An invite to the Annenbergs' annual New Year’s Eve Party was a much-coveted ticket.

Those lucky enough to score an invitation got to hobnob with Hollywood royalty like Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Stewart, business barons like Malcolm Forbes and Justin Dart and political powerhouses like Ronald Reagan.

And once Ronald Reagan became president of the United States, the formality of, and security around, the affairs grew exponentially.

Walter Annenberg, a magazine publisher and diplomat, along with his wife Leonore, had created a signature soiree in the middle of Rancho Mirage. People who weren’t there wished they could be. And those who were there knew they part of something special.

The parties had become an essential part of the elite social scene. It was such a desirable event that one year a woman, dressed in a long black velvet gown and wearing a single strand of beads, crashed the party. Decades later, people who were there still recall it.

It was the eve of 1982 and Reagan had only been president for one year. The woman somehow managed to make it past the guarded gate at Frank Sinatra Drive, past Secret Service and up the long meandering road that leads to the home’s circular driveway.

She was described as “elegant, beautiful and tall” and turned out to be a professional gate-crasher. She made it inside, past the grand French doors that open up to the magnificent atrium where the party was held.

That was as far as she got.

When she was asked her name at the check-in table, she said she was Johanna, the wife of William P. Clark, Jr., Secretary of the Interior, recalls Michael Comerford, house manager at the time. Leonore was nearby and heard the exchange.

“Mrs. Annenberg marched right across the room and said ‘no you’re not because I know the secretary and his wife.’ The moment Mrs. Annenberg declared that, security was there and the woman was gone,” said Comerford during a recent interview with The Desert Sun. He worked for the Annenberg's in Rancho Mirage for 35 years until Leonore's death in 2009.

He doesn’t recall what happened to the gate-crasher after she was whisked away by security. But he does remember her as a professional party-crasher who had also crashed the opening of the United States embassy at the Vatican.

“She behaved so well, the Vatican assumed she was part of the American delegation and the Americans assumed she was part of the Vatican until they aligned each one up …. and then all of a sudden they said ‘we’ve got one head too many,’" said Comerford.

The party-crasher on Dec. 31, 1981, highlighted the changing dynamics of the New Year’s Eve parties. With a sitting president as one of their guests, it could no longer be a casual affair or business as usual. From then on out, security was heightened. To gain entry into the party, confirmed guests received a special code that was cross-referenced upon arrival.

Immediately after the crasher was discovered, all activity was halted for about 45 minutes while Secret Service swept the grounds and beefed up security.

“They had to bring in the bomb sniffing dogs. And they held the president down in the yellow (guest) room until all was clear,” said Comerford.

Later in the evening, to ease the tension, Reagan, who loved to tell jokes and make people feel at ease, made light of the drama during his toast by noting a mysterious black purse at his table.

The crowd erupted in laughter.

“He said there was a lady here earlier on and unfortunately she forgot her purse,” said Comerford with a chuckle, recalling the evening.

Reagan’s two terms in office will long be remembered for the economic policies often referred to as “Reagonomics" and his famous "Tear down this wall" speech during a trip to Berlin.

For Coachella Valley residents, his presidential tenure also was marked by his annual visits to the desert for the Annenberg's New Year’s Eve party – a period that Walter Annenberg referred to as “The Reagan Years.”

The Reagans and the Annenbergs were friends long before “Ronnie,” as his friends called him, sought political office. Their bond dates back to when Reagan was a contract actor for Warner Bros. and when Annenberg, former ambassador to the UK, published movie magazines.

The Annenbergs had been throwing swanky soirees since 1966 when Sunnylands was completed. It was the year Reagan became president – the 1980 New Year’s Eve party ushering in 1981, right after his election win and just three weeks before his Jan. 20 inauguration as president – that really changed the role of Sunnylands from a “private retreat for friends” to a “Camp David of the West,” according to a publication by The Annenberg Foundation Trust.

Reagan had started attending the parties in 1966, Walter Annenberg told The Desert Sun in 1981. That was the same year Reagan became governor of California. He defeated Edmund G. “Pat” Brown at the time and won re-election in 1970.

Leonore’s daughter from a previous marriage, Diane Deshong, recalls Reagan's visits being much more casual before he became president.

“We’d go down to the game room and see a movie and that was our New Year’s Eve,” she told The Desert Sun during a recent interview.

At some point though, the soirees became much swankier with guests lists that could rival the highest of society events.

The Annenbergs began keeping detailed files on their New Year’s Eve parties beginning in 1975. According to a publication by the Annenberg Foundation, 52 guests attended the sit-down dinner and party that year. There also were seven houseguests including “Gov. & Mrs. Reagan” who were set to arrive Dec. 30 along with the other houseguests – Iranian Ambassador to the United States Ardeshir Zahedi, the Heinzs and the Abbouds.

According to guest book lists and signatures, Ronald and Nancy spent New Year’s Eve at Sunnylands again in 1977, 1979, every year of his two terms as president and again from 1990-93. Nancy even continued to attend the party after Reagan’s passing in 2004.

The 1980 New Year’s Eve party that ushered in 1981, right after Reagan's election win as president, had a guest list of 60 that night. It included Alfred and Betsy Bloomingdale of department store fame; Charles and Carol Price, Charles would become the ambassador to the United Kingdom; Jimmy Stewart and his wife, Gloria; Hal Wallis, producer of “Casablanca;” Bob and Dolores Hope; Justin Dart of Rexall drugstores and Kraft Food; William French Smith, Reagan's personal attorney and then his first attorney general; and John Sinn, the future president of Eisenhower Medical Center Board of Directors, according to the Annenberg Trust Foundation publications.

Throughout both terms of his presidency, Reagan and key members of his inner circle attended the party with the guest list becoming more impressive. The secretaries of defense, treasury and state attended with their wives. Frank and Barbara Sinatra, Kirk and Anne Douglas, Brooke Astor and Dinah Shore also attended

“Before it was smaller, but when he was president he had to bring all his people with him,” said Deshong.

“And of course there were more invites going out to various people here in the desert and from the East Coast,” added Comerford.

No longer was his attendance low-key. Each visit from then on included Secret Service, motorcades and press coverage. His presidential helicopter, Marine One, and his airplane Air Force One, became a common sight in the desert on visits.

When the Reagans stayed at the Annenberg Estate, they always slept in the yellow suite in the detached guest wing of the house. The home also has a pink, peach, blue and green color-coded guest suite. Each guest suite had coordinating décor and jelly beans.

“It was Mrs. Annenberg's favorite room. Margaret Thatcher stayed there,” said Comerford, about the yellow room.

That room, with its wall of windows that looks out onto the swimming pool and expansive grounds, had an impressive list of guests that, in addition to the Reagans, included presidents George HW Bush and Richard Nixon; sitting or future secretary of states Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and Hillary Clinton; the Duke and Duchess of York; Princess Margaret; and Steve Forbes.

Guests staying at the Annenbergs for the New Year’s Eve parties participated in a ritual of sorts. An itinerary was placed in every guest room.

“So that they knew exactly the time of cocktails, dinner, who the guests were, and bios on the guests,” said Comerford.

The Reagans often arrived on Dec. 30, with lunch at 1 p.m. in the game room then cocktails and dinner at Eldorado Country Club.

On New Year’s Eve, cocktails were served at 8:15 p.m. with dinner served at 9 p.m.

The Annenbergs transformed the home’s atrium full of sitting furniture and fancy card tables into an elegant party venue.

“Everything we had done the night before. The tables. The furniture that you see in the atrium now was taken in a big large container, was locked and sealed and there was a guard with it 24 hours on the property. It didn’t go off the property. And then we brought in the tables and set them all up,” explained Comerford.

There would be about 10 round tables that could seat 10 people each. As you walk in the front door, the band was on the left side against the wall. In 1981, Joe Moshay and his renowned orchestra provided the music, but not before Moshay, who had been contracted to work a different New Year’s Eve Party in Los Angeles, rearranged his schedule to perform for the president.

Moshay was a favorite of the president and his presence had been requested by Annenberg.

“I’m booked a year in advance,” said Moshay to The Desert Sun in 1981. “I wouldn’t break an engagement for any other reason than the president.”

The dancing portion of the party started the same way each year and was “almost like a wedding” said Comerford.

“The president and his wife danced first for a few moments and then the president came and invited Mrs. Annenberg, and Mrs. Reagan picked up the ambassador and those two couples had the floor for a certain length of time. And then it was general dancing.”

“And then people would get up and perform, like Dolores Hope, (she) sang too,” said Deshong. “Or whoever was here that was a singer.”

On New Year’s Day, when guests returned to the atrium it was back to normal. There were also a variety of activities for guests including golf, football, tennis and backgammon.

Reagan would golf in the morning with Annenberg and watch football immediately after lunch, said Comerford. The game room was decked out with lots of munchies such as pretzels, a big bowl of red apples and potato chips – very intricately presented and separated by whole chips and ones with pieces missing.

“And if there were any ladies who didn’t play golf, Mrs. Annenberg – she was so thoughtful – would take them on a visit that day somewhere to a museum or go shopping on El Paseo," said Comerford. "Nancy didn’t play golf too much. Mrs. Annenberg was willing to sit with her in the game room and chit chat."

Many remember Reagan for his sincerity and ease.

“He was a very wonderful guest he didn’t make demands,” said Comerford. “He was a people’s president. He loved to reach out to people.”

Deshong remembers his warmth, desire to make people feel comfortable and his good-natured humor.

“He would say ‘I’m gonna tell a joke … it might be a little dirty,’” said Deshong. “Well it wouldn’t be dirty at all. He loved to tell jokes. But, he thought they were maybe risqué, but we didn’t think they were risqué. I couldn’t figure out what was risqué about them. He was always so sweet about it.”