Tis the season in Palm Beach

The snow birds have descended in #PalmBeach and as Andy Warhol would say, most of them would go to the opening of an envelope, as a new arrival from New York City I am trying to mix business with pleasure. I moved here on the advice of a real estate investor client and I am wondering why I never considered moving to Florida a long time ago. Having grown up in sunny Zimbabwe, I feel at home here and I never want to endure those freezing winter up north.

After buckling down to pass my Floria real estate license and getting a job, I have been busy getting into the business and social circles. On one marathon session on November 14th, I spent the afternoon at the Urban Land Institute, www.uli.org #WestPalmBeach Forum at the #HiltonHotel, www.hilton.com where I was thrilled to meet the mayor, Keith James, https://tinyurl.com/2mp56n52 who is pro-business and a strong champion for diversity. After the cocktail hour, I raced across town to the offices of the West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority www.downtownwpb.com for their 'Talk to an Architect' series where they even give you wine and empanadas! Finally, I headed closer to home to the opening reception of 'Wish You Were Here' at the Palm Beach #HistoricalSociety, www.pbchistory.org By the way, in October I had a blast when I attended the Historical Society's 'Quiz Night' at ritzy The Ben Hotel, www.thebenwestpalm.com

I am a nomad so I love exploring a new place. By my first visit I had finished Clematis Street, although it still remains a favorite for dining. I am still adventuring on Palm Beach Island itself, although the democraphic there skews much older. I went to watch a choral group at the Four Arts, www.fourarts.org , the other day and ended up nodding off. I met some new friends who are trying to invite me to play bingo at The Colony, https://thecolonypalmbeach.com/ on Sunday but I think I am too young for that yet. One place that is kind of fun on this side of the intracostal is the Norton Museum, www.norton.org on a Friday. I met a friend there who told me I should be a concierge because I figure out places pretty fast. I have some favorite places already including very grand The Breakers Hotel, www.thebreakers.com and I love that Seafood Bar with a fishtank bar-top. I finally went to the award-winning Saturday morning green market, West Palm Beach's pride and joy, which was a lot of fun eating different foods. I took a guest on a sunset cruise aboard the Hakuna Matata catamaran which is touristy but still a good time.

Last week the Urban Land Institute organized a tour of the new Nora Development District, https://tinyurl.com/yxb4y6p6 which is an urban renewal project near the railway line by the team at Place Projects, https://tinyurl.com/ffcaa46u , that developed Wynwood in Miami, funded by the owners of The Ben Hotel. I ran into ex NFL player TJ Thomas, https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/jt3inc/ on the tour and I had met him before at the ULI Forum last month. It's is so exciting to see this vision taking shape. Later on we were driven by coach to new private membership The Cove Club, www.coveclubwestpalm.com for the networking happy hour.

This week is already shaping up to be hectic. Wednesday is the Downtown Neighborhood Association Holiday Cocktail Party, www.wpbdna.com/2024_holiday_party then there is the Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival, www.pbfoodwinefest.com which is expensive but already mostly sold out except for the convention center. I am starting to enjoy my life here, even though the base is slow. The happy hours around town are very pocket-friendly, though and I can name a bunch of places where you won't find an empty stool at the bar, come 4pm. You can save a lot of money by eating out between 4 to 7pm. A couple of weeks ago I was walking to the UPS store when I lady I had met at a networking event greeted me. I have only been here 2 months and people recognize me already. In the meantime I have made a couple of trips to Miami and one weekend trip to LA. My neighbor was saying that after you live in Palm Beach, Miami does not seem as exciting because everything is better here. What do you think?

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