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Steven Biller

The social season kicks off quite hard around now. Fundraising galas, art gallery openings, fashion shows, luncheons, golf tournaments, and world-class entertainment leave us with nary a quiet night at home.

All season long, Palm Springs Life will usher you to the best events the desert has to offer. For starters, this issue includes our eighth annual Palm Springs Life Social Datebook & Charity Register. Its sleek, compact new look, designed by Art Director Morrissey Gage, makes for a sharp-looking, convenient resource for the entire season.

Edited by Palm Springs Life Managing Editor Olga Reyes, this year’s Social Datebook & Charity Register proves again to be the ultimate guide to local nonprofit organizations and philanthropic foundations.

Social season would be ho-hum without new fashions to augment the glamour. Our fashion editor, Susan Stein, shows us a selection of elegant stunners in “All the Right Lines” (page 94). Photographed by John Aigner at Alta in south Palm Springs, this flirtatious feature will inspire you to check out the goods around town.

While reveling in the present, we also celebrate the desert’s rich heritage. In “Graceful Aging” (page 106), writer Jan Silver Maguire checks into La Quinta Resort & Club to look back on its 80-year history as an exclusive desert getaway that continues to attract luminaries from around the world.

Meanwhile, Food Editor Donna Curran takes us into the kitchens of Rocio Varela and Leanne Kamekona, executive chefs at two of the Coachella Valley’s top resorts — Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa and Parker Palm Springs, respectively.

Also in this issue, columnist Hank Stokes offers to wager on the November elections; Deputy Editor Janice Kleinschmidt and I preview must-see art gallery openings; auto writer Patrick Deveraux offers a sneak peek at the Rolls-Royce 101EX, a concept car that he contends could be the next great coupe; and Assistant Editor Joan Page McKenna introduces the desert’s newest diva — Janet Hopkins, a fun, energetic Metropolitan Opera soprano “determined to make opera and classical music more accessible to the local public.”

We hope you enjoy the issue. Please send feedback