toys and candy can be purchased along with every variety of date known to man (well, almost).

Date shakes, date pancakes and date burgers are also offered at their adjoining Cafe while the date garden itself was refurbished in 2013 and boasts an assortment of biblical statues on a winding path through their 17 acre date farm.

For more information, view the video, below.