Editor's Letter

We asked and you told! Palm Springs Life recently asked its subscribers to help us identify the best of everything in the Coachella Valley — from spas, attractions, and restaurants to golf courses, doggie day care, and art galleries, and (almost) everything in between.

After we tallied the ballots in October, Deputy Editor Janice Kleinschmidt and Assistant Editor Joan Page McKenna collaborated with Photo Editor Jay Jorgensen and Creative Director Stuart Funk to present the first Palm Springs Life Readers’ Choice winners (page 68). We could have predicted many of them, but many others surprised us. We thank our loyal subscribers who participated in the 50-category survey and hope that you will use the feature as a resource the next time you want a new experience.

In the desert, the holidays are the harbinger for a season of world-class visual and performing arts. We present a preview in the form of the third annual edition of Palm Springs Life ART+CULTURE.

California artists rule this season, as two galleries plan major exhibitions of work by the Golden State’s best artists from 1865 to 2005 — from turn-of-the-century Impressionism to midcentury modernism to contemporary art that breaks the boundaries of painting and sculpture.

California artists have long exuded a sun-drenched optimism and pioneering spirit. In “Good Vibrations” (page 10), we tell the story of how one museum in Paris mounted a show of Southern California artists who started the Los Angeles contemporary movement and changed the way the art world looks at America’s West Coast.
The issue also includes news from the local art community, as well as a feature on how to buy art, a profile of Desert Hot Springs painter Elizabeth Chandler, a look at the desert’s performance stages, and the Coachella Valley’s most comprehensive schedule of gallery and museum exhibitions and performance events.

We welcome your feedback. Please send Comments to the Editors.