“Why doesn’t the landscaping along ocean boulevard at Palm Beach look more like Beach Road on Jupiter Island?”I asked Bobbie Lindsay, a Town Council member, who was sitting next to me on Monday morning at a Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce breakfast at The Breakers. “It used to,” she smiled. While on Jupiter Island last Sunday, I couldn’t help but marvel at the subtle spectacle that begins the moment you cross the bridge at the north end, wondering whatever happened to Palm Beach? Alas, the triumph of ficus hedges.
About that time, the Chamber’s guest speaker, architect Rick Gonzalez, began speaking on his recent trip to present day Havana, no longer “The Paris of the Americas” when Europe’s finest town planners designed Havana’s parks and streets while McKim, Mead & White, Carrere and Hastings, and Schultze and Weaver provided blueprints for hotels and mansions. Much like today’s Venice, Havana’s significant buildings have been exploited by horizontal and vertical subdivision, or “facadomy,” as it is best described. I couldn’t help but recall when The Breakers’ 1,000-foot pier was lined with railroad tracks, allowing passengers to step from railway cars onto steamers that took them directly from the end of the pier to Nassau and Havana. Progress and hurricanes have long since washed away any memory when The Breakers pier was the first Port of Palm Beach. Then, there were the seaplanes that took off from Singer Basin after dinner at the Everglades Club and checked into the Hotel Nacional de Cuba for all-night gambling in the hotel’s casino then heading to the Tropicana for the 4 am show before returning to the club’s golf course for an 8 am tee time at Palm Beach.
The Breakers Pier, “Railway to the Sea.” Courtesy State of Florida Archives.
January 6, 2020 – 8 am Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce Breakfast The Breakers
Here are some of my iPhonetography impressions.
North Loggia with a 21st-century decor.The lobby connects the two loggias facing the courtyard that once opened to an oceanfront loggia overlooking the sea.L. to r.: Architect Rick Gonzalez gave an up-to-the-minute look at today’s Havana; The Shiny Sheet’s Home & Loggia Editor Darrell Hofheinz taking notes during the Havana presentation.For more than 30 years Salon Margrit Salon & Spa has combed, brushed and polished The Palm Beach Look.Realtor Simon Isaacs at work.L. to r.: Kravis Center CEO Judy Mitchell spoke about the latest at the performing arts center; Artist Stefania Conrad was awake for the event where every seat was filled.The Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens group gathered early at The Breakers.
January 8, 2020 – 6 pm Gardens Conservancy honors Fortin Foundation Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens Evening of Music & Art in the Garden
The tent filled quickly.Danielle Hickok Moore and Walter Ross attended the Gardens Conservancy’s 2020 Ann Norton Award for Philanthropy program honoring the Mary Alice Fortin Foundation’s contributions. Along with serving as president of the Palm Beach Town Council, Danielle Moore has headed her family’s Fortin Foundation for more than 30 years. Moore and Ross, a foundation director and family member, were joined in the celebration by 200 guests for an evening of music and art at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens.Splash, 2014. A colored pencil collage by artist Federico Uribe, photographed with Cynthia Sulzberger, a trustee of the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens.Frances Fisher, ANSG board chairman. Artwork made from coins by Federico Uribe. Silver Sky, 2016. $20,000.Sally and Bill Soter.Ray Wakefield, seated, and David Miller, standing.Christine and Bill Aylward.Bob Wright.L. to r.: Sculptor Jim Rennert with his work Inner Dialogue, 2017. $125,000; Artist-in-Residence Steve Hash and Ally Hilfiger.Ann Benitz, Sarah Benitz, John Benitz, and Tim Benitz.Federico Uribe’s Plastic Reef, shown in conjunction with the Perry J. Cohen Foundation & Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary Art Fair.Polly Reed and Lulu Zezza.Mary Page Evans.L. to r.: Kristen LaMotte, Sentient Jet’s SVP for Business Development; Cheryl McKee.Mark & Sonja Stevens with Emily Sommerer and Joey Urban.Anne Marie Thompson and Derek Uhler.Harry Giddings and Bonnie Alsop Nadal.Kay and Peter Lyons.Work by Federico Uribe including Silence, 2007 (center framed work). Made from shoelaces and pins. $45,000.Winter Moon over Palm Beach.
Historian Augustus Mayhew explores the island jungle.
A century ago visitors came to Palm Beach to marvel at and be photographed with its landscapes.Cielito Lindo. 1930. Lewis & Valentine, landscape designers. Donahue residence, South Ocean Boulevard.
