Quote Originally Posted by SF Jeff View Post
Guilty of the 4 syllable pronunciation. My cousin used to own a horse ranch in Indio and she always pronounced it that way. I think most people did back in the day. It wasn't until the annual music festival started that I started hearing co-'chell-uh. I was at Power Trip two years ago and that was the only pronunciation I heard.
That's interesting, I lived in the valley from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s and can only remember hearing "cu-CHELL-uh" from locals.

Nowadays I'm hearing "CO-CHELL-uh" giving equal weight to the first two syllables.

In the early 1960s I lived in Cucamonga at which time people said "koo-kuh-MONG-uh" but the younger generation of residents of Rancho Cucamonga (which didn't yet exist when I lived there) are saying "koo-kuh-MUNG-uh" which I find annoying for some reason.

Coincidentally the family of a High School friend stabelled three horses in Indio. I would join him to take care of the horses, do hay runs, and go riding.