Palm Beach Twisted

may explain some things

The title of this piece comes from my wife Linda. She lived in Palm Beach and worked at the Palm Beach International Airport for awhile in the 80’s. She made this PBT observation yesterday as we talked about how self absorbed Trump is.

He bought Mar-a-lago in 1985 at a fire sale price from the National Park Service when it became a maintenance issue for them after being gifted to them from the Post estate.

Here’s the detailed story from the Mar-a-lago Club website.

www.maralagoclub.com/history

The area which was very overgrown jungle and marsh became known as Lake Worth, named for a General in the Seminole Wars in the 1830s & 40’s.

There was a shipwreck in 1878 with a load of coconuts bound from Cuba to Spain.

The locals planted the not native species and soon there were Palm Trees…hence the new name, Palm Beach…created from ship salvage. Tom Hanks would be proud…

Railroad tycoon Henry Flagler saw a tourism opportunity in the 1890’s and brought his tracks south building luxury hotels like the Breakers, which has been destroyed by fire and rebuilt several times. The town of Palm Beach incorporated in 1911…before women had the vote.

What had been the exclusive home of alligators,

became the home to “captains of industry” and grew to 9,000 year round residents…with 20,000 there in the winter.

A small town with a LOT of money.

The 1918 Everglades Club became the anchor for Worth Avenue. In 1938 the Worth Avenue Association organized to set standards for the appearance of stores on the street.

Today the Worth Avenue website claims that this is the “most exclusive shopping district in the world”.

MUCH more details here…including history of Ms. Post and the Kennedy family.

worth-avenue.com/information/legacy/

The Palm Beach International Airport (PBIA) commenced operations in 1936 with a DC-2 flight to (where else ?) New York.

Here’s twist relating to current news and yesterdays substack. The current terminal, built after Linda left, is named for Medal of Honor recipient, David McCampbell who was raised in Palm Beach. He survived WWII and was the leading Ace of the US Navy flying an F6F Hellcat with 34 aerial victories in the Pacific. He received the Medal of Honor from FDR in 1945 and went on to a 31 year career in the military….

not a “loser” or a “chump” doing a little more for his country at great risk to life and limb than the radio talk show “patriot” Rush Limbaugh.

Palm Beach County is a “bubble” for the wealthy with over 10,000 millionaires, 69 folks with over 100 million and 58 billionaires according to Forbes. It is the richest county in the US. The Koch family are the richest residents…worth over 60 billion $$.

Trump is estimated at around 2 billion….maybe…maybe not

The late great Jimmy Buffett moved in and somehow lived there with a net value of just 1 billion, lowering property values...but adding to the entertainment value.

So while there are a lot of VERY rich and indulgent people who live and have lived in Palm Beach…DJT has become the most infamous…popular with some…not so much with others.

There was at one time a real era of philanthropy in Palm Beach. Marjorie Merriweather Post was an excellent example…she may be rolling over in her grave…or maybe haunting her Mar-a-lago…she could not be happy about the Donald’s use of cereal the other day…

Palm Beach Twisted. From alligators to human predators in just 150 years.

Thanks L for the history lesson.

Peace.