Welcome to the 2013/2014 Palm Springs Life Desert Living Edition. This impressive volume — a celebration of the desert lifestyle — packs an abundance of information that will help you optimize your experience in the Greater Palm Springs area.
This is a special year for Palm Springs, in particular. The city continues its 75th birthday — an occasion that Palm Springs Life has parlayed into a monthly series of features tracing the celebrities, architecture, events, and Native American culture that made this a famous destination.
We continue the series in this edition with a feature on Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this season. The tram — a feat of engineering — began ferrying people to the top of Mount San Jacinto on Sept. 14, 1963. In “High and Mighty,” writer Janice Kleinschmidt tells the story of the tram from its improbable construction. At press time, officials had begun work on a master plan to update the Valley and Mountain Stations for the next generation.
While most visitors and residents revere the area as a contemporary oasis, the Native Americans remind us that the incredible landscape of mountains and coves — from the San Jacinto Mountains to the Salton Sea — is a sacred place where their ancestors explored, settled, and worshipped. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians claims a large swath of the desert landscape, including Tahquitz Canyon, the subject of a stunning photo essay by the magazine’s longtime landscape photographer Tom Brewster.
“Tahquitz Canyon to the Peak” takes you beyond the two-mile trail loop and up 350 feet to the magical Tahquitz Falls, and introduces you to “Mountain Bob” Hepburn, author of the book Plants of the Cahuilla Indians. Hepburn first explored Tahquitz Canyon in 1969 and built a home at an elevation of about 2,500 feet. Brewster’s images show the Visitors Center, Tahquitz Falls, Tahquitz Valley, Read’s Meadow, Tahquitz Meadow, Carmaba Overlook, Tahquitz Peak Lookout (also called Lily Rock), and Pacific Crest Trail.
Also in this edition, our fashion director Jules Moore, showcases sophisticated fashions from the pool deck to the nightclub in a spectacular photo feature, “Glamour Begins at Home,” as well as fine works of gold, diamonds, and gemstones from the best jewelers on El Paseo in Palm Desert.
In “Shop by Vibe,” Ebony March, editor of The Guide (included in every edition of Palm Springs Life), points you to the places that will fulfill your desires, from Palm Springs’ hip Uptown Design District to Palm Desert’s elegant El Paseo to La Quinta’s charming Old Town, and more.
More than just fun in the sun, the desert communities draw people who need medical procedures and a bright, healthy climate to recover from them. In “Come for the Beauty, Stay for the Healing” (page 151), we show how the area’s three major hospitals — Desert Regional Medical Center, Eisenhower Medical Center, and JFK Memorial Hospital — welcome patients from around the country and Canada who come for everything from cosmetic surgery to knee and hip replacements.
Turn to The Guide section, which recommends the finest shops, restaurants, galleries, spas, golf courses, attractions, events, one-of-a-kind experiences, and an easy-to-use map.
We encourage you to stay plugged in to Greater Palm Springs by visiting palmspringslife.com, signing up to receive our free newsletters, downloading our mobile app in the iTunes and Android stores, joining us at our events — including Fashion Week El Paseo in March — and, of course, subscribing to the monthly print edition. By doing so, you will receive the 2014/2015 Palm Springs Life Desert Living Edition and specialty publications such as Palm Springs Life Art + Culture, Weddings, Dine Out, Vitality, and much more. Call 800-775-PALM or visit palmspringslife.com.
Enjoy your Palm Springs Life!