An expertly curated, luxuriously produced compendium of all things Palm Beach, Palm Beach Illustrated brings to life personalities and takes you inside the exclusive homes, parties and interests of the world’s most affluent and influential people.
EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK FOR STARTERS Editors love to give opinions. In this case, we offer insight on the area’s best appetizers, just in time for Flavor South Florida. Page 116. WORD OF ADVICE I laughed out loud when I read Liz Lange’s take on the “Palm Beach Chic” dress code. See “Dear Liz” on page 160. Around the time this issue was going to press, we had our first family trip for the sole purpose of touring colleges for our high school juniors. You forget after 30-odd years what it feels like to be on a university campus for the first time—the anxiety and uncertainty slowly giving way to excitement and the feeling that anything is possible. There’s an entire universe between that first college visit and matriculation, not least of…
DANCING WITH THE PALM BEACH STARS WHO: Palm Beach Ray of Hope Foundation WHAT: Dancing with the Palm Beach Stars WHERE: The Mar-a-Lago Club, Palm Beach HIGHLIGHTS: Eleven distinguished Palm Beach community members danced for a panel of judges—including Artem Chigvintsev and Karina Smirnoff of Dancing with the Stars and Palm Beach’s own Melissa Butterworth—during an evening hosted by John Stamos. HAPPY TAILS WHO: Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League WHAT: Happy Tails Spring Fundraiser WHERE: The Park, West Palm Beach HIGHLIGHTS: Happy Tails transformed The Park into a pet lovers’ paradise, where 200 supporters enjoyed cocktails, a buffet dinner, golf course views, and 21 adoptable puppies and dogs looking for loving new homes. YOUNG FRIENDS SUMMER HAPPY HOUR WHO: Historical Society of Palm Beach County WHAT: Young Friends and Steering…
What began as a creative homeschool initiative for chef, designer, and urban gardener Alicia Garcia’s own four children has blossomed into a curriculum of cultural heritage cooking classes, food literacy, natural wellness, and sustainability-driven home economics. Serving families across Palm Beach and Broward counties, Project Flourish offers eco-minded hands-on cooking classes, seasonal garden and apothecary workshops, “edible earth” food literacy programming, seasonal craft workshops, and other flavors of lifestyle programming for kids and adults alike. From dumpling-making and kitchen herbalism to floral arranging and pottery play, the curriculum weaves together history, science, wellness, culinary exploration, and the arts in a fun way that encourages practical skill development. “I consider my kitchen-classroom a ‘joy space’ for life-connected learning,” Garcia says. “When we are safe, happy, and curious, learning can happen anywhere.”…
If you’ve ever recorded a video on your phone or scrolled YouTube or TikTok, you’ve benefited from the work of Hari Kalva, PhD. So, it’s no wonder he’s one of 10 inventors named a 2025 inductee of the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. «A professor and chair in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Kalva is a named inventor on 73 United States patents and 70 international patents, several of which are essential to the technology that enables nearly every modern streaming and broadcast platform. Kalva also co-developed the MP4 file format in the late 1990s and pioneered the use of machine learning to speed up the process of encoding video. “Being named to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame is a…
A move to West Palm Beach and a healthy dose of frustration led entrepreneur Jake Nicholas to launch an Instagram account called Florida of Tomorrow (@fl oridaoftomorrow) in 2022. “After graduating, a lot of my friends relocated to larger markets like Nashville, Chicago, and New York, and I realized that very few people had even heard of West Palm Beach,” he says. “But what I was seeing on the ground told a very different story—one of transformation, investment, and creative momentum—and I was genuinely excited about it. … [But] any time I tried to read about this growth, I kept running into paywalls. Even local news required a subscription, which highlighted a gap in how legacy media was delivering information in today’s world and how I assumed most people received their…
If you’re from the area or have lived here any length of time, you have a Rosarian Academy connection. The ubiquitous influence of this small independent Catholic school in West Palm Beach is a testament to a legacy forged over 100 years of faith-led learning. Established in 1925 under the vision of Bishop Barry, who saw a need for a Catholic educational institution in southern Florida, Rosarian’s roots trace to four Adrian Dominican Sisters who opened St. Ann-on-the-Lake Academy as a boarding school for girls. The campus extended to the water’s edge until 1927, when the City of West Palm Beach paid Rosarian $1,650 for a 60-foot right-of-way to build Flagler Drive. From these modest beginnings, Rosarian has grown into one of Palm Beach County’s most respected educational institutions. In…
