An Evening with the Rat Pack in Palm Springs

This evening I attended "An Evening with the Rat Pack", which was a fancy dinner Gala event sponsored by the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce. The event was held at one of the hotels downtown, with a wide range of Palm Springs business owners and local dignitaries on the guest list. The evening was semi-formal, with many attendees dressing in tuxes, evening gowns, and simple black and white attire.

The Gala's Rat Pack theme included a silent auction of memorabilia from Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. Most notably, the main entertainment was a Frank Sinatra impersonator, who was actually pretty good.

While mingling and perusing the silent auction items, I was stunned to see several women wearing furs. It was 100 degrees outside when I walked in, clearly a bit warm to be wearing a fur stole. It is however, Palm Springs-and the well-heeled women love to show off their furs and be dripping in diamonds.

Above left: Well-heeled woman in a fur stole & above right: girls with exotic jewels and one with a cozy fur wrap, despite the 100 degree temps.

Above left: Fabulous Feathers & above right: check out the groovin' pink glasses on the girl in the middle photo.

Above: My friend Skip and I stopped by the Chi Chi club bar (well ok it was just a backdrop)

During Cocktails, singers Buddy Greco and Lezlie Anders perform for the thirsty crowd. They live in Palm Springs and own and perform at The Buddy Greco Supper Club.

Above: Here is the Frank Sinatra impersonator. He jumped up on chair and sang/danced for awhile.

They had a fantastic dessert table set up as a silent auction, where attendees could "bid" for one of the more exclusive desserts to enjoy after dinner. Each dessert had a bid sheet. When I went up to bid, there was a rather large woman in a Polka-dot dress (see above left) hovering around the cakes. Much to the horror and surprise of a few bystanders, this woman decided she wasn't going to bid-or wait for dessert. She reached out, and sliced a few pieces of the cakes and walked away with an overflowing plate of cake. "I guess she was hungry", remarked one observer. I sniggered while replaying the scene in my mind. This remark caused several people to break into peels of laughter as she waddled away, eating her contraband cake as she moved toward her table. I suppose that reduced the bid price for that cake she pillaged.
After Hours Party at Melvyn's

Above left: Rick Rockhill, the Palm Springs Savant enjoys a martini & above right: Our group chatting away over cocktails.

After we left the Gala, a group of us headed over to Melvyn's at the Ingleside Inn. Melvyn's is my favorite haunt in Palm Springs, it is a fabulous old-Hollywood Palm Springs restaurant. The lounge has live music nightly, and features a great collection of photos of Hollywood actors, legendary singers and public figures who have dined at Melvyn's. The list is long, Melvyn's is an institution in Palm Springs, and has become semi-hip once again. The normal crowd is still an older set, but it appeals to the retro 30-40 year old crowd who long for the good old days when Sinatra reigned supreme on the Palm Springs social scene. It was a fun evening, we sat around in a corner, sipping martinis and laughing all night.

-Rick Rockhill