Vacationing at Palm Beach

Best Things Nearby:
Sailfish Marina has shopping,restaurants and lake tours and sunset celebration; MacArthur Park is a natural habitat with kayak tours and beach; City Place for shopping; Flagler Museum

Best Things About the Resort:
The decor is beautiful. It's right on the ocean. Heated pool and jacuzzi. Restaurant right on premises. Very classy.

Resort Experience:
We could see the red clay roofs and the two symmetrical dome-topped towers of a splendid six-story, light-pink-and-green, Spanish-style resort as we drove into the town of Palm Beach Shores on Singer Island. It was behind a touristy shopping mall. After looking for the Palm Beach Shores Resort and Vacation Villas, we finally realized that magnificent structure was it, right on the beach. The covered entryway and classy lobby, with arched openings to rooms everywhere and the one inch thick, twelve inch square, polished Mexican tile floor, said "You’ve arrived."

Our unit was small, but exquisite. It was thrilling to see the effect purple granite tile on the kitchen counter and tabletop can have with dark stained bamboo chairs with leopard skin cushioned seats. The coffee table and armoire, holding the television set, were antique reproductions made of sculptured resin and gave old charm to that lovely little unit. Drapery with tropical print, on the triple windows and sliding glass doors, matched the throw pillows on the couch. Even though it was so beautiful, it seemed a little tight because the living room/ dining room/ kitchen was small.

In the center of the unit was an enormous bathroom with a wall to wall, ceiling to floor, mahogany storage unit with mirrors. A tub and a separate shower stall and toilet were also in the room, but it seemed like a waste of space when they could have expanded the living room into that area during the planning stage. The end units are peculiar like that. The bedroom was thrilling, with a king size black iron rod headboard with a mosquito net hanging over it from the ceiling. A dark stained bamboo and rattan antique reproduction bureau gave the impression of established wealth. All the walls were a sponged antique yellow and the floors were done in more of the polished Mexican tiles. Both the living room and bedroom had sliding glass doors to the patio.

The central courtyard had a sculptured heated pool and Jacuzzi and a round tiki hut bar, and was surrounded by lush tropical plants and huge bamboo bird cages housing live, exotic birds. A walkway went out to the sandy beach on the Atlantic Ocean. There was a big exercise room, and the resort has a nice restaurant where we went to celebrate after we were talked into buying a week there. There are exciting, wonderful things to do in the area, so read my other entries in this journal.

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Very Good
• Service: Good

As the water taxi approached downtown West Palm Beach, Captain Ron pointed to a building with a green tarpaulin roof and told us that was E R Bradley’s, a great place to eat. We intended to shop on Clematis Street but most of the businesses were closed. Only a few excellent places were still in business near the library and several novelty shops near the restaurant. The park on the edge of Lake Worth was a tropical paradise and the restaurant was in the park. E R Bradley’s opened its doors in 1898 as a casino with a fine restaurant; the name still attracts people because of tradition. The building was old and most of the dining area was in an outside patio with a plastic roof and plastic zipper windows to keep out the winter wind coming in from the lake.

All the waiters and waitresses wore funny clothes, jester hats, gaudy beads and/or dark green suspenders. They were ready for the Mardi Gras party taking place later that night, in the restaurant. Bob ordered Tuna Salad. All salads came with two sides so he chose fresh fruit and pasta. I ordered The Incredible Grilled Eggplant Salad, slated on the menu to have a napoleon of grilled eggplant, roasted red peppers, zucchini and yellow squash with arugula, mixed greens, sun dried tomatoes, balsamic vinaigrette and melted fresh mozzarella cheese with focaccia bread.

While we waited for our meals, we were served a huge soft pretzel and a container of mustard, a Palm Beach tradition. The proper way to eat it is to put some mustard on a plate, then break up the pretzel and dip it in the mustard. I tried it, but considered it so unusual I looked around to make sure I wasn’t on Candid Camera. It hasn’t become a staple in my diet since then.

My dinner looked like a tropical work of art served on a frosted glass plate.. A bed of mixed greens and sun-dried tomatoes were covered with pieces of grilled eggplant and grilled red and green peppers. That was topped with huge pieces of melting mozzarella cheese and two large pieces of focaccia bread were on each side of the veggies. Balsamic vinaigrette dressing was on the side. Eating it was an exotic moment. Bob’s dinner was just superb. Big chunks of grapes, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, strawberries, pineapple and a thin slice of watermelon were artistically arraigned on a glass plate. The crushed tuna was mixed with celery and mayonnaise. A scoop of pasta salad came with it also. It was elegant.

After a brief stroll around the Sailfish Marina at Palm Beach Shores on Singer Island, we came across a large building with a very high roof, built with open post and beam construction and windows that opened the side of the wall to a view of Lake Worth. Inside this inviting tropical structure was the Sailfish Marina Restaurant and Bar. We were able to order from the lunch menu because it was still early in the day. Some interesting offerings on the menu were: Grilled Dolphin Sandwich, $7.95; Crab cake sandwich, $6.75;and some interesting appetizers: Conch Fritters, $6.95; Smoked Fish Dip, $7.25.

Bob ordered a Black Angus Beef Burger, $6.95. When the waiter took his order he asked if Bob would like cheese and bacon on his burger. The cheese was an additional $.75 and the bacon $1.50. I ordered Caribbean Crab Nachos, $9.95 and was asked if I’d like salsa with it. The salsa was an additional $2.50. The price of the extras was listed on the menu but we didn’t expect to see them there so we didn’t notice until we got the bill for $30.35. We have had the same thing happen in a few other restaurants in Florida, especially in this area so we should have anticipated it.

Our meals were served on huge platters. My colorful nachos were layered with melted cream cheese, crabmeat, mangos, black bean and jalapenos. The meal did need the half cup of salsa to taste just right. It was fun to just sit there and watch all the activity on the lake while we ate. Bob’s Angus Beef burger was huge. Besides the bacon and melted cheese, it had lettuce, tomatoes and onion. He said it tasted great. Fries and pickles were two sides that came with it.

The food was nicely prepared and it tasted great; we couldn’t have had better atmosphere any where. Desserts offered on the menu included Key Lime Pie, Pecan Pie, and Triple Chocolate Cake for $5.50 apiece but we were trying to cut back the calories so we declined.

As the twentieth century rolled along, so did the railroad into Florida. The Gilded Age in America saw the emergence of magnificent homes along its waterfronts for the leisure moments of the robber barons, so called because they amassed huge fortunes monopolizing growing industry in this country and abroad, non more so than Henry Flagler. He realized, as we also found out by experience, the further south you go on the Florida peninsula, the warmer it gets in the winter months, and if people were to get there, they needed a mood of transportation. Flagler built the railroad: first to St. Augustine; then to Palm Beach; next to Miami; and finally all the way down the keys.

He wasn’t just trying to be helpful, for every mile of rail he installed, he received 8,000 acres of land from the government. Already very wealthy from his partnership with John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil, he came to Florida, in 1881, for the health of his ailing wife, and after her death he pursued the development of Florida’s east coast. He married his wife’s nurse, who unfortunately developed a mental health problem. He divorced her, and then married his third wife.

For a wedding gift, he gave her Whitehall, a splendid mansion he had built for her in Palm Beach, his newest resort town along the Atlantic Coast and Lake Worth. The 4,400 square foot grand hall, decorated with seven varieties of marble, reflected the finest royal palaces in Europe. The wealthy in America, at that time, saw themselves as the culmination of 3,000 years of western civilization, and attempted to live up to that image.

We could have waited for a tour with a tour guide or follow a tour pamphlet on our own. We chose to go by ourselves. The mansion was designed around a huge central courtyard. Cast plaster and fabric were used in the ceiling of the library to look like wood beams with leather insets. A 1,249 pipe organ was installed in the Music Room. The courtyard was designed around a statue of Venus; Carrere and Hastings, who brought their considerable abilities from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, designed the structure. Only the finest art, sculpture and furnishings from all over the world were used at Whitehall.

After Henry’s death, the mansion had a long history of being a hotel. Today, the hotel is gone and Whitehall is known as The Flagler Museum, opened to the public and offering a variety of special events.

Florida’s seashore, left in its natural state to allow it to do what it will, can be seen and enjoyed at John D. MacArthur Beach State Park. The jungle grows wild, the beach is not protected against erosion and shells and sea weed tangle up here and there. Loggerhead turtles make their nests when its their season to do so and alligators come and go as they please. The osprey flies where it wants, makes its own nest in a place of its own choosing and has done so for hundreds of years, and the best part of all is, at this state park, you can watch it happening.

You can join a kayak tour that goes out onto the estuary and, depending on the season, see manatees, dolphins, and sting rays and other wild creatures in their own habitat. That tour costs $20 apiece and it will only go out during high tide, so it’s a good idea to call the park and make reservations and find out exactly when you should be there. A free film is shown in the William T. Kirby Nature Center explaining nature in the park and exhibits further examine what was seen in the film. The nature center has an acrylic front tank with marine life carrying on under the root system of red mangroves. There were two live snakes in the exhibits, as well. The area is especially interested in the loggerhead turtle because it comes ashore here to lay its eggs.

Free brochures are available to follow the nature trails and a number system allows you to identify the actual specimens. A board walk runs for one third of a mile across the estuary and you can either walk it or ride the tram. Once across you can use the bathhouses to change into your bathing suit or just go out and sit on the beach. If you want to be alone with nature, it’s a wild but beautiful, quiet place. Waves and rip tides are dramatic and should be considered when taking children on the beach. Off shore reefs offer interesting snorkeling possibilities. Guided tours area available for every interest and park rangers are very available and knowledgeable. Entrance to the park is $4 a car load.

West Palm Beach, still the winter home of many of America’s wealthy, has an exclusive shopping area called City Place. Giving the impression of old money, City Place was built around an old congregational church that had been converted into the Harriet Himmel Gilman Theater. Near the facade of that old Spanish Colonial Revival structure was the town square where we sat and enjoyed scheduled entertainment and waited for the hour to strike on the big clock; then recorded music played on the loud speakers and the water fountains danced to the music.

Walking around City Place is a pleasure not to be missed. For the young figure, the top of mini skirts and pants were cut at the middle of the hip at Armani Exchange. For the more mature figure, they offered stunning applique clothing. Ebony chests and king size head boards and other pieces in the Neoclassical style looked very Palm Beach with hand quilted comforters at Restoration Hardware; and if you’re planning on the complete Palm Beach look, be sure to have your upholstered pieces covered with white linen slip covers.

For that modern international look, shop at Roche Bobois. They are exciting, we won’t even mention price. Style is all that counts anyway. We all know about Barnes and Noble, but up on the second level was Reading Etc., decorated like an Egyptian temple, hieroglyphs, statues and all. They were moving to Boca Ratan and I bought a bag of hand made paper at an unbelievable price. Tropical colors were in at C. Orrio and bright colors at Cache. Ann Taylor at City Place was all shades of pink and gray. If you want clothing items that are really far out go to Maxazria.

When its time to sit and relax, stop at Legal Seafood, Wet Willie’s or the Cheesecake Factory on street level or just sit in the town square with a delicious coffee from the Piccolo City kiosk. Maybe you should spend a little more and go up to the second floor to Brewzzi and dine elegantly inside their working brewery.

I’ve only touched on a few places. Much more is offered along with all the insignia alligators dressed in every kind of clothing, letting us know this IS City Place at West Palm Beach. We parked in the Hibiscus Garage off Okeechobee Boulevard. It was free and an escalator takes you right out to the town square.

Artists and crafts men bring their products to the Sailfish Marina Sunset Celebration on Thursday evening and set up along the waterfront. We walked the three blocks from Palm Beach Shores Resort where we were staying because there would be a shortage of parking places near the marina. More parking was available at the town hall but all parking spots on Palm Beach Shores were $5 no matter where you parked during the sunset celebration. It was very popular and a lot of fun.

Tropical themes were most prevalent among the crafts people, tropical fish the most popular craft. We worked our way down the pier starting with a booth featuring three dimensional cartoon creatures, ranging in price from $40-60. Next we saw wood carving and sheet metal art that were very nicely done. One booth had jewelry created from broken glass that had been rolled in sand. It is intended to imitate pieces of glass that have been found after rolling in the sand along the shore for a long time. There was some nice sea shell jewelry that would be a nautical touch with any outfit.

An unusual craft was glass liqueur bottles, melted in a kiln to look like they were a delusion; the labels had been pasted back on. Patch work blankets were offered at fair prices. A very well done replica of a loggerhead turtle, done in resin that imitated wood, was offered for $90 by a preservation society. It was worth it. There were a lot more along the same line.

Even more exciting than the arts and crafts were the food venders. A roast beef sandwich cost $2.50, a fried grouper hot dog cost $3, a large cup of frozen fruit was $4. We had just eaten but we couldn’t resist splitting a large piece of raspberry and pecan sheet pie, $2.50.

Entertainers were here and there throughout the evening. A man sat on a chair playing his ukelele and singing like Louis Armstrong. While we were there, we made arraignments with Kon Tiki Boat Tours to go on one of their boats, the following day. We also visited some of the regular shops at the marina. The Ships’ Store has Tommy Bahama clothes, beautiful expensive tropical silk outfits for men and women.

When you’re in the Palm Beach area, you want to satisfy your curiosity about the expensive homes of the wealthy. To find the where and who, we took the "Now and Then" Boat Tour around Lake Worth. Our tour guide was Cap’n Ron, an old salt who didn’t mind bobbing around on the high waves in the lake and was gossipy but went a little too fast.

He got the "then" part of the tour out of the way before we left shore by telling us Lake Worth was named after William Worth who came to the area to fight in the Seminole Wars in 1846. When Worth declared "we won", the lake and lots of other things in the area were named in his honor. Paris Singer (sewing machine money) founded Singer Island. Henry Flagler built the railroad to Palm Beach in 1896 and the countries wealthy came pouring in.

We started out on the lake in the bouncy little boat and, as we went past Peanut Island, Cap’n Ron told us bunkers were built on that island for the safety of John F. Kennedy when he stayed at the family home in Palm Beach when he was president. Tours of the bunkers are available. The antique yacht the Kennedys used is still a tourist attraction out on the lake. He identified the famous (later infamous) Palm Beach "White House" as we went past on Lake Worth. It was sold after Rose died. Governor "Arnold" rented the same mansion that OJ and Nicole had stayed in, for a mere $100,000 a month.

Tour guides are famous for collecting everyone’s sins, so when we past the Palm Beach water front home of Henry Flagler’s son, we were informed about how things went in that family and of course what happened to the tremendous Flagler fortune. Well, Palm Beachers don’t like everyone to know every little thing so they grow giant hedges so you can’t see their homes from the water and they grow more giant hedges, so you can’t see their homes from the street, either. One man figured it out, if tourist can’t see through the giant hedges, neither could he, so he made hedges that roll out of the way when he is in residence.

As we continued on, Cap’n Ron told us who else lived (or stayed) behind the hedges. James Hayes (Hawaii 50), Pres. Roosevelt met with Winston Churchill before the D Day Invasion, Kathy Ford had her jewelry stolen in one lovely home and built a more secure home next to it. He told us more stories about the homes behind the hedges and then he pointed out the Flagler Museum and Builtmore, a hotel with a charming history about how to get around snobbery. We were able to exit the boat downtown and catch a later boat back.