Best things are free in the city of billionaires
IT SOON comes as no surprise to discover that Palm Beach Island in Florida is the wealthiest postcode in the US and home to 32 billionaires.
This is where Donald Trump spends Christmas and corporate big-shots have second (or even third) homes.
We head to Worth Avenue, Palm Beach Island’s exclusive shopping area, but there’s barely a single thing we can afford in the high-end boutiques and jewellery stores.
The temperature is stifling, so we duck out of the bright sunshine and head into a branch of Starbucks – at least we have enough for a latte.
However, we soon discover a place with real class – the nearby Henry Flagler Museum, dedicated to the father of modern Florida. In 1902, Flagler built the 75-room mansion where the museum is now based as a wedding present for his wife Mary.
Flagler was a founding partner (with John D. Rockefeller) of Standard Oil, and was also a railway magnate who created the Florida East Coast Railway. The railway, and construction of luxury hotels along Florida’s east coast, helped put the state on the map as a winter destination.
‘Henry had a massive impact on the development of south Florida,’ says the museum’s David Carson. ‘Yet 80 per cent of visitors to Florida have never heard of him.
‘The city of Miami might easily have been called Flagler City instead. But Flagler Vice just doesn’t have the same ring to it,’ he adds with a smile, referring to the hit TV crime series Miami Vice.
From Palm Beach Island, we cross the Intracoastal Waterway to West Palm Beach, a city originally built to house Flagler’s railway workers.
It’s only a short journey over the bridge but West Palm Beach could not be more different. There are funky diners and cool cafes – we fall in love with the place immediately. But West Palm Beach wasn’t always this vibrant. The downtown area used to be run-down until some city leaders had the vision to transform it.
Street artists from around the world have helped invigorate it, with nearly every available surface taken up with huge murals. London artist Dean Zeus Colman has turned one section of pavement into a Monopoly-style game.
During our stay, we join a food tour( west palm beach food tour.com). We begin with delicious cardamom buns at Johan’s Joe, a Swedish-style cafe, before heading to The Blind Monk, a tapas bar set up by a former US marine.
At sunset, we head further south to Delray Beach. As the shadows length, we enjoy a sundowner and then visit the newly opened Silverball Museum – two floors of arcade games and pinball machines, some dating from the 1930s.
You can play all the games you like, for as long as you wish, for just $10. Now it would be hard to find a bargain like that on Palm Beach Island…