LIFE’S A BEACH

Unless you’ve invented something

useful, or have $100 million kicking around in pocket change, the price tag of a home on the island of Palm Beach might seem to range from the exorbitant to the stratospheric. However, just across the bridge is the mainland, West Palm Beach, which has been undergoing its own renaissance of late. And so, for mere mortals who work at a hedge fund but don’t own one, West Palm Beach seems to have become the new landing pad for erstwhile New Yorkers.

For those of us who have lived here since the ’90s, we knew we were in trouble when West Palm Beachers started naming their neighborhoods. For many, the most desirable are clustered around Flagler Drive, including historic El Cid (which can rival Palm Beach for popularity, if not price tag, these days), the upand-comer Northwood, and the already arrived SoSo (whereas SoHo is south of Houston, SoSo is south of Southern Boulevard). Meanwhile, College Park in Lake Worth, which borders the Southend, has become the Park Slope of Palm Beach.

WEST PALM BEACH

Clematis Street About 30 years ago, a revitalized Clematis Street, just at the center of West Palm, became a hub of retail activity, with a Saturday morning farmers market that’s gaining a reputation for being one of the best in the country.

Predating this is Pioneer Linens, where islanders have been getting their luxury towels and tablecloths for the better part of a century, and whose owners have seen the ebb and flow—and the current massive tidal wave—that has brought people to Palm Beach. As told by Penny Murphy, the current owner, the store was started by Max Greenberg, an Austrian immigrant who came to the United States in 1905 and worked for a time in New York City. He had family in Daytona—where Henry Morrison Flagler had established one of his first resorts. When Greenberg discovered that they were giving away land in Lake Worth, he decided to open a hardware store there, living in a nearby tent. Between the hurricane of 1928, the crash of 1929, and some exercises in branding, West Palm Beach surpassed Lake Worth, and Greenberg’s hardware store evolved into Pioneer Linens, which has remained in its current location since 1930. Murphy, Greenberg’s granddaughter and current owner of Pioneer Linens, is the third-generation proprietor of the famed linen store (her daughters are the fourth generation involved in the business), and has observed the influx of New Yorkers who now call the Palm Beaches home. “Our secret is out,” she said. “We have always had a very special place to live—not only do we have the beach and the ocean and the weather, but we have so much to offer. People are just discovering that.”

GO WEST PALM, YOUNG MAN West Palm Beach’s flagship art museum, the Norton Museum of Art; bottom: The Ben, the neighborhood’s only waterfront hotel. Facing page: Clematis Street in downtown West Palm; below: fruit at the neighborhood’s farmers market. Previous spread: aerial shot of Palm Beach and The Breakers.

Antique Row Among those discoveries is a stretch along Dixie Highway known as Antique Row, where stores such as Hive showcase everything from coastal to, well, modern coastal design. Mecox Gardens, an outpost of the Napa Valley, Hamptons, and Manhattan Mecox Gardens—and all points in between—is where many an islander not only gets their home goods, but also their floral arrangements. And nearby there’s Aioli, where the owners have pioneered an industrial gourmet café, with pastries and cakes rivaling any found in New York, or indeed Paris. Chef Michael Hackman and his wife, Melanie, the duo behind the ever-popular restaurant, were quick to note the shift in the area. They founded their restaurant based on Michael’s clientele on the island of Palm Beach where he worked as a private chef, and the restaurant’s location, at the epicenter of West Palm Beach, seemed only natural. “There’s been an influx from the Northeast,” said Melanie. “We noticed during the middle of Covid, a large group of people stayed and liked it.” Michael joked, “Some people say it’s the sixth borough.”

For people looking to be healthy healthy, Celis Juice Bar has filled our life with smoothies, shots, and juices—though the burgers at the nearby Dixie Grill & Brewery helps us cancel them out. And for anyone wanting slightly more formal fare, Kitchen, just off of Belvedere, specializes in American food presented with a fresh and sophisticated twist—the dream child of Chef Matthew Byrne, Tiger Woods’ former personal chef—as an outpost of the original in Palm Beach Gardens. Norton Museum of Art Between all of this is the Norton Museum of Art, which is rapidly earning a reputation as one of the best museums in South Florida. Though the museum has been a mainstay since the ’40s, the 2019 expansion—a bold, contemporary form framing an 80-yearold banyan tree—houses a permanent collection with more than 8,000 works of art, divided into European, American, Chinese, contemporary, and photography galleries. Modern masters range from Matisse and Monet to Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock. This winter, for anyone missing their Met Costume Institute, “A Personal View on High Fashion & Street Style: Photographs from the Nicola Erni Collection, 1930s to Now” is on exhibition at the Norton Museum through February 12, while outside in the Pamela and Robert B. Goergen Sculpture Garden the 37,200-squarefoot, Norman Foster-designed grounds showcase several works by artists such as Keith Haring, Antony Gormley, and Ugo Rondinone, all under a canopy of a tropical panoply.

In addition to the Norton is the Bunker, a private art space in a 20,000-square-foot Art Deco building, formerly a toy factory. Here can be found the private collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody, an art visionary known for her passionate support of emerging and little-known artists. This season, DeWoody invited Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Brooklyn Museum director, Anne Pasternak, to reinstall the Bunker’s largest space. Artists include Calida Rawles, Jay Lynn Gomez, Kennedy Yanko, and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, all of whom were championed early in their careers by DeWoody.

Waterfront The Ben is redefining the hotel experience, if not the skyline, in West Palm Beach. This boutique hotel, situated on the waterfront, is within walking distance of West Palm’s main shopping streets, and has a rooftop bar with expansive views of the intracoastal waterway. With its modernist take and downtown vibe, it’s quickly becoming popular with those visiting to dip their toes in the Palm Beach area.

In terms of restaurants, anyone looking to get in touch with their inner islander need look no further than E.R. Bradley’s, which has been around since 1984, on South Clematis Street. It takes its name from Colonel E.R. Bradley, who founded a casino on the island of Palm Beach. Whereas the original Bradley’s was known for its good food and high-stakes gambling, the current outpost evokes a more laid-back vibe.

PALM BEACH

ISLAND LIFE Above: Via Parigi on Worth Avenue; right: Renato’s, nestled in Via Mizner; top: the pool at The Colony, the place to see and be seen. Facing page: The Breakers Hotel; and inset, the Drawing Room in the Flagler Museum.

Worth Avenue Back in Palm Beach proper, there’s the world-renowned Worth Avenue, home to some of the Palm Beachiest of brands (think Stubbs & Wootton and Lilly Pulitzer) and where many an afternoon stroll leads to a slightly lighter wallet. With Tiffany & Co. and Chanel, Ralph Lauren and Bottega Veneta, Worth Avenue is where many who have what Thorstein Veblen described in his book The Theory of the Leisure Class as “pecuniary repute” like to get their reputiest.

Via Mizner Indeed, Worth Avenue is dotted with vias—winding passageways replete with Spanish stucco, antique stone, and terracotta tiles. If you’re going to pick one, pick Via Mizner, named after Addison Mizner, whose architectural style can be seen in nearly every last pilaster in Palm Beach. Indeed, the via gets its name because Mizner’s onetime home is situated at the center. Just past the Vilebrequin store, a winding passage leads you to Aerin Lauder’s island outpost, Aerin Palm Beach. Around the corner, there’s the handbag store Lana Marks. If the shopping is making you hungry, then you mustn’t miss Renato’s—an elegant Italian eatery that’s a perennial favorite. The risotto, if not the courtyard where it’s served, is the stuff dreams are made of. For those en famille, and if pizza and pasta are more up to the kiddies’ speed, then perhaps the neighboring Pizza Al Fresco would be a better bet. From the corner table you can see some real Palm Beach trivia—two small tombstones, one that Mizner built for his pet, Johnnie Brown, a spider monkey that traveled on his shoulder, and the other, belonging to Our Laddie, the dog of the villa’s subsequent owners. After dinner, for anyone with a sweet tooth, there’s Piccolo Gelato just at the end of the via.

The Colony Hotel The Colony Hotel—a pink jewel box of a hotel just a block away from Worth Avenue—has become the eminently Instagrammable hot spot for young Palm Beach. On Monday nights, most of the under-30 set gather around the pool bar for trivia night. For those looking to hit the beach, the Colony offers a “beach butler” service—no longer do you have to worry about packing up a picnic, towels, water, or sunscreen when you head to the beach; now they’re all provided in branded pink Yeti coolers and canvas totes. Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, the storied hotel, which has counted among its patrons the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, and Sophia Loren (Aerin Lauder, Rachel Zoe, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, and Rebel Wilson are some of the more recent guests seen under their bespoke de Gournay wallpaper), has undergone a sumptuous refurbishment, featuring the work of Kemble Interiors, Society Social, Schumacher, Brown Jordan, Farrow & Ball, and Matouk, all thanks to the vision of owner Sarah Wetenhall.

Henry Morrison Flagler Museum The Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, otherwise known as Whitehall, was the grand Palm Beach home of Henry Flagler, a partner in Standard Oil who had the idea of building a railroad all the way down the east coast of Florida to Key West (some of the original lines can be seen on a drive down to the southernmost points of Florida). A National Historic Landmark, the Gilded Age estate predates the Mediterranean style that Mizner popularized. To channel your inner Edwardian, you can have afternoon tea at the Café des Beaux-Arts, and make sure you don’t miss Flagler’s personal train carriage—a testament to the era before airline miles.

The Breakers The Breakers hotel—unmissable in its grandeur—is just down the street. Founded by Flagler in 1896, rough drafts of the hotel were felled by a series of fires in 1903 and 1925, leading to the current building, which was created by Schultze & Weaver, who later went on to build several of New York’s grandest hotels. And though the current edifice is approaching its 100th anniversary, don’t let that fool you. The atmosphere brings the Roaring Twenties right into the 2020s, with so many restaurants it would take a long weekend to work through. Seafood Bar has a spectacular view of—and equally spectacular food from—the very breakers the hotel was named after. Flagler Steakhouse, just off the golf course, has a comfortable clubhouse atmosphere, and the Circle is known for one of the grandest Sunday brunches south of the Plaza Hotel—pâtés, a caviar station, a raw bar—and, if you look up and to the west of the ceiling, you’ll see the old upstairs area where, the story goes, alcohol was served during Prohibition. It’s the ultimate resort experience, where families seeking a one-stop vacation shop can plant themselves in the cabanas or on the poolside lawn, sipping daiquiris while knowing the kids are nearby.

South County Road South County Road, a street that bisects the island, is dotted with various stores certainly worthy of an afternoon stroll. After breakfast at SurfSide Diner, check out P.B. Boys Club, the store where islanders have been purchasing school uniforms—and surfboards, board shorts, and all the apparatus you’d need to legitimately declare “Kowabunga!” on an expanse of the open ocean—since this writer was in elementary school. For anyone interested in secondhand finds from some of the estates of Palm Beach, the Church Mouse, a resale store operated by and benefiting the church of Bethesda-by-theSea, is one of the top resale stores in the country. Classic Bookshop has been a mainstay of those seeking reading material on their trip.

Down the street is the Carriage House, a new member’s club located in an Addison Mizner/ Maurice Fatio building. With several dining areas and chic interior spaces, the historic edifice is the vision of Michael and Paula Bickford. And around the corner is the Chesterfield hotel, undergoing a renovation thanks to the Oetker Collection, who count among their properties the world-famous Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc.

The Royal The Royal Poinciana Plaza—or “The Royal,” for short—has become the epicenter of the Palm Beach experience, revolutionizing what shopping, dining, and strolling has meant to Palm Beachers. With enough art that gallerists have nicknamed it “Little Chelsea”—think Pace Gallery, Acquavella, Lehmann Maupin, among others—the Royal is also home to brands such as Saint Laurent, Hermès, and La Ligne. It’s most definitely worth a meandering afternoon.

Just down the street from the Royal are stores and galleries, and the home to White Elephant Palm Beach and its LoLa 41. Don’t forget Trevini Ristorante—another fine Italian eatery around the corner. And with Cucina, Almond, and Henry’s, there are enough dining options to allow you to roll away home.