New Year’s Eve at The Colony

If you’re anything like us, you’re still a little stunned that New Year’s Eve is – egad ­– tomorrow. How to see in the New Year, Palm Beach-style?

One way would be to take your seat in the Colony Hotel’s new Pavilion for the Tony Award nominee Ann Hampton Callaway in her sixth engagement. She’s a sensational singer who’s engagingly witty onstage, the perfect pairing to the four-course meal you’ll enjoy as she performs.

The New Year’s Eve celebration is $500 per person, which (bien sur) includes a toast at midnight. If you already have plans, take in the show another night; Ann’s in town through January 7.

For tickets and more information, visit the website or call the box office at 561-659-8100.

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Published monthly, the Palm Beach Real Estate Guide showcases available Palm Beach real estate, from estates and historic homes to in-town flats and waterfront high-rises. Subscribe or contact us.

 

Palm Beach Poetry Festival

We don’t often steer you over the bridge and all the way down to Delray Beach. But you’ll want to block out the week of January 16-21 for Palm Beach Poetry Festival in the Crest Theater at Old School Square.

Charles Simic (AP photo)

Imagine it – six days of readings, manuscript conferences, panel discussions, and social events. In between workshops, stroll along Atlantic Avenue, have lunch in an outdoor café, and gather your thoughts for an afternoon talk on the craft of poetry. We’re posting a few weeks in advance, so you can register before the workshops fill up. This year’s special guest is Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic.

Of particular note this season:

• Poetry Inside Out (David Baker): A line-by-line discussion of participants poems from each of three categories: self-focused, “other”-focused; and nature-focused.
• Wait… Let Me Rephrase This (Laure-Anne Bosselaar): The tricky business of revising your work without help of a group or mentor.
• Obsessional Poetics / No One Writes Just One Poem (Lynn Emanuel): Consciously or not, our poems tend to show some form of repetition, whether it’s the return to a topic or the construction we employ. In this workshop, participants will mine those “obsessions” with the goal of producing related work.

This year’s festival also includes optional one-on-one conferences, where faculty members grant additional focus on your writing with one-hour conferences to review up to ten pages of your verse.

Visit the website to learn more about the schedule of events, workshops and tickets.

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The Wall on Worth

What do you do when you want to provide a chic public garden near some of the toniest, richest, and most thoroughly developed commercial real estate in the world?

You go up, of course.

The vertical garden (on the west facade of Saks Fifth Avenue) is a quarter-million-dollar installation that’s part of the Worth Avenue revitalization project. Nearly 11,000 plants were incorporated into the Living Wall – mondo grass; xanadu philodendron; Asiatic jasmine; silver sawtooth palmetto; altermanthera; muehlenbeckia axillaris; philodendron “Burle Marx;” dusty miller; zebrina pendula; coontie; and zoysia grass.

It sure looks to us like every single one of those plants is thriving. We snapped this photo not long ago, when we were on our way to the Esplanade for a cup of coffee. Beautiful, yes?

See more photos and read more about the wall here.

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Published monthly, the Palm Beach Real Estate Guide showcases available Palm Beach real estate, from estates and historic homes to in-town flats and waterfront high-rises. Subscribe or contact us.

 

Palm Beach Gets Gifty

We were planning to run a little “Twelve Days of Palm Beach Christmas” series. But it’s already the 19^th. Oops.

So you get a handful of sweet, island-y presents all in one giant pink-and-green gift bag! Here’s what we imagine under the perfect Palm Beach tree:

• Gem-colored Stubbsies slippers from Stubbs & Wootten, 340 Worth Avenue. (Preppy Burgundy; $450 USD.)
• A little red Audi for the kids from Saks… oops, we mean, from Santa. (Dexton Kids ride-on Audi TT for ages 3-5; $419.95 USD.)
• A little pink Lilly Pulitzer Island Car for the grownups (Neiman Marcus; $65,000 USD.)
• Five (or is it six?) golden rings from Hamilton Jewelers, 215 Worth Avenue. (18K rose gold and diamond eternity ring; $13,500 USD.)
• PJs. With flamingoes. Just because. (Lorient Flamingo Long Pajama Set from Pioneer Linens, 210 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach; $150 USD.)
• Anything from the Balcon du Guadalquivir porcelain collection by Hermès, 240 Worth Avenue. ($100-$1,285 USD.)

What’s on YOUR list?

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Published monthly, the Palm Beach Real Estate Guide showcases available Palm Beach real estate, from estates and historic homes to in-town flats and waterfront high-rises. Subscribe or contact us.

North Pole: Location, Location, Location

Here at the Palm Beach Real Estate Guide, we’re all about property. Usually it’s property with palm trees and sea breezes. But we thought we’d make a special seasonal exception and share with you the listing for… Santa’s House at the North Pole.

It’s a cozy three-bedroom, two-bath home with sleigh parking and stables for eight resident reindeer. (A separate stall is available for a guest, presumably one with a red nose.) The 1822 home is built from old-growth timber logged on site. Among the appointments of the gourmet kitchen is a bespoke oven with 12 different cookie settings.

More from the property description: “Tiptoe down the hall to Santa’s quiet study. An impressive writing desk is flanked by the same sewing table Santa used to make the original teddy bear. Substantial built-in shelving stores toy prototypes.”

The property’s estimated value? At $656,957, a steal compared to buying here on the island.

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Published monthly, the Palm Beach Real Estate Guide showcases available Palm Beach real estate, from estates and historic homes to in-town flats and waterfront high-rises. Subscribe or contact us.

 

Life Under Printed Palms

“Lilly.” (LMC photo)

It’s nearly time again for that Lilly-themed gathering of the young, the beautiful and the philanthropic at The Beach Club on Palm Beach. This year, Beach Bash Palm Beach has hooked up with the beachiest of beneficiaries – the sea turtles at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, and the good people who care for them.

Iconic design firm Lilly Pulitzer is again the lead sponsor for this season highlight, and in tribute, the theme is Life Under Printed Palms.

Expect the December 29 event to be awash in color; men and women both wear Lilly (the gents are somewhat more understated, but not by much). There will be handcrafted cocktails, small bites and entertainment, as well as a silent auction and a Lilly Pulitzer swag bag.

Tickets start at $250 apiece ($300 at the door). For $2,000, a cabana for six guests includes butler service and Champagne. Visit the Loggerhead site to reserve or to learn more about the center’s mission of sea turtle rescue/rehabilitation and ocean conservation.

A bit of sea turtle trivia: Lilly Pulitzer’s namesake, Lilly, is a 229-pound loggerhead who arrived at the center in October. She is being treated in the on-site hospital for a boat-strike wound to her shoulder. We’re thrilled to say Lilly is recovering well; you can read more about her case and her progress notes here.

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Published monthly, the Palm Beach Real Estate Guide showcases available Palm Beach real estate, from estates and historic homes to in-town flats and waterfront high-rises. Subscribe or contact us.

 

Mini Course, Major Mission

Photo courtesy of the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium

Palm Beach is the golf capital of the Southeast (though we wouldn’t want to argue the point with the good people of Pinehurst). Still, you’d expect even our miniature golf courses would be a cut above, and you’d be right.

Now open at the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium – the 18-hole Conservation Course, designed by Jim Fazio and Gary Nicklaus. It’s no ordinary putt-putt; each hole is dedicated to a special facet of Florida’s ecosystem and named for animals or habitats indigenous to South Florida. Players of all ages will enjoy its brooks, butterfly garden and lush landscaping, right in the backyard of our own little gem of a science museum.

Play the course for $7 ($5 for members, who also receive a number of complimentary golf passes). Visit the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium at 4801 Dreher Trail North in West Palm Beach. Learn more at the website or by calling (561) 832-1988.

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Let the Benefits Begin!

Photo courtesy of Guitars Over Guns

The season of benefits has well and truly begun.

We can’t possibly cover each and every one, so we’ll give you a sampling of some of the events that drive the social/philanthropy season here on the island. And we’ll start with an endeavor to bring music education to children with the greatest need and fewest resources.

That’s the mission of Nat King Cole Generation Hope, and its Third Annual President’s Society Dinner is being held Thursday night at The Breakers. The event includes a cocktail reception with entertainment by students from U.B. Kinsey/Palmview Elementary School of the Arts; a silent auction; and a private exhibit featuring memorabilia and photos from Nat, Maria and Natalie Cole. Tickets start at $750 for cocktails, dinner and a performance by The Pointer Sisters, or $175 for the cocktail reception only.

“We value music as a critical learning tool that keeps students engaged in school, helps develop well-rounded individuals and encourages skills that are vital for success in the 21st century,” the foundation says. “Musical training doesn’t just improve your ear for music — it also helps your ear for speech. That’s the takeaway from an unusual new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience. Researchers found that kids who took music lessons for two years didn’t just get better at playing the trombone or violin; playing music also helped kids’ brains process language.”

Fourteen Palm Beach County schools have benefitted from programs funded by Nat King Cole Generation Hope. The organization also partners with Guitars Over Guns, which delivers high impact arts-based mentoring programs to at-risk youth.

Here on Palm Beach, there’s a benefit nearly every night from now through late April. Find a cause that sparks your passion (the Palm Beach Charity Register is a good place to start) and put on your evening clothes!

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Walking Worth

Time: 11 a.m.

Date: Wednesdays, from December through April.

Place: Via Amore, across from Chanel and Tiffany.

Look for an elegant gent in a wide-brimmed white hat. That’s Mr. Rick Rose, grand master of the Historical Walking Tours of Worth Avenue, which begin again this week after the traditional summer hiatus. Lasting approximately 75 minutes, the tours cover the history of Worth Avenue, its architectural importance and influence on the world of fashion.

As you stroll, you’ll also come to understand the development of the social scene that established Palm Beach as America’s first resort destination of the Gilded Age.

The tours cost just $10 per person, will benefit Tri-County Animal Rescue. Last year, the tours raised more than $7,500 for the Palm Beach Zoo.

You can’t make a reservation; just arrive at 256 Worth Avenue at departure time. For more information, call (561) 659-6909 or visit the Worth Avenue Association website.

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Sant-Ahoy! In Palm Beach, Christmas Floats

In Palm Beach, we do parades differently. Up north, Santa rides down Main Street on the back of a firetruck. Here, he has a yacht.

Led by a floating fireworks display, the 22^nd Annual Palm Beach Boat Parade gets underway about 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3. It takes about 2 hours to make its way up the Intracoastal from North Palm Beach to Jupiter.

View from your boat (if you have one), your back yard (if you live on the water) or from North Palm Beach Country Club, Juno Park, Waterway Café, Seasons 52, Riverwalk or Harbourside Place. And remember that the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves collects Toys for Tots during the event and at donation sites all around the county.

But wait, there’s more!

• 45^th Annual Boynton Beach/Delray Beach Boat Parade (Friday, Dec. 9): The flotilla heads south from the Lantana Bridge. The event begins at 6 p.m. at the Boynton Harbor Marina and the flotilla will launch at 6:30.
• Lake Osborne Boat Parade (Friday, Dec. 16): This sweet parade circles Lake Osborn, located in central West Palm Beach, leaving from the Lakeside Anchor Inn at 7:30 p.m.
• 39^th Annual Boca Raton Boat Parade (Saturday, Dec. 17): Best viewed from Red Reef Park and Silver Palm Park, this parade launches at 6:30 at the C-15 Canal and travels south to the Hillsboro Bridge.

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Published monthly, the Palm Beach Real Estate Guide showcases available Palm Beach real estate, from estates and historic homes to in-town flats and waterfront high-rises. Subscribe or contact us.