Palm Beach and West Palm Beach Attractions
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09_595369_ch05.qxd 10/24/05 12:11 PM Page 285 PART FIVE PALM BEACH COUNTY WELCOME to PALM BEACH TRUMP AND THE BREAKERS, TRUMPETS AT the Philharmonic, and breaking the bank are people and things associated with mostly rar- efied, sometimes vilified, but always fascinating Palm Beach. Palm Beach County is larger than Delaware, but most visitors are aware only of the opulent “Gold Coast,” from Palm Beach to Boca Raton. But there are 37 other municipalities and unincorporated areas, and the county includes 47 miles of beaches on the east, and Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades on the west. Delray Beach, between Boca and Palm Beach, has become a lively, desirable place to play and live. West Palm Beach is becoming a shop- ping and entertainment destination in itself, far less stuffy than its rich neighbor across Lake Worth. And west of the coast, past the suburban communities, are citrus groves, ranches, and wildlife refuges. A BRIEF HISTORY THE COUNTY’S EARLIEST KNOWN RESIDENTS were Native Ameri- cans, but the region was claimed for Spain in 1513. The nascent United States purchased the territory of Florida three centuries later. The Seminole Indian tribe’s famous resistance to forced relocation promptedCOPYRIGHTED three wars. The third, fought MATERIAL between 1835 and 1842, ended Indian control of the area. The county’s oldest nonnative set- tlement, Jupiter, was founded as a wartime fort in 1836. The Jupiter Lighthouse began operating in 1860 and continues to the present. In the 1890s, visionary Henry Flagler, a founding partner of Stan- dard Oil, built the Florida East Coast Railway system from Jacksonville to Key West to open the state as a winter paradise. He also built two large hotels, the Royal Poinciana and The Breakers, 09_595369_ch05.qxd 10/24/05 12:11 PM Page 286 286 PART 5 PALM BEACH COUNTY plus his own grand winter home, Whitehall, which is now the Flagler Museum. The Town of Palm Beach was incorporated in 1911 on a barrier beach. The area grew as a fashionable winter retreat, and workers arrived to supply the needs of wealthy vacationers. A legend tells of the African American workers who lived in shacks on the beach. Developers wanted to use this land but couldn’t oust the settlers. Sup- posedly, they organized a huge party for the workers with food, drink, and entertainment. During the festivities, a “mysterious” fire broke out, burning down the shacks. The workers were moved to new, mainland housing in West Palm Beach. Today, Palm Beach’s Ocean Boulevard is lined with millionaires’ estates, home to such gilded families as Vanderbilt, Whitney, and Kennedy. Perhaps the most recognizable is Donald Trump’s 118-room mansion, Mar-a-Lago, built for cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, and now a private club across the road from the ocean. Walkways have been built beneath the road to link the mansions and the beach. But, because the beaches are public, there’s nothing to stop you from accessing Palm Beach Municipal Beach—say, at the foot of Worth Avenue—and strolling along for some mansion-gazing and celeb-watching. Just don’t expect public bathrooms. Many other stops along Flagler’s railroad route blossomed as well. For instance, Boca Raton was settled in 1896. It became note- worthy because of the foresight of architect Addison Mizner. His 100-room hotel, The Cloister, built in 1925, is now part of the world- renowned Boca Raton Resort and Club. The lobby retains the grand architectural elements and antiques. Unfortunately, visitors can’t pop into the Boca Raton Resort and Club to glimpse the period opulence unless they’re registered guests. However, as a nonguest you may view the amazing lobby and public rooms of The Breakers in Palm Beach, and even dine there (for big bucks, of course). Buildings built or influenced by Mizner blend Mediterranean, Spanish, and Moorish elements. The buildings are often painted in Boca pink—a calamine-lotion hue. PALM BEACH TODAY PALM BEACH COUNTY WRESTLED WITH CLASS and social divisions well into the late 20th century. Schools here weren’t integrated until 1971; the Everglades Club was notorious for its policy denying mem- bership to blacks and Jews, who were not welcome even as guests for lunch or dinner. Socialite C. Z. Guest reportedly brought cosmetics queen Estée Lauder to the club for lunch. Even though Lauder denied her Jewishness at the time, Guest’s tennis privileges were temporarily revoked as punishment for the infraction. In 1985, the late choreog- 09_595369_ch05.qxd 10/24/05 12:11 PM Page 287 ARRIVING 287 rapher Jerome Robbins (who was also Jewish) canceled a scheduled cocktail party honoring the New York City Ballet when he learned of the club’s exclusionary policy. Today, diversity is the rule, but inequalities drawn along the color line linger. The county’s Hispanic presence increased following 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, which destroyed many homes in Dade County and prompted a northward flow. And Palm Beach’s Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts honors a philanthropic Jew- ish family. A blossoming big-business presence in the county, including offices for IBM in Boca Raton and Motorola in Boynton Beach, prompts young families to relocate to the area. Boca is now home to manicured country clubs, condominiums, and shops and restaurants catering to both full- and part-time residents. Boynton Beach is sprouting homes on every available parcel of land, and Jupiter is the latest area to experience drastic growth. The most recent population figures for Palm Beach County count over a million residents, about 10% of whom are winter-only residents. GATHERING INFORMATION FOR GENERAL TOURIST INFORMATION, CONTACT Palm Beach County Convention and Visitors Bureau (1555 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, Suite 800, West Palm Beach 33401; # 561-233-3000; fax 561-471-3990; www.palmbeachfl.com). Summer offers savings on many fronts. Request the coupon book “$1,000 Worth of the Palm Beaches for Free” to save on many dining, shopping, sightseeing, and sports attractions. Call # 800-554-PALM. Many hotels provide a seventh night free, and restaurants often reduce prices to attract customers when the tourist and snowbird sea- sons wind down. ARRIVING IF YOU ARE ARRIVING IN SOUTH FLORIDA VIA one of the larger airports—in Fort Lauderdale or Miami—check the appropriate sec- tion for advice on navigating the airport and getting to your hotel. BY PLANE PALM BEACH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (PBI), though still rela- tively small, is a three-level modern facility with all the amenities of other large city airports, and it’s serviced by most major airlines. The international status is primarily because of flights to the Bahamas, but a landing-strip expansion and direct-highway connection from 09_595369_ch05.qxd 10/24/05 12:11 PM Page 288 288 PART 5 PALM BEACH COUNTY I-95 should lure more international airlines. Southwest Airlines, Jet- Blue, and Delta Express offer service. Rental-car agencies have desks conveniently located in the luggage-retrieval area. For more informa- tion, call # 561-471-7400. BY CAR MOST DRIVERS ENTER PALM BEACH COUNTY from the north, either via Interstate 95 (with well-marked signage) from the north- east or Florida’s Turnpike (with its service plazas) from Orlando. Some visitors drive east from the Gulf Coast via FL 70 and FL 710 (70 becomes 710), skirting north of Lake Okeechobee. But don’t expect to see much of the country’s second-largest freshwater lake unless you leave the highway. The scenery consists of large sugar plantations with fields of waving sugar cane, and not much else. BY TRAIN OR BUS THE AMTRAK STATION IS IN A LOVELY OLD Spanish Renaissance– style building near the Kravis Center and CityPlace at 201 South Tamarind Avenue, West Palm Beach; # 561-832-6169. Tri-Rail is an underused commuter-train service running among Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties (# 800-874-7245), with stops in West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton. Extra trains are added for major events such as football games. Greyhound Bus Lines has terminals in West Palm Beach (205 South Tamarind Avenue; # 561-833-8536) and Lake Worth (929 North Dixie Highway; # 561-588-5002). GETTING AROUND DRIVING YOUR CAR SPEED LIMITS VARY THROUGHOUT SOUTH Florida: 30 mph is com- mon in congested areas, around hotels, or in heavily populated neighborhoods; 40 or 45 mph commercial areas; and 65 or 70 mph on highways. Florida’s seat-belt law requires everyone to buckle up. Many South Florida roadways have two names. US 1, for example, is also called Federal Highway. It runs from Maine down to Key West, so when referenced here we mention the nearest municipality. The main north–south arteries within Palm Beach County are the Florida Turnpike and I-95. Although the turnpike usually offers a smoother drive, it’s several miles west of the county’s major destina- tions. And the toll cost for using the turnpike adds up, especially in the county’s northern reaches (it costs $2.20–$3 to drive a car from Boca Raton to Jupiter). I-95 generally has more traffic, particularly trucks. Although its road network is relatively simple in comparison to southern neighbors Broward and Miami-Dade, construction is en- 09_595369_ch05.qxd 10/24/05 12:11 PM Page 289 GETTING AROUND 289 demic to Palm Beach—lanes are regularly added to handle the influx of 1,000 immigrants to unofficial TIP Florida per day. When an accident occurs, traffic By all means avoid rush grinds to a halt—and there’s often terrible start- hours and use parallel and-stop movement in the opposite direction as roads such as Congress myriad rubberneckers brake.