Hey, on the towners, I'm Frank Licari from a neighborhood where the sky's the limit.

To the talk of the town out west.

Today we're exploring the different vibes that living in the Palm Beaches has to offer.

And I'm stepping into my first ever fish Pedi.

Woo!

Then I'm stepping out with girls who love to walk.

So lace up your sneakers as we go exploring on the town in the Palm Beaches with me, Frank Licari.

This program is brought to you by Discover the Palm Beaches.

Visit the Palm beaches.tv for more information.

From famous islands to hip downtowns, there are 39 cities and towns in Palm Beach County, along with unincorporated areas, and all of them have their own unique character.

We're kicking off this episode in Westlake, Palm Beach County's newest city, and this place is cutting edge.

I've never heard of a new town.

I simply just bought a home in the new town.

Oh, is that right?

Yeah, it was maybe the 30th home.

I like to consider myself a pioneer.

Look at you.

An early adopter.

An early adopter.

A pioneer of the city of Westlake, Florida.

Tell me a little bit about the city, because how many how many people live here?

Sure.

Right now we're around 5 or 6000 people, but we see, oh, 15 to 20 houses a week.

What?

So our population changes drastically every week.

I get the report.

It's between 12 and 20 homes.

New families moving in.

Wow.

Probably about 100 people a month, roughly.

That's crazy growth.

I think as of Friday, we were at around 2900 homes.

I've also got 1,000,000ft of commercial going vertical right now.

And like another million in the pipeline.

Because you got a town center coming in with restaurants.

And a town center, we've got we've got lots of mixed use.

We've got lots of lots of exciting things happening.

And we try to be very, very innovative, very forward thinking, technology driven, brand new construction.

6.5mi of Paradise is what I like to say.

This is called the Westlake Adventure Park.

It's a private amenity for Westlake residents only.

Gotcha.

But I've got almost a 75 acre Park City park that's being constructed right now.

That will be for the entire western communities and really anybody.

Okay, if you get a house, right, how do you become the mayor?

So when you newly incorporate a city, which is what they did, you actually get to a point your council, that wasn't me.

Sure, I wanted to get involved.

So I started going to these council meetings.

It was about two years later a seat opened up for councilmen.

A year later, I was unanimously appointed to vice mayor.

Two years later, the mayor seat opened up and I ran for that seat.

Look at that.

We have a fully resident council now.

I like to say our thumb prints will be on the city forever.

Yeah.

We have this rare opportunity to to try to do everything right.

How do I get a seat?

I want a city.

Can I have, like, how do I create franktown?

What do I need?

I just have to move there.

I had nothing to do with that aspect of it.

I said, well, you can.

Help me now.

I simply bought a home and wanted to impact change in the place that I lived, and that's the best way to do it.

I'm headed to the place where all the locals go Gators.

Shaq.

Let's meet the Gator and check out his famous swamp sauce.

How does one get the name Gator?

I grew up in the area.

I've been there my whole life, and just from.

Hanging out in the canals and ponds and swimming pools, you know, just growing up.

It gave me that nickname and it just stuck with me.

We had the best gator around.

You know, we'd sell a lot of gators.

The best gator tail there is.

Is that right?

We have a swamp sauce that basically goes with it.

But our swamp sauce people love.

They want to buy it all the time.

They drink it.

Drink it.

Yeah.

Don't actually drink it.

It's that good.

What the heck is in it?

It's like a well, I can't tell you that.

Oh, you can't.

Give me the secret.

All right.

It was created, actually, when we first opened.

It was created then, and it's been with us ever since.

All right.

These are the gator bites.

Yes they are.

Okay.

Oh, man.

I don't know.

It might be a little hot.

Whoa!

Whoa!

That's the day light.

That's spicy.

Well, those are good.

They love it that way, I'm telling you.

Like I said, they drink it.

You started this place.

When?

About 15 years ago.

We've been at this location just over ten years.

The people here, it's just a small hometown feeling here.

You know, people tell me all the time how much they love this place and, you know, keep it going.

Whatever you got to do, keep it going.

We love it.

You know, they bring their families in from when they come from out of town.

They bring them here to show them what it's like in this area and the hometown.

And it's just been.

It's got to feel good.

Yeah.

We do what we can for them.

They do what they can for us.

It just works out.

We try and keep it a family place.

Yeah, it feels like it.

Yeah.

Chicken wings are actually the number one seller we have.

So really?

Yeah.

We have different sauces, chicken wings and burgers, but we have frog legs, which is kind of rare.

We people come from like, hours, hour, an hour and a half drive just to get our frog legs.

Gator tail.

Yeah.

Okay.

Big a deal.

These are the frog legs.

I don't think a frog leg.

Yeah.

I'm hooked.

Wellington may be known for its equestrian community, but it's also a hub for aviation enthusiasts.

I'm in the aero club community where your neighbor taking flight is not all that uncommon.

Is this as easy as I'm thinking it?

You wake up in the morning and you go, you know what?

I just want to go for a little ride, and you fire it up and you go out like you're taking your car out.

Is that as easy as it is?

Absolutely.

The aero club.

What's that all about?

We're in Wellington Aero Club, which is in the westernmost part of Wellington.

It's about 250 homes.

And what makes us unique is we have our runway right in the middle of our neighborhood, and we all have hangars with planes in them.

Now, most people in Wellington riding a horse, right.

They're doing the equestrian thing.

How does the airport come into come into play in Wellington?

Well, it's actually been here longer than the horse show, but in Aero Club we have quite a lot of families who are equestrians and aviators.

I came from the horse world and ended up.

You're a fighter pilot?

Yeah, absolutely.

You can be in the Bahamas in less than an hour.

So it gives traveling and vacations a whole different spin.

In my case, I fly every single day, sometimes multiple times a day.

Wait a second.

What do you really?

Yeah.

Where are you going?

Breakfast, lunch?

Yesterday I went to the beach.

This morning I went around the Everglades.

Are you.

Flying the helicopter.

There?

Yeah, yeah.

Usually what we do in the morning is we have a little chat amongst the community, and we'll send out a chat and said, who wants to go for breakfast?

And before you know it, there's.

Five helicopters take off.

Or four airplanes and a couple of helicopters.

Absolutely.

This is crazy talk.

It's all about the experience and the camaraderie.

We're a very tight knit social group, although we do welcome people to come and find out what it's all about.

Do you have a tower?

Does somebody like radio?

No, no, this is called a pilot-controlled airport.

What you're relying on, like, if you let me in, right?

Like, if you let me in and I get a place here, you're assuming I know what I'm doing.

If you're a pilot.

You know what you're doing.

Yeah.

Is that really, like.

Driving a car?

Yeah, absolutely.

What a fun way to live.

It's great.

Yeah, I love it.

You always need healthy food options to keep the energy up.

And we definitely found some in Wellington today.

We're meeting a woman who traded in her rains for recipes at the Tailor Made cafe.

Let the ingredients sing for themselves.

You don't need to taint them with too many things and additives and heavy processing.

It's not necessary.

The food can taste wonderful on its own.

I've always been into food.

When I was 18, I was diagnosed with Ms. so I had to start making some changes in my diet, and I found that when I was traveling on the horse show circuit, because I was very competitive with riding, there wasn't anything available for me or for the equestrians.

There wasn't anything healthy.

I started making my own stuff and bringing it to work with me.

People saw me and they're like, where did you get that?

People were saying, I'll pay you if you make that for me for the duration of the horse show.

I'm like, all right.

I did a couple, I created a website so that people could order, I deliver it on a scooter to the horse show, and it became popular.

So I built it, kind of fell into place.

It just was like made to be.

Yeah.

Tailor made.

All, all self-taught.

Yes.

It's just whole food.

People were continuously ordering and then, you know, here you are.

Yeah.

14 years.

What.

Yeah.

Is it really that.

Open for 14 years?

Good for you.

Yeah.

Now obviously you started from the equestrian community.

It was that they were the supporters, but now it's expanded.

They make all these homemade baked goods, all these delicious vegan options, gluten free options, low sugar.

I mean, we have something for everyone.

It's us.

It's a full restaurant, right?

And our menu started much smaller salads and wraps.

And then you moved to baked goods and more elaborate sandwiches, hot foods, hot breakfasts.

Oh, Valuables and catering.

This is really a family roots thing, from top to bottom.

Yeah, and I see the daughters here now.

And she's at the cash register.

She's checking people.

In and out.

She loves all of our food.

But do you know what's funny?

People will come in and they haven't been here before, and they're like, what's your favorite?

What is most ordered?

And I'm like, that's like asking me to choose my favorite child.

Sure.

Like, I love them all.

I've designed them with love and meaning.

And there's a reason they're created the way they are.

But like every mom, you have your favorite.

It's hard to choose.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I kind of like the blue ribbon.

I'm not going to lie.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's right.

That's right.

Next, we set our sights on South County, where the transformation of Boca Raton from the days of Addison Mizner to today are well documented by the Boca Raton Historical Society.

There's so much history here.

We are so fortunate.

Right?

I don't think people realize the amount of history.

Talk to me a little bit about this place, because it is a sort of a treasure trove.

Right here is our timeline, but we have exhibits off the timeline that highlight major points in our history, starting with our pioneers.

Addison Mizner.

World War two and of course, IBM.

Everybody who walks in the door, we meet them personally in the foyer.

We answer questions.

We can take them around.

Boca, at the pinnacle of computers, at the forefront of radar, helping us in the war.

100 years coming up, right?

Yes.

100 years since our incorporation in 25.

It's incredible.

We firmly are committed to the idea that sharing history is key to building a sense of community.

And I know that's corny.

No, but we truly embrace that.

We really do.

And we love sharing history with people of all ages, whether they're old timers or newcomers.

And that that really is the heart of our mission.

Tell me about this guy, because I've heard he has a little bit to do with the area.

Just something minor.

Here we were, a little farming town founded when Mr. Flagler's railway came through in the 1890s.

So Addison Meissner did not found Boca Raton, but he put us on the map royally in 1925, which is the year we were incorporated with his eponymous Boca Raton development, real estate development.

He and his friends purchased basically southeast Boca Raton.

And a start on this wonderful, glorious project, the dream city of the Western world.

Is that what he called it?

Yes.

Even though the land boom went bust almost as soon as he got started, 100 years later, all his dreams have been realized.

They're all here, and we still name everything after him.

And of all the things named for him in town, he only had something to do with one of those places, which I think is he would love that.

early, Boca Raton was actually home to three separate communities.

A white community a Japanese community settled near Yamato, as well as a black community called Pearl city, which still exists almost three little tiny towns that worked together.

I think it's fascinating that we had a Japanese community here.

Absolutely.

Well, it's fascinating that it was such a diverse community even back then.

Yes.

Is that how we came with the Murakami?

That's right.

Museum.

George Murakami was part of this colony.

Yes.

See?

You see what's happening here?

You're teaching me things.

I'm retaining information.

That's very important.

For many, living is eating.

And today I'm trying gourmet chocolates that are as beautiful as they are delicious.

I get to be a chocolatier for the day at Delray's newest sweet spot.

Is there a is there a method to the madness, or am I just taking what the clients give me?

You're going to take what the clients give you.

But we do have this fun little roadmap that we allow them to start to think about their journey.

If in case they get stuck, you start suggesting that if they know what they want, you just start packing.

A little dark cream.

Yep.

That's one of our truffles I have.

Yes, absolutely.

A little bit of this, maybe.

Key lime is one of our top sellers.

Sure.

I'm going to do a little bit of this one, too.

That is.

That's Norman's favorite Tahitian caramel.

Yes.

Yeah.

It's beautiful.

You love art.

You love sweets.

And we think there's a marriage there.

And we also, you know, we really believe in artistry and chocolate.

People tell us all the time, it's so pretty.

I shouldn't eat it.

And I have to say, please eat it and enjoy it.

Never have that problem.

There's always.

More.

Yeah.

Look how beautiful that looks.

And this looks like a jewelry box, right?

It's a wow factor.

Very lavish.

Absolutely.

And I fold it over.

Always with the best presentation.

Look at this.

You would be talking to Norman Love right now.

He would tell you he's an American chocolatier.

And Americans have a certain thing they expect.

We're just trying to elevate the experience, for sure.

Now he begins as a pastry chef.

Big deal.

Global pastry chef.

Yeah, so I started making chocolate for friends and family.

Really?

Before you knew it, he was winning awards without any storefront.

No way.

He kind of grassroots it.

He grassroots it.

Now, was this before social media, too, right?

Absolutely.

Word of mouth.

That's exactly right.

And he shows up as one of the best chocolatiers and some of the big magazines, you know.

And he has no storefront.

People are knocking on the door in, like, a warehouse asking where they can buy it.

Talk about a dream come true.

That's when you know you're really good.

He's on to something, right?

Yeah.

And his love.

The real.

Name is.

That's a real person.

Is it really?

And he was born with that name.

So come on, love and chocolate.

I, I figured that was like the stage name, not.

A stage name.

He was Mr. Sweets.

No, he's.

A fortunate man that came up with that name on his own.

Wow.

Yeah.

And one thing I love where Norman took a lot of the flavors is comfort food.

Although we're ultra-premium peanut butter and jelly, which is my favorite.

Oh, so I still think it's approachable, but it might be just a little bit.

On a finer level, we have something for everyone.

You can have a taste of luxury.

I want a taste of luxury.

Lisa.

Florida orange.

We are a Florida company.

And that thing.

I don't know how we do it, but it tastes juicy.

Really?

Oh, man.

Ready?

Wow.

I may have just fallen in love.

My goodness.

Oh, great.

Right.

We have 25 core flavors.

You could be the official taster.

Okay, I'm good with that.

You can do that.

If you're walking through the palm beaches, it's always important to pamper yourself.

I'm about to take my first ever fish, Petit.

So smart that you put it right in the window.

Had to.

Right.

As people are walking by, they're going, what?

The fish?

Yeah.

What?

The fish?

Exactly.

I like the name.

There are toothless algae eating fish.

And my fish come from Turkey.

Is that right?

You import the fish from Turkey?

Correct.

And how did you come up with this?

It's very common overseas.

Maybe in the States.

It's still new.

Welcome to what?

The fish lounge.

Are you ready to get your feet wet?

Oh, am I ever.

The point is they.

They nibble around.

You.

You nibble off.

All.

They nibble off your dead skin cells, leaving you with a smoother layer of skin.

So it's like an organic patty.

It's an exfoliation.

But by fish?

Yes.

Now, what is the reaction been in the area that people like?

This has got to be wild, right?

Wild.

And what's the sensation like?

So best described as vibrating socks or little Jacuzzi bubbles at.

Your feet all the way up for me.

And then as soon as I slide this out, you can put your feet right.

Oh, man.

All right.

Oh, wow.

Oh, that feels so weird.

Oh my God.

This is no joke.

It does feel like a massage.

They don't have teeth, so they can't actually hurt you.

They know it's it's not invasive at all.

It's purely topical.

Are they swallowing.

No, they're nibbling it off.

And then.

Yeah, we feed them real food.

They're fish in a tank and they get fish food, obviously.

They don't need to eat.

My legs or feet.

Not at all.

So weird.

Oh, my gosh, they're nibbling at my legs.

It's like a new feeling every time.

Oh my gosh.

This is crazy.

We have a very state of the art filtration system.

We have a UV light sterilizer and we do water changes.

We do filter changes.

We have gone above and beyond.

So they're just taking off all my dead skin and they enjoy it, apparently.

Look at them go.

So weird.

Who doesn't like to strike a pose?

Certainly not me.

And now I'm learning about a community wide portrait project in the Palm Beach's oldest city.

Everyone, everyone.

Doesn't matter who you are.

Should be have the access to arts because it's such.

An important part of making a community a community.

Completely right and enriching.

It is enriching.

And this portraiture is just such a it's just really a grand gesture of like, let's just capture the entire city in one moment.

There's two different projects going on.

The one behind us is a mural project that was done by AD fuel from Portugal, which shows the seven pillars of the city of West Palm Beach.

And I chose this as the background to reflect a community portrait.

West Palm Beach, which is the participatory say.

That twice participatory.

Participatory.

Participatory.

There you go.

For the community to come and be part of a larger portrait, if you will.

What happens is we went out for three weeks.

It was Christine Wexler and Louise Gomez.

They were the creatives and they went out.

They were all the way up in the north part of the city.

They went to Grassy Waters.

They went south, they went to the North Museum of Art.

They went to City Place and all these different places hosted a community day.

And you could come, you could take your portrait black and white against black and white dots.

And we like literally installed these large black and white portraits throughout the city.

Who are these portraits.

Of anyone in the community?

Anybody?

Anybody.

There are so many participants.

There were children.

There were the elders.

You named it.

All the portraits are right next to each other.

So it makes a giant portrait, like a. Tapestry of everybody that lives.

Here.

That's a beautiful way to say a tapestry.

Yes.

Use that.

Use that.

Credit.

And here's the thing.

You don't know where you're going to be.

You don't know where your face.

Is going to be.

You need to go find.

It like a treasure hunt for your face.

Exactly.

So I come to the wall and I see kind of.

Everyone.

What makes up West Palm Beach?

What makes up West Palm Beach, which is incredibly diverse.

Right.

The whole project is very inclusive.

And the idea was to, you know, really create a portrait like a family portrait of everyone.

Music brings the whole community together.

Today, we're sitting in on an impromptu rehearsal with the artistic director from the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach.

Chamber music is a beautiful art form that started around the 1700s, and it's a small ensemble on stage.

Starting with two people can go up to 3 or 4, maybe up to 8 or 9.

No conductor.

And so basically it's friends, it's intimate people playing on stage and usually for a relatively small chamber.

This is how it started.

And now it's evolved, of course, to go in concert halls and we perform some of the most beautiful masterpieces by the composers that you have heard of Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart.

And we're talking.

About violin, cello.

Give us the violin.

Cello, piano.

We have wins.

Also depends on the formation that we perform.

And I try, as the artistic director of the organization, to have varied programs through the seasons.

People not only hear different types of music, they hear different instrumentations.

I think about that a lot.

We have baroque programs, we have romantic programs, etc.. That's great.

We're intentional and open about creating a social experience for our audience members.

You're not just coming into a hall, sitting down, listening to two halves of classical music with an intermission.

There's much more to that, and we kind of embrace the roots of chamber music, and we try to preserve that kind of social element to it and create a community of music lovers around the concert.

You're coming for a very holistic experience.

That's great art.

You're going to be transported by the performances, you're going to be transformed, you're going to be inspired, but you're also going to find a community.

We bring all the artists that come through for our concerts.

We always go to various schools around the community.

Some of the finest artists in the world are or going in and being this close with students, which is a really rare opportunity that we're able to.

Provide just to get the excitement from these kids is is amazing to us and it fuels us as well.

We have a cocktail hour before the music starts.

During the concert, our musicians speak from the stage, explain to the audience what the music is about, so the musicians will talk about the form maybe, or the character or the reason why the piece was written.

And after the performances for some of our audience members, we have dinner with them.

So we do really create this amazing community.

Just the relationship that happens between the musicians and the audience, and together we create a performance that's great.

Are you getting groupies or groupies coming?

Do you get people that follow you around?

Well, maybe not until he breaks into this solo.

Next, I'm putting my best foot forward by joining a walking group that's as welcoming as they are fun girls who walk very open, very all encompassing.

What do we do?

I mean, we're.

Girls.

And we walk and you walk.

I like that simple.

Pretty straightforward.

Right?

Why would you make it any more complicated?

We're your neighbors.

Women who like to get together and go for a walk.

So it's like a social.

It's social.

It's active.

Seeing our beautiful scenery.

And taking part in it.

And you come here and you don't know anyone.

Maybe you work remote.

It's a way of meeting people.

Yeah.

A lot of people know about this stuff.

Mostly it's through social media that people find out about us.

And they'll tell their friends and all the women who host our walks.

They have a network as well, and they share it to their friends.

Love that.

Free.

Free, right.

Shout out to you on the old.

I just show up.

Just show up for a walk.

Just show up at the time and place and we have fun and.

Yeah, yeah, I like that.

How did this come about.

Organically in 2022?

There was a group of girls and we joined it.

And that's how we met.

How we met.

We didn't know each other.

We didn't know each other.

I was new to town.

She was new to west downtown West Palm Beach.

You guys just.

Hey, what's going on?

How are you?

A couple walks?

Yeah, sure.

We got to know each other, and then we connected.

And that's basically how it came about.

There have been other people involved who have come and gone, but we want to keep it alive because it's done so much for us.

We want to extend that same generosity back to newcomers and anyone.

Do you do, uh, do you do any power walking?

You can.

You can.

Write.

You can do whatever you want.

Is that the weird person?

Like, if I show up and do that, I'm the weird guy.

You're going to be far ahead.

I'll be ahead in front of everyone else.

Um, does it have to be girls?

Like, can I like.

I mean, it's kind of, you know, it's kind of exclusive, and I'm kind of feeling a little left out.

Well.

Here's the thing, Frank.

So this is a group for all women to feel safe and walk with each other and make walking buddies so they don't have to walk alone.

But if somebody comes in, you know, a significant other or a friend, we're not going to kick you out.

Are you going to do the power walk?

I might, okay, I might power walk.

I might do stuff to embarrass you.

And I'm going to specifically say they invited me.

I'm their friends.

So sorry.

Well, that's a wrap on today's adventure all about living in the palm beaches.

Whether it's sky high, heart pounding views or charting new ground below, living in the Palm Beaches is just plain fun.

We hope you'll get out and enjoy everything the Palm Beaches has to offer.

Join us next time as we go on the town in the Palm Beaches with me, Frank Licari.

What's a fun fact here that I could take because I like I like showing how smart I am, okay?

And I get smarter when I come to a place like this.

So give me a okay.

I've got a good one for you.

Please.

Okay, so a lot of people think Boca Raton means rat's mouth.

Say that again.

Boca Raton.

Look at you.

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