Royal Park Bridge is a bascule bridge over the intracoastal in West Palm Beach. Once you cross the…read morebridge into Palm Beach you can visit the Society of the Four Arts and the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum. The original Royal Park Bridge was a wooden bridge built in 1911 by Elisha Newton "Cap" Dimick. Dimick was a former state senator and the first mayor of Palm Beach. There is a statue of him on the Palm Beach side as soon as you cross the bridge. The bridge was named after a housing project he was developing in Palm Beach called the Royal Park Addition. In 1919, Palm Beach County purchased the bridge for $40,000 with the intention to replace it with a concrete span. Before they could do so, the bridge collapsed. A two-lane concrete replacement bridge opened on August 11, 1924 but it was damaged by the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. It was repaired less than two weeks after the storm. The bridge was replaced in 1959. Two lanes along the south side of the bridge were added along with two drawbridges. In 1998 the bridge was condemned because of damage caused by marine borers and it was replaced with a temporary bridge. The bascule bridge that is here now opened in 2005. It is the second of three bridges connecting West Palm Beach to Palm Beach. Sometimes it is referred to as Middle Bridge. As I walked over the top of Royal Park Bridge I enjoyed the stunning view of the boats, Lake Trail, and the Flagler Museum. Underneath the bridge is a walking and bike trail where I discovered two beautiful murals, Kukui and Heau by artist Sean Yoro also known as HULA. People enjoying fishing here and along the top of the bridge. Unfortunately the bridge was touched by tragedy on February 6, 2022, when 79 year old Carol Esterling Wright was killed while crossing the bridge with her bike when its spans suddenly started rising causing her to fall 50 feet to the concrete ground. The bridge tender was charged with manslaughter. I can't help but think of Carol as I saw the bridge spans go up. Beauty but on an otherwise ordinary February day, danger too.

Grandview Heights is one of Palm Beach's oldest historical districts having been established in…read more1910. It was built as an extension of the Palm Beach Heights Neighborhood. Grandview Heights is bordered by Park Place, Alabama Ave, M Street, and Lake Ave. Most of the construction took place between 1910 and 1925. The homes were purchased by ministers, merchants, and construction workers who were building the luxury hotels in the area. The houses were designed in many different architectural style including, Spanish Mission, Craftsman Bungalow, American Four Square, Art Deco, Mission Revival, Dutch Colonial Revival, and smaller Mediterranean Revival homes. At the time it was built, Grandview Heights had the highest elevation in the area and residents had a view of the Lake Worth Lagoon. In the 1980's Palm Beach had the highest crime rate for a city of it's size in the nation. Crack and prostitution were an epidemic. In 1989 the city used eminent domain to complete an urban revitalization project for the downtown area that resulted in all of the Palm Beach Heights neighborhood and part of Grandview Heights neighborhood being torn down. The houses that were razed became City Place, The Kravis Center, and the Palm Beach Convention Center. The remaining houses were restored in the 1990's when people were looking for affordable housing close to downtown. Today the neighborhood consists of mostly single family homes, townhomes, and apartments. Also in this neighborhood are two historic churches, several bed and breakfasts, and small businesses. Grandview Heights is one of thirteen historic districts in West Palm Beach and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. I love walking around this neighborhood. So many of the homes have been recognized by the West Palm Beach Historic Preservation Board and display a plaque with the date they were built. While this area has full time residents it also attracts tourists seeking a reasonably priced Airbnb close to the attractions of downtown. There are so many cute places to rent for a vacation. It is fortunate that Grandview Heights was spared from complete destruction.

This is a segregation era cemetery that is believed to date to the 1950's. In 1957 is was platted…read moreby Brockway, Weber & Brockway, Engineers, of West Palm Beach. The City Commission asked the African-American community for input in naming the cemetery and they chose to name it after Sara Sims (1863-1958), a community activist who helped found the St. John Missionary Baptist Church in 1908. She is buried in this cemetery. The first recorded burial took place in 1958. This cemetery contains a mosiac grave marker which is an example of folk art. It is the only one in the city. The City of Boynton Beach designated this land as a cemetery in the early 1970's. It is a stop on the Historic Cemetery Trail. There is an interpretive sign posted explaining the history of the site. Few grave markers exist because many of the people buried here were indigent residents of Palm Beach County between 1988 and 1994. There aren't complete records of who is buried here. The last burial took place in 2004. When the city redeveloped Sara Sima Park next door in 2010 they also fixed up the cemetery and installed a new fence. It is nice to see that they city took care of this cemetery that is important to this community.

Drexel House Apartments in particular Jessica Canedo, Asset Manager is wonderful. Always goes out…read moreof her way to assist everyone. Living in public housing for seniors is challenging, Jessica always makes it easier. I'm so grateful she is our manager.

Horrible!!!!! First off your not gonna wanna park your car here this housing authority/section 8 is…read morelocated in the middle of the projects! Second of all this has to be the worst housing authority I've come across- so bad that I ended up forfeiting my voucher!!! Riesa A Lowery the portability specialist as she calls herself is a cruel unfair heartless woman who could care less about anyone who isn't of her RACE! Now normally I wouldn't say such a thing but what she did to me needs to be known. She waited 48 days from when my packet was received to issue me an appointment and that was only after I had a social worker step in. She fails to answer calls or emails for weeks on end. When I got there it was a side show circus of the low of the low. We were all dragged into a classroom after being given recert packets that normally you get in the mail before the day of appointment- rushed to fill them out in front of about 13 families and were to pass our social security cards and licenses around a room full of people. We were then called one by one to the back of the room where everyone else could hear our business and was yelling and running in and out the door like this was a social club . All other families except mine were African American - I'm Caucasian my husband hispanic we had our child with us who had to see this nonsense- I was the first one in and the last one out. Many people didn't bring their required paperwork I however did- those who didn't caused some disruption causing everyone else to sit and listen to the screaming for 3.5 hours!!! By the time they got to me it was 4:28 and Riesa said she doesn't get paid a min past 4:30 so she told me to sign papers without reading them! As to say I received them!! and agreed to terms I never heard of before which is BS! Then for me questioning her as to how this isn't fair that I traveled so far and wasn't even really seen she gives me a $1000 voucher for a 2br when I'm supposed to get $1200 as per the website. Everyone else got the website amount but me. Then I asked if she was gonna reissue my voucher being I only had 12 days to find a place now and she said no. Mind u she was the one who wasted my voucher time by not telling me how much my voucher was before arrival and wasting 48 of my 60 days! She was very rude and disrespectful to me. In floridas market right now there is nothing for $1000! Unless u move to the "first 48" and plan to be robbed and killed. I told her I felt I was being treated unfairly and she didn't care she told me if I don't like it why don't I just give up my voucher and then I could do or go wherever I want. That's real professional! She told me that any packet I turned in to move she would deny if it was one dollar over $1000. She left me unable to find a place before returning 10 days later to my home state. She first approved all my income and papers and then turned around for me asking for her supervisors number and said now she wanted 6 months of bank and paypal statements which were hard to get without a computer and printer out of state! I had brought the requested 3 months with me. Needless to say even working with 3 real estate agents I found nothing! My voucher has run out now and still not one phone call or email from her! I'd advise not to port to this office! 10 years I had section 8 with no issues! I come here and basically lost my voucher in a weeks time!!! The place is dirty the staff are a bunch of inconsiderate people the supervisor could care less took 4 days for him to call me back! I reported this woman and this agency to HUD for investigation as to housing discrimination . I looked up ms Lowerys Facebook after my realtor brought it to my attention she's one racist lonely woman who has the nerve to look down on people who need help when she has an $8000 goal on a go fund me page for a trip to Orlando lol!!! I'm now on my own and idk what I'm gonna do. But I'm gonna fight till she no longer has a job! So much for trying to have a better life and build self sufficiency . I wasn't about to end up somewhere worse than where I came from when there are so many complexes in nice places that would have took my voucher IF she gave the right amount! What she gave me is equivalent to a 1br and we have a 9 year old son! Go elsewhere trust me or u may risk ending up losing your housing for real!!!

The founder of the City of Palm Beach Gardens was John D. MacArthur…read more When he created his new community he wanted it to have a garden theme with streets named after flowers and trees. In the late 1960's MacArthur heard about someone who was going to cut down a banyan tree that was damaging her home. MacArthur arranged to have the tree moved to his new city new and pl;anted at the intersection of Northlake Boulevard and MacArthur Boulevard, formerly Garden Boulevard. Since the tree weighed 75 tons and was 60 feet high the city needed six months to prepare the tree for the move to its new location. On the morning of April 26, 1961 the tree was ready to be transplanted. Two cranes on two cargo trailers were sent to bring the tree to it's new home five miles away. Unfortunately disaster struck when a feed mill truck burst on the road cleared for the tree. Ten thousand gallons of molasses were dumped raising the height of the roadway. As it traveled the tree snapped several railway signal lines causing crossing gates to close. While the tree was crossing the train tracks one of the cables supporting it snapped. Workers had to saw off limbs of the tree to allow the blocked 1:30 train to get back on it's way. Just after 2 PM the tree was dropped into it's prepared hole. The Rev. A. P. Snyder of St. John's Evangelical Church said a prayer over the tree and MacArthur threw the first shovel of dirt over the roots of the tree. The entire process cost $30,000 and 1,008 hours of manpower. One year later, a second forty ton tree was moved from Lake Park next to the first tree. When people criticized Mr. MacArthur for spending so much to move the tree he replied "I can buy anything but age. This tree will be the centerpiece of our entrance, and while we could plant a little one there, I wouldn't be around 80 years from now to see it as it should be." Moving the tree gave MacArthur the nickname Banyan Mac. Although he was a developer, MacArthur was able to claim that "I built Palm Beach Gardens without knocking one tree down, I moved the biggest tree ever moved in Florida." MacArthur would go on to eventually move more than 200 trees including a sixty foot Norfolk pine that he replanted at the Colonnades Hotel on Singer Island and four more banyans which he floated on a barge from West Palm Beach. Today the landmark banyan trees have a limb span of half an acre. The trees are featured on the Palm Beach Gardens city shield. In 2007 Alexandre Renoir, a great-grandson of artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, presented the City of Palm Beach Gardens with a painting of the trees. A historical marker was installed across from the trees in 2011.

I have eaten here twice, and found it both delicious and a seaside ambiance. The service has been…read morevery good and the staff is knowledgeable about the ingredients in their dishes. Very casual restaurant with onsite parking.

The Lake Worth Casino was constructed in 1913. Folks paid 5 cents to take a ferry across the lake…read moreto it. The first incarnation of the building was a two story bath house. The first floor had changing rooms and the second floor was used for dancing. The bath house burned down in 1919 and the Brelsford family who owned the land gave it to the city of Lake Worth so they could have a public beach. The Lake Worth Casino and Baths was rebuilt in 1922 and a wooden automobile bridge was constructed to cross the lake to reach it. The domed towers and arched columns you see today are from the 1922 building design. The casino contained slot machines until gambling was outlawed in the 1930's. The building sustained damage during the 1928 hurricane. The roof was ripped off in the 1947 hurricane and the casino was rebuilt again but not ornately. In 2011 Lake Worth restored the casino to how it looked in 1922. Although the building is called the Lake Worth Casino there is no actual casino in the building. The first floor has a municipal pool and tenants like Mulligans, Kilwins, and a Mama Mia's Pizzeria. The second floor has a 3,000 square foot ballroom with a wrap around terrace that can be rented for weddings and other private events. On the night I was there Anthony and Jessica were getting married, may they live happily ever after. During the 2011 building restoration the city also created a new ocean front park, added new restrooms, and picnic tables. I love that the city decided to honor the past by restoring the Lake Worth Casio to how it looked during Florida's golden days in the 1920's. They saved the past to create a place that future people in the Lake Worth community will be enjoying for generations to come.

I discovered this 1921 Neoclassical gem while driving through downtown West Palm Beach. It was such…read morea beautiful reminder of a bygone era that I had to learn more about it. The story of how this building came to be here has its roots in the flu pandemic of 1918 which killed an estimated 675,000 people in the United States that year. When Florida established a Board of Health in 1889 there were only 390,000 non indigenous people living in Florida, mainly north of Fort Pierce. As Florida grew, the population was at risk from malaria, cholera, dengue fever, yellow fever, smallpox, and even black plague. Henry Flagler became concerned that developers would not be able to sell lots in Florida if it had a reputation of being infested by disease. Dr. Joseph Y. Porter rose to the forefront of public health safety as Florida's first director of the State Board of Health from 1889 to 1917. Under Porter small pox and yellow fever were brought under control through his study of epidemiology. He also lowered the risk of death from Spanish flu. Porter eventually resigned because of clashes with Governor Catts. Upon Porter's departure Catts cleaned house in the State Board of Health and under the threat of Spanish Flu he signed a bill to create six new state laboratories. At the time West Palm Beach had fewer than 8,500 residents but it received this laboratory thanks to Joseph Earman who was editor of The Palm Beach Post from 1913 to 1920 and who also was well connected politically. Despite Catts not liking him because he wrote an unflattering article about him, Earman was appointed to the three member Board of Health which recommended the six sites where the labs would be built. On Dec. 7, 1920, The Palm Beach Post announced that the E. H. Barto Construction Company, recently relocated from Saskatchewan, Canada, to Kelsey City, now Lake Park, Florida would be building the State Health Laboratory designed by Pensacola architect Walker D. Willis at 415 5 Street, in downtown West Palm Beach. It was located across from Flagler's FEC train station so that it could receive medical supplies and samples. The railroad station was demolished in the 1950's. The building contract amount was $34,700 and payment was contingent on finishing in four moths. They finished in 100 days by working three shifts, seven days a week. Over 100 years later the building is still standing. In 2018 it became West Palm Beach's first landmarked building. Today it is part of Seacoast Bank but to me it stands as a reminder of how far health care and West Palm Beach has come.