Shield’s Date Garden in Indio, California, has been around since 1924. It’s famous for its deliciously sweet date shakes, and a long-running history of cultivating dates in this desert region near Palm Springs. Stop here for a shake, have breakfast or lunch in the gardens, or just grab some dates and interesting date products. There’s also a movie theater at this location where you can see the film “Romance and Sex Life of the Date” for free.
To Get There
Shield’s is located in Indio, about 45min east of Palm Springs
Hours: Open 9am – 5pm
Free Parking
Cafe hours daily 6:30 am to 2:30 pm for breakfast & lunch
There is a movie that plays on repeat in the theater all day
The History
Floyd and Bess Shields came to the desert to try their hand at planting and cultivating date palms, a process that can take 20 years to start producing dates that you can harvest. The date palm originated in Iraq, in a similar climate to the California desert. With a lot of hard work, they became pioneer in the date business, even producing some original varietals like the blonde and brunette dates. These are dates you can only find here, they aren’t produced anywhere else in the world. Floyd also invented the date crystal, a product used in cooking, cold cereals, and the famous date shake they sell at Shield’s.
The Shop
There is an old school diner-style counter where you can order ice cream and shakes in the stores, as well as many different types of date, date products and random tourist knick knacks like postcards and magnets. If I were you, I’d take some dates home since these are so fresh and there is such a large and interesting variety.
Romance and Sex Life of the Date
There’s also a movie theater at this location where you can see the film “Romance and Sex Life of the Date” for free. The movie is a short film about 15min long about the history of Shield’s and how dates are cultivated. It’s kid-friendly in case you were wondering.
Shield’s is a great stop if you’re in the Palm Springs area or if you go to The Living Desert with the kids. I hope you enjoy it!