General
Info:
A small island town of palatial homes and gardens, and streets so clean you could eat your dinner off them,
PALM BEACH
has been synonymous for nearly a century with the kind of lifestyle only limitless loot can buy. The nation's nobs began wintering here in the 1890s, after Henry Flagler brought his East Coast railroad south from St Augustine and built two luxury hotels on this then-secluded, palm-filled island. Since then, tycoons, sports aces, aristocrats, rock stars and CIA directors have flocked here, eager to become part of the Palm Beach elite and enjoy its aloofness from mainland, and mainstream, life. Joe Kennedy - father of John, Robert and Edward - bought the so-called Kennedy Compound here in 1933.
Summer in Palm Beach is very quiet, and the least costly time to stay. The winter months, from November to May, see a whirl of elegant balls, fundraising dinners and charity galas, as well as the
polo
season.
Worth Avenue
, close to the southern tip of the island, is filled with designer stores, high-class art galleries and ultraformal restaurants, and cruised by Rolls Royces, Mercedes and Jaguars. Its most appealing aspect is its
architecture
: stucco walls, Romanesque facades, and passageways leading to small courtyards where miniature bridges cross nonexistent canals and spiral staircases climb to the upper levels.
Where Cocoanut Row and Whitehall Way meet, the white Doric columns fronting Whitehall are those of the
Flagler Museum
(Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; $8), the most overtly ostentatious home on the island - a $4 million wedding present from Henry Flagler to his third wife, Mary Lily Kenan. As in many of Florida's first luxury homes, the interior design was lifted from the great buildings of Europe: among the 55 rooms are an Italian library, a French salon, a Swiss billiard room, a hallway modeled on St Peter's, and a Louis XV ballroom. All are stuffed with ornamentation, but they lack aesthetic cohesion. Informative 45-minute guided tours depart frequently from the 110ft hallway and provide a background for Flagler's fascinating rise to success and a glimpse of the Gilded Age in which he flourished.
Built in 1926 in the style of an Italianate palace,
The Breakers
hotel, on South County Road off the main strip (tel 561/655-6611 or 1-888/273-2537; $250+), operates as the last of Palm Beach's swanky resorts. Its design includes elaborate painted ceilings and huge tapestries. Take the free guided tour on Wednesday at 3pm (call 561/655-6611 ext 7560 for information).
More Palm Beach travel guides (each guide contains specific sub-sections):
Palm Beach
Practicalities
Addison Mizner: architect of Palm Beach
