The Valley Line: Social scene picks up with season

The trappings of the joyous Christmas season are popping up all over our city. As if by magic colored lights have been appearing in gardens and tracing the roof lines of houses. My grandchildren, as all little children everywhere, are trying to be on their extra-special good behavior to ensure that Santa will visit their house.

I just flew back in town Monday after an extended stay for the Thanksgiving holiday. As our plane was landing I could see that busy elves had been decorating houses and businesses with bright lights — it looked so festive from many hundreds of feet in the air as we made our descent to the runway.

Celebrations, a hallmark of the season, are happening all over the greater Los Angeles basin. Read on and you will get an idea of what is going on in and around our fair city.

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The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA) was honored at a cocktail party hosted by Lucrezia Buccellati at the elegant Beverly Hills Buccellati Salon. The reception, attended by some 50 guests, not only marked Buccellati's ongoing recognition of iconic international wildlife through art but also the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens' highly-anticipated new Elephants of Asia exhibit opening later this month.

It was a lovely event and Lucrezia was a gracious hostess. She greeted guests as they sipped and tasted refreshments while admiring the beautiful jewelry and other Buccellati designs. Buccellati donated 20% of all sales at the reception and for two weeks afterward to the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA).

Of course valley resident John Lewis, director of the Los Angeles Zoo, and Connie Morgan, also a LCF resident and GLAZA president, were in attendance at the party. They were eager to talk about the zoo's "Elephants of Asia," a state-of-the-art exhibit, which is among the largest of its kind in the United States. The $42 million, six acre habitat includes features dedicated to elephant health and welfare including bathing pools, sandy hills, varied topography, enrichment and facilities capable of caring for elephants of all ages. The opening of the elephant exhibit will be a wonderful Christmas gift to all of us living in the Los Angeles area.

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