Throwback Thursday: Palm Beach in the 1970s

My paternal grandparents wintered in Palm Beach, Florida. They had an apartment at The Southlake, a 1960s serpentine apartment building with a kidney shaped swimming pool in front. There was a doorman, also a valet who would pull up in Grandpa's lemon chiffon Lincoln Continental. The white leather interior was always flawless.

Easter in Palm Beach in the 1970s

We would go to The Beach Club, among other places. Grandma and Grandpa had a cabana on the upper level in the center, overlooking the pool. When it was time for lunch, they made a phone call from the cabana. An impeccably groomed waiter in jacket and bow tie would appear moments later with trays full of club sandwiches and drinks.

Palm Beach in the 1970s was a strange, disconnected place for our family. Grandma and Grandpa lived in a fancy, tropical oasis. It was nothing like North Caldwell, New Jersey. All the buildings in Palm Beach were the color of butter mints, and I remember sitting on the curb watching salamanders and counting the Rolls Royces breezing by.