West Palm Beach grew in waves. Pineapple farms and winter vegetables gave way to a 1920s land boom that quadrupled the population and left whole neighborhoods of Mediterranean-Revival houses — red barrel-tile roofs, stucco walls, shady courtyards — in El Cid, Flamingo Park, and Old Northwood. Hurricanes and downtown fires knocked the young city down more than once, and it rebuilt each time in brick and stone. Out on the flat, early-paved streets, so many residents took to two wheels that West Palm Beach was once cheerfully called the “bicyclingest town in the U.S.A.”
Look at a downtown map and you’ll find the streets named, in alphabetical order, for native plants: Althea, Banyan, Clematis, Datura, Evernia, Fern. Flagler’s planners laid the grid that way in 1893, and Clematis became the main drag — storefronts and theaters — while a block over, Banyan Street filled with saloons so rowdy that the temperance crusader Carry Nation came to town in 1904 to set it straight. Clematis faded mid-century, then came roaring back in the 1990s as the city’s nightlife and festival heart. The plant names are still there, in order, if you know to look.
Why People Visit West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach rewards visitors who want culture with their coastline: a serious arts scene, a lively downtown, historic neighborhoods under the palms, and the Intracoastal at the center of it all. Add the island just across the water and the year-round South Florida sun, and Flagler’s mainland city makes an easy case for itself.
