Mecca is an unincorporated community in Riverside County, California, on the north shore of the Salton Sea in the eastern Coachella Valley, surrounded by irrigated agricultural land. Its modern story begins with the desert's agricultural promise: in 1904, the U.S. Department of Agriculture established a date garden experiment station in Mecca, testing Arabian and North African date varieties such as the Deglet Noor, which thrived under irrigation from artesian wells. That experiment helped lay the foundation for the Coachella Valley's signature date industry, and Mecca has remained an agricultural community ever since. The community grew from a railroad-era settlement — the area was settled as a stop in the early 1900s, alongside neighboring Thermal and the surrounding desert towns — and it developed as a hub for farm labor and produce. Today date palms, table grapes, citrus, and row crops dominate the surrounding landscape, and Mecca's population of about 8,200 fluctuates with the seasonal agricultural workforce that moves through the valley during growing seasons. Mecca is served by the Coachella Valley Unified School District, which covers more than 1,250 square miles of the eastern Coachella Valley, and the community hosts an elementary school of its own. The Salton Sea lies just to the south, and the Mecca Hills wilderness rises nearby, while the larger valley cities of Coachella and Indio provide employment, shopping, and services a short drive away. Mecca suits people tied to the region's agricultural economy or seeking an affordable, close-knit desert community — a working place defined by dates, grapes, and the Salton Sea, within reach of the Coachella Valley's cities and their amenities.