More than just car insurance. GEICO can insure your motorcycle, ATV, and RV. And the GEICO Insurance Agency can help you fi nd homeowners, renters, boat insurance, and more! ® Motorcycle and ATV coverages are underwritten by GEICO Indemnity Company. Homeowners, renters, boat and PWC coverages are written through non-affi liated insurance companies and are secured through the GEICO Insurance Agency, Inc. Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states or all GEICO companies. Government Employees Insurance Co. • GEICO General Insurance Co. • GEICO Indemnity Co. • GEICO Casualty Co. These companies are subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. GEICO: Washington, DC 20076. GEICO Gecko image © 1999-2010. © 2010 GEICO NEWMARKET SERVICES ublisher of 95 U.S. and 32 International Relocation Guides, NewMarket PServices, Inc., is proud to introduce our online version. Now you may easily access the same information you find in each one of our 127 Relocation Guides at www.NewMarketServices.com. In addition to the content of our 127 professional written City Relocation Guides, the NewMarket Web Site allows us to assist movers in more than 20 countries by encouraging you and your family to share your moving experiences in our NewMarket Web Site Forums. You may share numerous moving tips and information of interest to help others settle into their new location and ease the entire transition www.NewMarketServices.com process. We invite everyone to visit and add helpful information through our many available forums. Share with others your knowledge of your new location or perhaps your former location. If you ever need to research a city for any reason, from considering a move to just checking where somebody you know is staying, this is the site for you. NewMarket Services looks forward to cooperating with everyone to continually add to our base of City Specific Information along with our various moving topics to help many of the 40 million people who have the opportunity to relocate each year. Please do not hesitate to contact our customer service department to speak to a live representative if we can provide any assistance. Our toll free number is (866) 595-3792. West Palm Beach Information Guide [ 5 HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE The NewMarket Services Information Guide is designed as a valuable resource tool for you, the newcomer to West Palm Beach. It is our intent in producing this publication to standardize important and helpful information on your new community in a format that is most useful to you. Stores and services are listed by category in the business directory. West Palm Beach Important telephone numbers, packing Welcomes You! and moving suggestions, and much, much more useful information is found throughout the Guide pages. Selected area businesses, many offering significant savings , packing and moving suggestions, sorted by category. The Guide can save you both time and money while providing you a continuous resource tool as you become more familiar with the metroplex. We do hope you find our Relocation Guide to be of assistance to you. If you do not find something you need, or if you have any suggestions for future issues of the Guide, please give us a call. We will be happy to assist in any way. (866) 595-3792 Toll Free From everyone at NewMarket Services Welcome to West Palm Beach! 6 ] West Palm Beach Information Guide www.newmarketservices.com West Palm Beach Information Guide [ Volume 10 [ Number 10 LOCAL INFORMATION The State of Florida 8 Area Codes, Important Information 13 Travel Information 14-15 Media 16 About West Palm Beach 9-10 Publisher: NewMarket Services, Inc. Weather 10 Historical Background 11 President: Patrick Morgan Dining and Nightlife 18 Managing Editor: Rebecca Wallace Where to Stay 19 Executive Editor: Jason Gerali Entertainment 20 Recreation 21-23 Contributing Writer: Amy Tennant Shopping 24 Executive VP Sales & Marketing: Robert Fischer Recommended Tours 25 Regional Sales Manager: Beth Hurley MOVING Art Department: Sprague Design Smooth Transitions 27-28 Graphic Designer: Dean Sprague Choosing a Moving Company 27 NewMarket On-Line: Total Web Design, Inc. Packing Tips 27-28 Staying Organized 28 IT and Web Development: Larry Bongiovi Settling Into Your New Home 28 Research Assistant: Stephanie Cooper, Lora Price What’s All The Talk About? 31 Circulation: Little Drummer Boy Dist., Inc. Pre-Move Checklist 32-33 Phoenix Office: MOVING WITH CHILDREN & PETS PO Box 30534 Reinforce The Positives 35-36 Phoenix, AZ 85046-0534 Choosing a School 35-36 Phone: (602) 923-3415 Selecting Child Care 36-37 Fax: (602) 923-0774 Education 38-41 Toll Free: (866) 595-3791 Relocating Your Pet 42 Chicago Office: FITNESS & HEALTH 902 North Ashland In the Kitchen 43 Chicago, IL 60622 Physical and Mental Well Being 44-46 Phone: (312) 226-6288 Volunteering 47 Fax: (312) 226-6290 Toll Free: (866) 595-3792 HOUSING Making the Right Choice 48-50 NewMarket currently publishes Information Choosing the Right Home 51 Guides for 95 North American and 32 Home Inspection Checklist 52 International Markets. To order your NewMarket Information Guides for $3.50 Homecare Basics for New Homeowners 53 each, please contact NewMarket Services Home Buyer’s Glossary 54-55 toll free at (866) 595-3792. Security 56 Take Control of Your Energy Costs 57 In preparing this publication, every effort has been made to assure the accuracy of Who’s Who in Building 58 the information contained herein, but Selecting a Builder 59 authenticity cannot be guaranteed. Listings Selecting a Contractor 60 are subject to omission, error or change Banking & Mortgage Information 61-64 without notice. BUSINESS DIRECTORY All material in this publication is copyright protected and can only be reprinted with Business Directory Listings 65-69 permission of the publisher. THE STATE OF FLORIDA With 1,100 miles of beaches, if you were to walk one mile of Columbia Florida beach every day, it would take you longer than two-and-a- SC half years to get around the whole state. Each area has its own Atlanta Charleston personality and unique coastal strands. Some are relaxing and Birmingham quiet, places where one could look around and see nothing but GA sand, sea and sea grapes—no high rises. Others, well known for AL being exceptionally family-friendly, are full of kids. These beaches Atlantic Ocean may be dotted with rainbow-striped beach umbrellas, sand castles, surf boards, kites and maybe a pier or a mini-golf course. Each Jacksonville Tallahassee beach has something setting it apart—one may be in a national Daytona Beach wildlife refuge, one may have emerald green waters while another FL has clear blue water, and some have various museums. Gulf of Mexico Florida’s economy relies heavily on tourism. About 60 million Orlando visitors visit the state every year. Warm weather and hundreds of Port St. Lucie Tampa/St. Petersburg miles of beach attract vacationers from around the world. The Walt West Palm Beach Disney World Resort, a mega-resort consisting of four theme parks, Fort Myers/Naples Fort Lauderdale more than twenty hotels, water parks, shopping centers, and other attractions, is an important tourist attraction located in Lake Buena Miami Vista. Together, Walt Disney World, and other theme park resorts such as Universal Orlando Resort and SeaWorld, are an important driver of the Central Florida economy. Orlando attracts more visitors lorida is situated mostly on a large peninsula between the than any other amusement park destination in the United States. Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida. Other major industries include citrus fruit and juice production, It extends to the northwest into a panhandle, extending along F banking, and phosphate mining within the Bone Valley region. With the northern Gulf of Mexico. It is bordered on the north by the states the arrival of the space program at Kennedy Space Center in the of Georgia and Alabama, and on the west, at the end of the 1960s, Florida has developed a sizeable aerospace industry. panhandle, by Alabama. It is near the countries of the Caribbean, particularly the Bahamas and Cuba. Florida’s nickname is the “Sunshine State,” but severe weather is a common occurrence in the state. Central Florida is known as the Fast Facts lightning capital of the United States, as it experiences more POPULATION: 17,789,864 lightning strikes than anywhere else in the country. Florida has the CAPITAL: Tallahassee highest average precipitation of any state, in large part because 67 afternoon thunderstorms are common in most of the state from late COUNTIES: spring until early autumn. A fair day may be interrupted with a TIME ZONE: Eastern Daylight Time storm, only to return to regular, gorgeous sunshine. These STATE MOTTO: In God we trust thunderstorms, caused by collisions between airflow from the Gulf LARGEST CITIES Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, of Mexico and airflow from the Atlantic Ocean, pop up in the early : Tampa afternoon and can bring heavy downpours, high winds, and sometimes tornadoes. Florida leads the United States in tornadoes HOUSING UNITS: 8,009,427 per square mile, but these tornadoes do not typically reach the MEDIAN VALUE: $105,500 intensity of those in the Midwest and Great Plains. Key West has the $38,985 highest average temperature in the United States. MEDIAN INCOME: STATE SALES TAX: 6% 8 ] West Palm Beach Information Guide ABOUT WEST PALM BEACH OVERVIEW ich in pioneering history, inundated with great wealth, and steeped in Hollywood- style glamour, Palm Beach draws curious visitors and new residents alike. The Rname is recognized the world over as a destination for wealthy vacationers, royalty, and celebrities. The County of Palm Beach has 38 incorporated municipalities with several that are historic neighbors to the city of Palm Beach, the heart of the county.