A PaperCity Editor’s Escape to Palm Beach

Admittedly, the following story is not objective journalism. This is a story about Palm Beach, Florida, which just so happens to be one of my favorite places on the planet. Posh PaperCity readers in both Dallas and Houston equally love Palm Beach, and for good reason. Palm Beach oozes luxury. Palm Beach inspires a “make mine a double” joie de vivre that demands you say yes to the caviar. Palm Beach makes you ponder what custom color Rolls-Royce you’d select (even from the backseat of your Uber).

Every time I visit, I spot a quintessentially Palm Beach celebrity. Once, a few months before her 100th birthday, I met Iris Apfel at Sant Ambroeus. She was wearing her signature Coke bottle black glasses and eating a giant slice of chocolate cake at 3 pm on a Tuesday. Legend. Last year, Tom Ford sat directly behind me for dinner at Le Bilboquet, chest hair peeking from behind his white button-down shirt. I asked the waiter what Ford (a regular) ordered, and he said, “A salad, but he just pushes it around.” I love this town!

Year after year, crossing the bridge onto the island magically transports me to the most authentically designed and styled television set imaginable… because it just so happens to be real. (Not based in reality, but real nonetheless.) I aspire to one day own a Standard poodle-filled Palm Beach pied-à-terre, but in the meantime, an annual getaway will have to suffice.

I recently spent a few sunshine-filled days in Palm Beach, and I’ve assembled my ideal itinerary and this editor-approved list of Palm Beach musts.

The Pink Palace

Whenever I visit Palm Beach for a girls’ weekend, I stay at The Colony Hotel.

The Palm Beach Daily News’ 1969 description rings true today, too: “The Colony Hotel imparts a feeling of elegance and importance to its hotel guests which is, perhaps, the basis for its air of distinction and popularity among the discriminating. For years the Colony has been the winter resort home for many in the International Jet Set, that elegant group of American and international ocean-hopping social figures.”

The Pink Palace plants “one foot in the sand and one foot on Worth Avenue.” It’s the perfect location for someone who needs a dose of Vitamin Sea and some retail therapy. Many guests (myself included) dress to match the hotel’s interior and the Palm Beach aesthetic. Every vignette in “The Living Room” beckons an Instagram post. The petite rooms are impeccably outfitted in furniture from Society Social. (Naturally, they are available for purchase.)

On our first night, we enjoyed cocktails at Swifty’s, the hotel’s see-and-be-seen poolside restaurant and bar. Tyler Cameron, who rose to fame as a contestant on The Bachelorette, joined us.

As Cameron enjoyed a sparkling water next to me, I couldn’t help but wonder… why was he here? Passionate about his hometown of Jupiter, the local, it seems, serves as an unofficial ambassador of South Florida. Cameron generously agreed to spend the evening with us just to share his love of The Palm Beaches. And to take photos with us. And to talk about food. (The 6’2″ general contractor loves food, particularly beachside seafood shacks.)

Without context (or tagging him), I posted “our” photo together on Instagram. (A hard launch, if you will.) Within minutes, my mother texted me, “Is he a writer? He’s very cute.” Bless her heart. “No,” I replied. “He quite literally famous for being cute.”

After I finished my mocktail, The Colony’s hotel car dropped us off for dinner at my single favorite restaurant in Palm Beach, Buccan. The always-booked restaurant, which opened in 2011, buzzed with the electricity of the elegantly dressed crowd. More than a decade ago, I ate a life-changing Brussels sprouts Caesar salad from Buccan. It’s no longer on the menu, but I think about it often. The dish everyone raves about lately is the sweet corn agnolotti with ricotta, bacon, and espelette butter. It lives up to the hype.

We tried practically everything on the perfectly-crafted menu, but if I was sitting at the bar alone hoping to meet my next husband, here’s what I’d order: the steak tartare to start, followed by the sweet corn agnolotti, and the yellowtail snapper (served with black forbidden rice, Thai yellow curry, pineapple, and toasted cashews). Finish the night with the made-to-order petite chocolate chip cookies, which are dusted with Maldon sea salt. A perfect meal. Roll yourself home to The Colony. Or, better yet, have the hotel’s vintage pink Land Rover Defender pick you up.

Activities ‘Worth’ Adding To Your Itinerary

Even though I’ve visited Palm Beach many times during the past 16 years, I decided to take Rick Rose’s tour of Worth Avenue, which explores its origin, architecture, landmarks, and famous residents. Rose, who authored “Palm Beach: The Essential Guide to America’s Legendary Resort Town,” wore (what else?) a printed Lilly Pulitzer blazer and Stubbs and Wootton smoking slippers for the tour. I recommend scheduling the private tour, which benefits the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, for the piping hot tea about PB.

No trip to Palm Beach is complete without a visit to the flagship Lilly Pulitzer store on Worth Avenue. When she died in 2013, The New York Times called Lilly Pulitzer “the Palm Beach princess of prints who created an enduring fashion uniform for wealthy socialites and jet setters almost by accident.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the brand’s origin story, well, “it started with a juice stand.” In 1959, Pulitzer, an heiress with too much free time and an abundance of citrus, opened a juice stand. She needed a uniform that would hide the juice stains, so she worked with a dressmaker to create a simple shift from a brightly-colored, printed fabric. When her schoolmate and friend Jackie Kennedy wore “a Lilly” on the cover of LIFE magazine in 1962, “it took off like ZINGO!”

At the flagship, you can create a custom shift by selecting the style, length, print (some exclusive to the Palm Beach store), and trim. On the day I visited, I met Pulitzer’s granddaughter, Lilly Leas Ferreira, who resides in Palm Beach. “Little Lilly” generously offered to drop us off at our next stop, the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum. So, there I was, receiving a tour of the island from Lilly Pulitzer’s granddaughter in a Moke, custom-wrapped in one of the brand’s signature prints. As she drove, wind in our hair, Ferreira shared memories of her grandmother, from whom she clearly inherited her open-heartedness and barefoot spirit. A Palm Beach memory I’ll cherish forever.

Another highlight? Visiting the National Polo Center, located in nearby Wellington, Florida. The home for polo in America, the National Polo Center is owned and managed by the United States Polo Association and showcases the finest of the sport on six championship fields. If you visit February through April (at the end of “season”), make plans to attend the Gauntlet of Polo®, their signature event.

On the day we attended, international polo prodigy (and star of Netflix’s Polo) Timmy Dutta taught us a lesson. Naturally, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to wear brown and white polka dots for a little divot stomping.

Back at The Colony before we left for dinner, I bumped into social media sensation and Palm Beach icon Suebelle Robbins. Her signature hair teased to heaven, I just knew Suebelle had to be a native Texan. Sure enough, she flashed a “hook ’em” at me. The Texans always find each other, even in Palm Beach.

A Who’s Who of America

Another MUST is a visit to The Breakers, Palm Beach’s most iconic property, which was first built in 1896. It was, and is, the hub of Palm Beach.

The property accounted their history online, writing, “Year by year, the resort’s reputation grew and word spread, beckoning the glitterati to vacation in Palm Beach year-round. At any given time, the guest register read like a “who’s who” of early 20th-century America: Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Astors, Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan, vacationing alongside U.S. presidents and European nobility.”

The Breakers is the hotel I always recommend for families traveling to Palm Beach, as you don’t need to leave the property if you don’t want to. If you’re seeking a particularly private and posh getaway, consider the Flagler Club, The Breakers’ ultra-exclusive hotel-within-the-hotel that has 21 rooms and suites on two restricted floors. Oh, and your stay includes complimentary chauffeured Mercedes-Maybach house car service. Chic!

At the very minimum, go to HMF for a cocktail. I opted for a retro grasshopper, a la Palm Royale.

A few other rapid-fire recommendations —

Pop into my favorite charity thrift store on the island, The Church Mouse. I’ve picked up everything from a bakelite clutch to chintz curtain panels to, most recently, a 1960s Hawaiian wrap dress.

I always buy a made-in-Madeira nightgown from Kassatly’s, the oldest shop on Worth Avenue. Say hi to Bob.

If you’re in West Palm Beach, go to Pink Steak for dinner. Disguised in a strip mall, it’s an over-the-top, fantastical steak house (e.g., a giant gold flamingo perched in the middle of the dining room) with seriously top-notch food.

Don’t skip shopping at The Royal Poinciana Plaza. Grab a slice of Principessa cake and a Shakerato at Sant Ambroeus, and then hit up La DoubleJ, Hillhouse, Staud, LoveShackFancy, Stoney Clover Lane, etc.

As soon as I return from Palm Beach, I begin planning my next visit. If it was good enough for Rockefellers and Vanderbilts, it’s good enough for me.

Now, make mine a double!