Palm Beach has always been a place of allure—a polished vision of old Florida that somehow feels both lived-in and aspirational at once. Impossibly green lawns, golf courses that look as if they’ve been plucked from a vintage travel magazine, and martinis shaken with a reverence for detail, accompanied by blue cheese-stuffed olives, of course. The town exudes an air of quiet (and sometimes not-so-quiet) luxury—Spanish-style buildings line the main street of Worth Avenue, home to renowned brands like St. John, Chanel, and Cartier. Men in preppy seersucker blazers; women draped in pastels and Lilly Pulitzer prints, with every strand of hair and every nail groomed to perfection, and a climate that, for most of the year, never dips below a perfectly comfortable 72 degrees.
It’s an atmosphere so hyperreal that it’s almost fantasy—a place where Slim Aarons’ pool party snapshots feel more like the current cultural script than something from the past. This is, in part, the legacy of Henry Flagler, a man whose name is inextricably linked to the history of Palm Beach. Flagler, the industrial magnate who built The Breakers, laid the foundation for a town that has flourished from the Gilded Age to the present day. The Breakers remains, as ever, a social hub—a resort that has expanded with the times, adding upscale restaurants and tennis courts without losing its nostalgic charm. The Colony, with its pastel pink and pistachio Art Deco style, serves as a reminder of the town’s playful glamour, offering a signature poolside retreat that has remained largely unchanged over the years.
