In Palm Beach, Florida, there is a relatively new adage that’s defined the destination for more than a decade: “Palm Beach is like the gay 90s: all the women are 90 and all the men are gay.” It’s not entirely untrue considering more than half the residents are over 65 years old, many businesses are gay owned, gossip among locals is better than a season of Real Housewives, and a typical night out is a fabulous dinner party in a million-dollar home.
Sprawling a short 17 miles, Palm Beach (about an hour north of Miami) has always served as a rather exclusive stomping ground for old-money tycoons and wealthy entrepreneurs who only dabble with the finer things in life. The skyscraper-free town is chockablock with fancy restaurants where dinner jackets are still often required, luxury name-brand retailers like Gucci and Neiman Marcus are ubiquitous, and members-only country clubs are decades strong. It’s not unusual to see locals dressed to the nines for a trip to the bank or parking lots packed with only Bentleys and Porsches. There’s an air of sophistication, and a touch of harmless elitism, you’re hard-pressed to find in other parts of Florida–the local Publix even has valet parking.
The names of residents and former residents read like a guest list at a Forbes event. The Kennedys once owned a home here, as did John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Howard Stern and Tony Robbins recently bought homes near Rod Stewart’s on Billionaire Row–a long road with real estate for the one percent–while CEOs (like Mary Barra of General Motors) have been living here for years. According to local gay real estate agent Burt Minkoff, the average price ($5.46 million) of a residential home sold in Palm Beach is 20 percent higher than it was at the end of 2013.
By Jimmy Im
Full Story at Passport
Palm Beach Gay Travel Resources
]]>