By Jan Engoren and Yours Truly
Never been to Palm Beach? I’m sure that reading this things to do in Palm Beach will convince you to go.Been there before? We have places that might very well be new to you like Glazer Hall, the Reuben Hale House, and the Peach Art Collective, a reason to go back. Want to make a visit an overnight? Stay tuned for a blogpost on affordable places to stay in West Palm Beach. And at the end find links to the best restaurants and shops. .
New Additions:
Reuben Hale House
While in the area, take a tour of the historic 100-year old Hale House and Sculpture Gardens at 2715 S. Olive Ave, which recently gained recognition as an historic home. Like the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, the house is an affiliate member of the Historic Homes and Studio program, part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The former residence of artist Reuben Hale, the house is now a living museum to his life and work. Tours are available by appointment (561) 833-6522 or by visiting Reuben Hale.
The Peach Art Collective
Winner of this year’s Impact Award from the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, The Peach, à la Wynwood, is a vibrant artist-run collective and creative hub featuring a gallery and multiple artist studios. Built in a renovated auto body shop under the I-95 highway, the site features monthly art walks and open studios with live music, vendors and events. The Peach, founded in 2021, is recognized for its support of local artists and building a creative community in West Palm Beach. With a certain je ne sais quoi vibe, the area is a perfect mix of grit and charm – just waiting to be discovered.
The Peach is located at 3950 Georgia Ave., West Palm Bech. Tel: (561) 532-0900. Visit Home.
Glazer Hall
Glazer Hall, which officially opened this season, is Palm Beach’s first nonprofit performing arts center in over 60 years, revitalizing the historic Royal Poinciana Playhouse. In 2019, Palm Beach residents Jill and Avie Glazer ((whose family owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) invested $15M to rebuilt and restore a storied piece of Palm Beach history back to life.
This 24,000-square-foot waterfront venue features a 400-seat theater with state-of-the-art technology and up-close views of the Intracoastal waterway. Originally designed by architect John L. Volk in 1958, the building’s Regency style has been preserved. The venue will present a diverse array of programming, including music, dance, film, comedy, speakers, educational events, and more.
Both a cultural rebirth and a modern arts hub, Glazer Hall blends the historic charm of the Royal Poinciana with the latest in performance technology. It’s designed to be a year-round cultural hub where people can come to dine, walk over to the theatre and hang out in the lobby with its picture windows overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway.
Glazer Hall is located at 70 Royal Poinciana Way, Suite P70, Palm Beach. Tel: (561) 576-7860. Visit GLAZER HALL
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Flagler Museum
Whitehall, the Palm Beach home of Henry Flagler, is a 75-room, 100,000-square-foot Gilded Age mansion, that Flagler built as a gift for his wife, Mary Lily Kenan Flagler. The couple used the home as a winter retreat from 1902 until Flagler’s death in 1913, establishing the Palm Beach season for the wealthy of the Gilded Age.
Designed by Beaux Arts architects, John Carrère and Thomas Hastings, they also designed the New York Public Library and Henry Clay Frick’s Fifth Avenue mansion.
Built around a central courtyard, the house consists of two floors, an attic and basement. Besides the grand public rooms on the first floor there are twelve guestrooms, servant’s rooms and guests servant’s rooms in the attic. Also included were a pantry and kitchen as well as private offices for Mr. Flagler and his secretary.
The interior of the home is decorated in Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI, Italian Renaissance, and Francis I styles.
During the winters in Florida, the couple entertained constantly. When Henry Flagler died in 1913, the house remained closed until 1916. Mary Lily visited the home only once more in 1917 as the recent bride of Robert Worth Bingham. When Mary Lily died later that year, Whitehall was left to her niece, Louise Clisby Wise Lewis. Lewis sold the home to a group of investors who added an 11-story 250+ bedroom tower on the west side and converted the entire structure into a hotel, which operated from 1926-1959.
In 1959, Flagler’s granddaughter, Jean Flagler Matthews purchased the property and opened it to the public with a grand “Restoration Ball” on February 6, 1960.
The Museum has regular, rotating exhibits relating to life during the Gilded Age as well as tours of the home.
While you’re there, stay for lunch at their Cafe des Beaux-Arts, in the Flagler Kenan Pavilion, overlooking the Intracoastal waterway. The café offers Gilded Age-style tea service with waterfront views. The café serves a prix-fixe menu of finger sandwiches, scones, and tea from Tuesday–Saturday (11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.) and Sunday (12 p.m.–3 p.m.), with advanced booking.
And, don’t miss Henry Flagler’s private Railcar No. 91 on display in the same pavilion.
Also, check out the wonderful gift shop and lecture series.
The Flagler Museum is located at One Whitehall Way in West Palm Beach. Tel: (561) 655-2833. Visit Flagler Museum.
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
A jewel of a museum and now with one of their best exhibits is the Morikami Museum and Japanese Garden. It’s in Delray Beach, Palm Beach County, an easy stop on the way to or from Palm Beach. If you haven’t been to the Morikami, besides the art space, there’s an exhibit of a tea house, a wonderful shop and gardens with a mile long walk through a Japanese garden, a house with bonsai, streams, ponds, waterfalls and of course lush vegetation.
Founded as an agricultural community and pineapple plantation aimed to introduce innovative farming practices to Florida by Japanese farmers. The settlers primarily grew pineapples and winter vegetables, but faced challenges like competition and economic changes that made farming difficult.
By WWII, most of the settlers had gone back to Japan, but George Sukeji Morikami, one of the last settlers, donated his land to Palm Beach County.
This gift led to the creation of Morikami Park, which opened in 1977 as a cultural and educational center honoring the Yamato Colony’s legacy.
Today, the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens features traditional Japanese architecture, three exhibition galleries, a theater, and an authentic tea house. The 16-acre Japanese gardens reflect a variety of historical styles from across Japan, thoughtfully arranged to form one harmonious landscape. With close to 7,500 art objects and artifacts, including tea ceremony items and textiles, the Morikami offers a deep, immersive experience of Japanese culture and its enduring connection to Florida.
The Museum has a full array of cultural programming including classes, workshops, demonstrations and culinary and cultural experiences.
Make sure to visit their wonderful gift store with Japanese apparel and accessories, books, stationary, crafts, home décor, tea accoutrements and jewelry and stay for lunch at The Cornell Café.
The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is located at 4000 Morikami Park Road, Delray Beach. Tel: (561) 495-0233.
Visit https://morikami.org/
Thanks to my membership in Partners for Art + Design, I found out about the Bunker Artspace, a private art space in West Palm Beach, presenting rotating exhibitions of the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection. The Art Deco Bunker showcases a vast range of contemporary art, iconic pieces of furniture, and other curiosities in a 1920s toy factory and utilized as a munitions armory during World War II. A visit is by invitation and scheduled private tours.
The Collection includes works by leading contemporary artists, “while always pushing beyond ‘the greatest hits’ to deliver a more complete view of contemporary art today”.
For more information, click here.
Norton Museum of Art
The Norton Museum of Art was founded in 1941 by Ralph Hubbard Norton and his wife Elizabeth Calhoun Norton. Norton was an industrialist who headed the Acme Steel Company in Chicago. Avid art collectors, they amassed such a collection that they decided to build their own museum to house their collection.
The Museum has a permanent collection of more than 8,900 works in five curatorial departments: European, American, Asian, Contemporary and Photography. Since 1954, many distinguished additions have been made, including masterpieces such as Stuart Davis’s New York Mural (acquired in 1964), and Jackson Pollock’s Night Mist (acquired in 1971).
You can also count on them to have world class temporary exhibits like the one they had in early 2026 on Rembrandt with works by Frans Hals and Vermeer and another featuring jewelry done by some of history’s most legendary artists.
Make sure to save time to enjoy the 37,200-square foot outdoor Sculpture Garden,
The lush sub-tropical garden features sculptures by artists including Keith Haring, Antony Gormley, Jenny Holzer, Franz West and others.
The Museum offers a variety of cultural and community events, including lectures, special performances, art classes and workshops and a Friday night “Art After Dark,” with live performances, film screenings, art workshops and more.
Stop by their gift shop for original artist made gifts, including jewelry and drop by their indoor/outdoor café overlooking the garden for what will be a delicious lunch.
The Norton Museum of Art is located at 1450 S Dixie Hwy, West Palm Beach. Tel: (561) 832-5196. Visit Home | Norton Museum of Art
The Society of the Four Arts
The Society of The Four Arts is a gem with its reliably very good exhibits, lovely garden with 20 sculptures by world renowned artists, and a notable lecture series.
Founded in 1936 with a mission to inspire and engage people through the presentation of outstanding artistic programs, The Four Arts offers hundreds of programs, including concerts, art exhibits, workshops, films, children’s programs, and more.
The 10-acre campus along the Intracoastal Waterway in Palm Beach includes a performance hall, an art gallery, a modern education center devoted to lifelong learning, a library, a children’s library and beautiful sculpture gardens.
The Society of the Four Arts is located at 100 Four Arts Plaza, Palm Beach.
Tel: (561) 655-7226. Visit The Society of the Four Arts
Nearby is the expanded Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens and House, well worth a visit. Besides the delightful sculpture filled tropical gardens and orchid house, there are art and craft exhibits, and a shop with gift items and books related to the exhibits
Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens was established in 1977 by Ann Weaver Norton to preserve the Historically Registered house and surrounding gardens in West Palm Beach where the artist lived from 1948 until 1982. The rare palm and sculpture gardens, exhibition galleries and artist’s studio provide a unique opportunity to experience the sculptor’s vision in its intended setting.
The gardens boast more than 250 tropical plants, including rare palm species, cycads and unusual tropicals, as well as 100 different sculptures and works of art.
Displayed throughout the house, studio and gardens you will discover works by the artist, including nine monumental sculptures, eight in brick and one in granite. Ann Norton’s monumental sculptures built over a period of 15 years were intended to be discovered as surprises amidst the dense, jungle-like vegetation.
Also on property is Ann Norton’s studio, created over four decades and featuring her works in bronze, stone, and wood as well as larger than life models, armatures, and studies done for her larger works.
Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens is located at 253 Barcelona Rd., West Palm Beach. Tel:
(561) 832-5328. Visit Palm Gardens of Ann Weaver Norton.
Shopping Destinations:
Prestigious art galleries, such as Sotheby’s, Pace, Acquavella, Holden Luntz and Wally Findlay among others offer a variety of fine art. And they have serious exhibits with big name artists. Others include Gavlak and Brintz Galleries. Many are located in the Royal Poinciana Plaza, Royal Poinciana Way neighborhood, and Worth Avenue.
Of course, you’ve heard about Worth Avenue, the original fine shopping and eating destination in Palm Beach. Besides luxury brands, art and antique galleries, and the traditional high end clothing and jewelry stores, there’s a fresh new collection of stores, branches of popular shops hailing from Cannes, Nantucket and Greece.
The high end shopping competition for Worth Avenue, and a stop I never miss when in Palm Beach is The Royal Poinciana Plaza designed by John Volk, architect to America’s royal families like the Vanderbilts, DuPonts, Fords and Pulitzers. It’s built around a handsome garden courtyard with plenty of seating plus there’s plenty of parking. Find 50 brands in everything from fashion and beauty/wellness, to home furnishings and both casual eateries including a deli and a fine dining restaurant. There are both traditional brands like Hermes and Yves St Laurent, but also, less usual designers including Australian label Zimmermann (love their clothes) and Kirna Zabête who began in New York’s SoHo, to Cremieux from St. Tropez and Israeli designer Nili Lotan. Completing the lineup is a shop for bike rentals.
Another select shopping street, more casual than Worth Avenue, is Royal Poinciana Way with some wonderful fashion boutiques that dress the town’s most elegant ladies — Diane Firsten (think Brunello Cucinelli but for my taste, better), Couture & More, and eating spots. Check out the passageways and neighborhood for more “finds,” and don’t miss Main Street, a shop with oh so stylish items for home and kitchen as well as gifts. Owned by The Breakers Hotel, it also includes a coffee shop with tempting baked goods.
The Royal Poinciana Plaza is located at 340 Royal Poinciana Way, Palm Beach. Tel: (561) 440-5441. Visit Home – The Royal Poinciana
The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts
Palm Beach County’s version of the Adrienne Arsht Center, The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts offers Broadway tours, major concerts, dance, opera, comedy, lectures, family programming and community events.
Its multiple venues — from the 2,195‑seat Dreyfoos Concert Hall to the more intimate Rinker Playhouse and Persson Hall — host hundreds of performances each year, featuring everything from classical music and jazz to contemporary theater and children’s productions.
The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts is located at 701 Okeechobee Boulevard, West Palm Beach. Tel: 561.832.7469. Visit Kravis Center
One of my most valued “finds” was Leslie Diver of Island Living Tours and her drive, walk, bike or talk tours of Palm Beach. She entertains and educates on the history, architecture and skinny on residents, famous and infamous, in her tours. We took the Estate Section/Historic Worth Avenue vias tour. You go down private roads you’d never know existed, with gorgeous homes you can actually see (unlike in other places where they’re hidden behind hedges). Then there’s the story behind the people and architecture in the passageways off of Worth Avenue.
Diver, whose background includes 10 years on the Architectural Review Commission and Landmarks Preservation Commission, as well as working as a personal assistant to big monied residents, has a unique perspective and amazing stories. In fact, her commentary on Henry Flagler includes juicy details you won’t hear in the Flagler Museum! You can rent a bike at the Palm Beach Bicycle Trail Shop located in the Royal Poinciana Plaza, the meeting place, or bring your own, as the tour doesn’t include bikes. Other offerings include the Best of Palm Beach walking tour, Island Tour, drive or bike architecture tour and a Worth Avenue and Antique Row tour. Private tours offered twice each day, seven days/week by appointment only. Tel: (561) 309-5790.
Cost of the driving tours depend on the group size. For more information and to book, click here.
Looking for ideas on where to eat? Click here for my post on the best restaurants in Palm Beach with new additions.
Want to check out the best shops? Click here for my post.
Interested in checking out consignment shops for men and women? Check out this earlier post:
Consignment Shops: Palm Beach County
If you drove up from Miami or other points south, stop on the way home at The Boys Market in Delray Beach, a South Florida Experience and stock up on top produce, meats and gourmet items . Find out more:
The Boys Farmers Market, 14378 S Military Trail, Delray Beach, Florida 33484 T.(561) 496-0810. Free parking in the lot
