This, in the Shiny Sheet: Beachgoers wore puzzled looks while watching more than 25 children and parents throwing bread into the ocean, without a seagull in sight. Just before noon on Sunday, the group made the trip from Temple Emanu-El to the Atlantic to cast the bread during a special children’s service for Tashlikh, which …
There’s More to Frade’s Allowance of Same Sex Blessings in SE Florida Than Meets the Eye
Somehow, I struggle to classify this as news: Further south, the Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, Bishop of Southeast Florida, has authorized his clergy to provide pastoral blessings—but not to preside over same-sex weddings—within about a month. Bishop Frade announced his decision to a clergy conference that met on Sept. 9 and 10. Bishop Frade told The …
A New Look For Worth Avenue–And Some Reflections
The town of Palm Beach is millimetring towards a facelift on what it, IMHO, this country's premier shopping street: Worth Avenue in Palm Beach. This is what it looks like now, looking towards the intersection of Worth Avenue and County Road. This is the graphic rendition of what is to come, with the widened "faux …
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Running Rusty
Sometimes I think some people in my generation were raised on the moon. They get up and talk about the United States, how in years past we had a good, decent moral country where none of the evils we see now were anywhere to be found. While there's no doubt our civilization isn't what it …
Palm Beach Golf Classic
A major part of the season in Palm Beach is the system of charity balls. A socialite can make--or break--his or her reputation on how well or poorly a charity ball is hosted. On the other side, drawing up the lists of invitees is an exercise in diplomacy. For those who are invited, making "the …
In The Picture: An Applehead Siamese Cat Shows Off
Everyone wants family pictures. To get past the usual studio shots, my mother brought out Bernice Ransom, portrait photographer of socialites, to make some of my brother and myself at our home.In her advertisements, Ransom claimed that "children...pets...home sittings...our special 'cup of tea'!" What she didn't tell everyone was that, with a cat, the first …
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Join the Club. Maybe Not! A Strange Tale of Two Worlds in Palm Beach
Originally written and posted March 2005. Since that time, Bernie Maddoff has made one of the clubs featured in this piece famous (if impecunious,) so I've rewritten it a bit. The following year I got to play golf at the Ridgeway Country Club, a formerly "Jewish country club" in Memphis, TN, which opened its membership …
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Around South Florida at the Turn of the Unix Era
People who grow up in what used to be called the "Gold Coast" (Palm Beach, Broward and Dade Counties) take for granted their natural surroundings. From the standpoint of most of the rest of the country, South Florida is an exotic paradise. Growing up in that "paradise" has been a defining event for me: it's …
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On the Water: Palm Beach, Yachting, And…
It's generally true that "champagne tastes and caviar dreams" involve a yacht somewhere. Today most of them are fibreglass creations, but as soon as he could see his way clear, my father got us into the era of "iron men and wooden ships." Well, at least the wooden ships... Before we got there: the course …
The Importance of Being Abroad
Shortly after my family moved to Palm Beach, my mother visited the Embassy Travel Bureau to make some arrangements to go to Europe. The Bureau was owned by Nigel and Yvelyne "Deedy" Marix (Deedy was later Mayor of Palm Beach.) Nigel, a very proper Englishman, asked my mother, "Have you ever been abroad?" "All my …
Positive Infinity 