Prismatica is a free new art installation located along in Plaza Real in Mizner Park in Boca Raton…read more The art installation is 25 six-foot pivoting holographic prisms. Prisms have flat, polished surfaces that are designed to refract light. At least one surface must be angled to be considered a prism. I think of prisms as being glass but they can be made from any material that is transparent to the wavelengths for which they are designed. The panels of these prisms seem to be made out of some kind of plastic which reflect various rainbow colored lights that change color depending on the angle you view them. The installation is the creation of RAW Design, a Toronto-based architectural firm who had 30 architects and designers from the fields of applied science, technology, art and architecture come together to create Prismatica.. The installation is sponsored by Quartier des Spectacles Partnership of Montreal. After Boca Raton Prismatica will continue to tour the United States. The prisms are set up on the sidewalk in front of the shops. The interactive part of the art is you can spin them to see the colors change. You can also look through them to see the street change color. I tried to take a few pictures shooting through the prisms. At night the prisms light up making even more colors. I used to use a prism as a kid to make rainbows around my bedroom. Playing with these large prisms brought back those childhood feelings of wonder and discovery. I love what is happening in Mizer Park. First we get the world famous Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru exhibit at the Boca Raton Museum of Art and now that they have packed up these fun and colorful prisms made their debut on March 3rd in time for spring. If you want to see and play with the prisms though you will have to hurry. There are only here for one month and will be departing on April 3.

The first pavilion built here was in 1917 with a $214 contribution from the Deerfield Beach Woman's…read moreClub. It was eventually replaced with the North Beach Pavilion. I used to come here with my daughter for free surf lessons and camps sponsored by Island Water Sports. In 2020 the pavilion was renamed in honor of Island Water Sports founder Kirk Cottrell. Cottrell passed away at the age of 46 during a surfing accident in 2001 in South Africa where had taken his family to establish a chapel. He was a pillar of the community who brought a love of surfing to countless kids in the area. The Community Redevelopment Agency oversaw a 2.3 million dollar refurbishment of the pavilion. Improvements include an area dedicated to surfers with board racks, a cleaning station and showers, an ADA compliant ramp starts in the parking lot and ends on the sand, stadium seats that overlook the sand volleyball courts, fountains and water bottle filler, a large storage room for the beach rescue team, bike racks, a true-north decorative mosaic compass, and a large event room with shelving and check-in window for beachside charity events. The tables and benches are made from reclaimed hardwoods. Five years in the making, the pavilion was designed by architects Walters Zackria Associates and constructed by Danto Builders. The entrance sign was created by local surfboard artist Bird Surfboards. I love the pavilion improvements. This is one of my favorite places to park in Deerfield Beach when I can land a spot in the small lot. Kirk Cottrell Pavilion has great beach access, restrooms, and it is across the street from places to eat and shop. It is also within walking distance of Island Water Sports.

A cool place to chill and take in a great view while in Deerfield Beach in the Sunshine State of…read moreFlorida. The pavilion is named in honor of Kirk Cotrell (the name kind of gives that away) who was a South Florida native. He was a surfer who founded Island Water Sports, a Deerfield Beach retail icon. He was also a pastor who believed in serving his community. It appears that his spirit of community lives on as it said that Island Water Sports conducts surf camps to the children of the community. It is not a large pavilion by any means, there are only four little tables, but that just adds to the charm of the pavilion. Be warned that you do have to pay to park here. It is three dollars an hour for the privilege of parking, but there is extremely limited parking all around here, so it might not be a bad deal after all. They have public restrooms that are well-maintained. Communities need places like this, a place where the community can join together and make that community a living, breathing entity. I am glad that I found this place, I would recommend you seek it out if you find yourself in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

Rocket is a public art piece located at the Boca Raton Innovation Campus. It is part of the Art in…read morePublic Places Initiative in South Florida. This office park used to be the research and development headquarters of IBM in 1970. It contains architecturally iconic historical buildings created by Marcel Breuer in the 1960s. The first IBM personal computer was invented here along with the first smartphone. This campus was at the forefront of early robotics technology and other tech inventions. Rocket is the creation of Virginia artist Hubert Phipps who is well known for his abstract sculptures and paint pigment drawings He is also a champion race car driver and aviator. He took inspiration for Rocket from his love of aero dynamic forms. First he drew the model and created it out of clay. It was then rendered in 3D using Maya, a software modeling program. The rocket design is meant to represent the intersection of science and art while celebrating modern engineering. The 30-foot, 9.8 ton corrosive resistant stainless steel rocket was manufactured in 2019 at the Tany Foundry in Hangzhou, China. From there it experienced several Covid related delays crossing the Pacific Ocean and traveling through the Panama Canal before arriving 8,000 miles away in Boca Raton through a partnership with the Boca Raton Museum of Art and developer CP Group. The rocket sculpture is valued at 1.5 million dollars will be here for a five year loan period. I loved discovering this public art. The park like setting adds even more beauty to the sculpture. You can walk through it and discover the perfect spot to take a picture or selfie of yourself making it interactive art. Come out and experience it before it jets off to galaxies unknown.

As I drove up towards the BRiC building, the art installation caught my eyes!…read more This once was a technology facility. Now, it is the Boca Raton Innovation Campus. To represent this forward-thinking presence, the Rocket sits in the very front as you drive through the round-a-about parking lot. Hubert Phipps' 30-foot stainless steel sculpture "Rocket" traveled over 8,000 miles to arrive as the new centerpiece at Boca Raton Innovation Campus, 5000 T-Rex Ave. Inspired by the artist's love of aerodynamic forms, the steel sculpture's full-scale fabrication began in 2019 at the Tany Foundry in Hangzhou, China. "The sculpture by Hubert Phipps was conceived as that intersection between art and science, and celebrates the heroics of modern engineering, as also seen in Marcel Breuer's historic building designs for IBM's North American Research and Development Headquarters," said Irvin Lippman, the Executive Director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. The gleaming, stainless steel reflecting Rocket was two years in the making, with a nod to Sci Fi retro futurism. The Campus encourages visitors to walk around and underneath it, to enjoy their funhouse mirror images on the shiny surface. The monumental new sculpture Rocket by Hubert Phipps was been selected for an Art in Public Places initiative in South Florida, for the BRiC, the historic tech landmark where the first IBM Personal Computer was invented. This new public art program is part of a cultural partnership between the Boca Art Museum and CP Group, the owner of BRiC and a premier developer and operator of commercial real estate. South Florida officials heralded this announcement with an unveiling ceremony at BRiC, officially welcoming Rocket as one of the largest outdoor sculptures ever chosen for a public art initiative in Palm Beach County. The Phipps sculpture is valued at $1.5 million, stands 30-feet tall, weighs 9.8 tons, and took more than 7,000 square feet of stainless steel to construct. The Rocket sculpture towers alongside a waterfront panorama of iconic architecture designed by Marcel Breuer in the 1960s. This celebrated architectural style by Breuer is rarely seen at this grand of a scale, spanning so many acres. The new sculpture by Phipps and the historic buildings designed by Breuer marry each other well in the Brutalist style, creating a powerful visual impact.

The Palmetto Park Bascule Bridge carries Palmetto Park Road over the Intracoastal Waterway. It has…read morea vertical clearance of 19 feet when closed and there is a horizontal clearance of 91 feet. The current bridge was built in 1987 and has a total length of 520 feet. Two lanes in each direction with a center median and raised curbs on each side for pedestrian traffic. Unlike some other bridges that stop traffic pretty far back from the spans, the gates for the Palmetto Park Bridge are quite close. The bridge is in very good condition and we had no trouble crossing it in either direction. Silver Pal Park is located on the south side of the bridge on the west side of the Intracoastal and there are good views of the bridge from there. [Review 15842 overall - 1418 in Florida - 1346 of 2021.]

Built in 1917 Palmetto Park Bridge was the first bridge built to cross the Florida East Coast Canal…read morenow called the Intracoastal Waterway. The first bridge was a wooden manually operated swing bridge operated by William and Eliza Townsend who lived in a house near the bridge. In 1919 Lucas Douglas and his family took over operation of the bridge until 1947. A concrete drawbridge replaced the wooden bridge in 1928. The drawbridge you see today is a bascule bridge built in 1987 and it was dedicated to Lucas Douglas. It opens every half four to boat traffic. The Camino Real bridge is closed for repairs for a year forcing more traffic over to the Palmetto Park Bridge for the foreseeable future.

Reflections is a new public art installation on the side of the new Boynton Beach Arts and Cultural…read moreCenter. You can find it on the sidewalk bordering the new Kapok Park on the northeast corner of Seacrest Boulevard and East Ocean Avenue. It serves as the gateway to the new town square. First announced in December of 2018, the large scale, 27 foot high art piece is part of a new 1.15 million dollar art project to create kinetic and interactive art to bring cultural tourism to Boynton Beach and to make the new Town Square "iconic, interactive, and connective". Some of the money came from the city while the majority came from a private developer. Art is dispersed around the area in the new Kapok Tree Park, the new fire station, police headquarters, and two new parking garages that will have murals. Reflections is the work of world famous sculptor, Ralfonso. It is made up on 21 curved pieces that spin in the wind and reflect light. The inspiration for the piece comes from nature and the wings of birds. At the base of the sculpture are three walls for sitting and quiet reflection. By day the art work reflects the sun and at night it is lit up with colorful LED lights. I love the height, movement and drama of this piece. It is so fun to explore all of the new outdoor art pieces in this area. If you are looking for an expensive family outing you can take the kids to play in the brand new park and explore all of the new interactive art. Ice cream and restaurants are just a few blocks away.

I found out about El Galeón Andalucía visiting Fort Lauderdale from the Sun-Sentinel. It is a…read morereplica of 16th century treasure ships, similar to those used to explorers like Ponce de Leon. It looked impressive in the article, and seemed like a fun and different activity, so I decided to check it out on my day off. Given that it was a Wednesday, I wasn't entirely surprised that I was pretty much the only person on board the ship. I got to explore at my leisure, and they have signs at various parts telling you what it is you're looking at and how it was used. The very front was roped off, so you couldn't go past a certain point, and the same for the back. It's too bad I couldn't get a photo while holding the ship wheel (yep, it was behind the rope), because that would've been a pretty sweet photo op. Once you've explored the deck, you can head down below where the cannons are, and read all of the information about these kinds of ships and how they were used. They even have iPads with information on various explorers and shipwrecks near Florida, as well as a game for kids on them. Then you can head down one deck lower and watch a movie on how the ship was built. I originally thought the $16 price tag was a bit high to visit this ship, but after seeing how incredibly detail-oriented they were in crafting it and everything in it (even the furniture was hand-crafted), I gained a new appreciation for just how complex a task it was to make such a fantastic replica. The movie doesn't have any narration, just music, but it's well worth watching. El Galeón Andalucía is only in town until December 14th, and is well worth the visit. Parking at the Las Olas Marina is super easy and cheap ($1 an hour), and you only need about an hour to see everything on the ship and take pictures, maybe longer if it is crowded.

El Galeon Andalucia is as exact a replica as possible of one of Spain's 16th-17th century galleon…read moreships and the only galleon class sailing ship in the world. Its sparred length is 171 feet, 495 tons. 7 sail square rigged, with a freeboard of 11'9", a daft on 9'9", 33'3" beam, a 10,010 square foot sail area, working crew of twenty based out of Spain that travels the world but attempts to schedule a docking a Las Olas Marina to coincided with the Fort Lauderdale Boat Parade. Boarding her offers a fascinating 500 year step back in time to the days of Spain's West Indies Trade, arrival of Juan Ponce de León, and the time of pirates, explorers, gold and treasurers of the New World. Thanks to a first review tip off by Yelper Cherine A. I was able to board El Galeon Andlaucia, look her over and visit with her Spanish crew. I've been aboard many a replica ship, in fact my primary Yelp profile picture has me standing in Barcelona in front of a replica of Columbus's ship, but of all the historic replica ships I've been aboard, this one is the best as well as the most outstanding of them all. It's a fully functional ship, has traveled around the world, and has its officer and crew quarters, cannon and most everything else as historically accurate as possible. If you have any interest in the early sailing ships when Spain ruled the West Indies Trade as well as our home state of Florida, the El Galeon Andalucia is a must see.

Great House !!! Swimming pool, on the water, fishing off the porch, boatdock, beautiful landscape…read moregrounds, Rolls-Royce in the carport

Built in 1971, the Moreth House is not a business, it's a private residence and neither it nor its…read moregrounds are open to the public. What it is, is an amazing point of visual design architecture as well as a matter of local flavor. Located next to the extreme northwest corner of Hugh Taylor Birch State Park it actually extends out over the Intracoastal Waterway. Being so unusual and unique, it abounds with all sorts of rumor and gossip. Any young local child will tell you it is the home of the legendary Captain Nemo while some tour guides claim it to have been the "playhouse" of Burt Reynolds while others say it was that of Hugh Heffner; all of which I believe to be hogwash. Some claim it as being a Bill Bigamy design in which every other floorboard is glass to watch the water underneath. The same architect that built 17th street bridge But I think the most credible statement is that of Dan Duckham, the architect who said: "The client was a bachelor and a general contractor who owned a unique lot on a very wide section of the Intracoastal Waterway. The unique part was that a portion of the lot was actually under water as indicated on the legal survey. The design proceeded with the bold assumption that we could actually do it, and amazingly it was approved by the Corp of Engineers. Part of the structure is on dry land but overhangs the seawall and the main living/dining/kitchen is suspended over the water, supported on two large pile caps. Columns and long span concrete beams were formed and poured on the site and lifted in place by crane. The landside part contains the owner's office, Master Bedroom and Guest Bedroom, and is connected by the Foyer. Miraculously, it's still there." But no matter, it's a site of local flavor and architecture not to be missed.

Thunder Blue is a 14 foot, tall rabbit sculpture, currently sitting in Justin Flippin park in…read moreWilton Manors. It is the creation of American artist Hunt Slonem who took inspirations for the sculpture from a mosaic he did on a building in West Palm Beach. Slonem is known for his paintings of butterflies, rabbits, and tropical birds. His work has been on display in more than 250 museum exhibitions including 60 permanent collections and is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Thunder Blue is covered in 6500 pieces of bright blue mosaic glass and is worth $300,000. It was first shown at the South Florida for the Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary Art Fair in 2022 and it is currently on loan from New River Fine Arts in Fort Lauderdale. As a rabbit mom, I love the subject and how it sparkles in the light. It is a very eye catching piece and Hopper approved. The sculpture is such a nice addition to the park but unfortunately not everyone thought so. On May 25th a Florida man intentionally rammed his car into the statue damaging the base. He is also responsible for destroying other art work in the city supposedly because he was angry that Mayor Justin Flippen allowed birds to be in Wilton Manors. He is currently in custody and commissioners will be meeting soon to discuss how to proceed with repairs.