Hey on the towners.

I'm Frank Licari from Cool Threads.

To groovy music to hitting the all time high score.

Today we're stepping into a time capsule to explore an era gone by in the Palm Beaches.

I am shifting gears at a popular car museum.

Will glide into a neon lit roller rink.

And I found a sweet spot where your taste buds will be reeling in the years.

So join us as we go retro 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.

We're kicking off this episode of one of the most unique candy stores I've ever seen, a candy wonderland where you can taste your way through the decades.

I'm going to do a lot of eating while I'm here.

Is that okay?

Because I. I have a lot of candy.

I have a PhD in research psychology.

Amazing.

And of course, that translated perfectly into opening up a candy store.

Of course, because I love candy.

I love that.

How do you how do you get into this?

I got into this because my family, my brother started this years ago.

He started selling candy at state fairs and festivals all over the country, like at the South Florida Fair.

And then he kind of built it up to a while, and I was doing corporate work and I said, I don't like it, I'm going to go sell candy.

And I've never looked back.

20 years later.

I love.

That.

We've grown over the years and it's changed a lot, but it's a lot of fun, especially dealing with people, because you get to see smiles and people walk in.

You're not going to believe it.

They walk in and say, I'm like a kid in a candy store.

That's exactly how you feel.

Literally and figuratively.

We do specialize in a lot of things people haven't seen in a long.

Time, and you've got you run the gamut because you've got packaged candies, but you also have there's a whole chocolate section up there too.

We have chocolate that we make in-house.

We have about 70 flavors of popcorn.

And then we also have a selection of just bulk candies that we bring in for people who want to try just a little bit of this, a little bit of that salt water taffy and hard candies.

And there's a lot of retro candies in there too.

We try and bring back the stuff that people remember from when they were kids.

It's just a store, but it's also almost feels like a little bit of a museum, almost a little bit for families, right?

We actually consider it a destination because people can come.

They can get candy they haven't seen in forever.

They can get a lot of candy.

And then we have our candy tour, which is a one hour guided tour of the history of candy from ancient times to.

More modern candy to show you how candy is made.

And we even have a candy room decorated in candy.

We have a lot of really cool stuff in here, a lot of nostalgia.

This is stuff from the original Willy Wonka movie.

This is a golden ticket signed by each of the kids that played in the original movie.

Wow.

We like to think Candy is happy.

It is happy.

We like to make people happy.

Tasting like you.

Don't forget what something tastes like.

It brings you back to when you were 4 or 5 years old.

Exactly right.

Oh yeah, that's pretty powerful stuff.

That maybe I'll use my psychology.

Come on and we'll start here.

This is what I do, Ken.

Now I'm shifting gears at Ragtops.

Part showroom, part museum, but all American fun.

If you look at some of these cars, the beauty, the design, the color, I mean, it's just it's fabulous.

I mean, my favorites are the 30s and 40s, which are not that popular right now to buy and sell, but they're beautiful to look at.

You do something that I, um, that I like to call adult kid stuff.

How and when did this come to you?

I was on an airplane coming back from my previous job, and I decided what I really, really wanted to do.

And I wanted to open up a place called Ragtop, sell convertibles and avantis.

And I've been able to do both since 1980.

You come up with that idea just like that, right from the beginning.

Right.

On a plane, right?

I trademarked the name.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do and went and did it.

We started in a gas station with three cars.

I have all three of the cars.

That's amazing.

Then we got bigger.

We started buying the properties next to us and then we just got bigger.

It just kind of happened.

How do you start to acquire the other ones?

Like locally?

People would just give me their cars.

I mean, I guess I have an honest face for sure.

Yeah, yeah, here's my car, here's my title.

Call me when it sells.

Okay.

Or you just take watches and trade.

Yeah.

It's fun.

I take the antiques and trade or look at the shell car.

Great people.

And just phenomenal cars.

This is a car culture because we can drive them 12 months a year.

That's exactly with the top down, hence a ragtop.

Your part museum, right?

You've got history in here for almost 100 years, no question.

Right.

And you can buy every one of these.

Right.

Goodbye.

Every one of them.

Yeah.

And most of them are now not.

They're not all yours right there.

No, they're all mine.

They're all yours.

They're all mine.

Every one of these cars, they're all mine.

Gosh, you're a good guy to know.

But they could be yours.

They could be.

Absolutely.

Everybody is welcome to come in.

And, you know, and every one of these cars run every one of these cars.

Somebody says, oh, can that car be driven?

Well, 1951 that Ford was driven every day, so why not drive it now?

It's in the same shape it was in 1951.

It's really incredible.

It's kind.

Of fun.

It's.

Well, we sell stuff you don't need, so there's no pressure.

So when you walk in and you start to say, you look at this car, it's a great line.

That's a great line.

But it's true I love that.

Yeah.

It's good.

Next, I'm rummaging through a treasure trove of fashion at trash, a vintage in Lake Worth Beach, a quirky Paradise that breathes new life into vintage threads.

A little bit of kismet and a little bit of bitterness and a little bit of rage.

Very creative name to take.

Yeah, to take the anger and put it into something really cool and kitschy and cute.

You said, this is like my brain.

Yes.

When did this sort of world for you start?

It started in childhood.

Portland, Oregon.

Okay.

It's my hometown.

All right.

This was sort of a homage to that and a source that I grew up in and, you know, just sort of working customer service jobs throughout the years, living in South Florida for 24, noticing that there wasn't this type of store.

Sure.

And that's how it was born.

You have mostly clothing?

Yes.

Correct.

Jewelry.

We have jewelry, clothing, records, belts, purses, accessories.

And your clientele has got to be from all over.

Right.

Because this is kind of a destination store.

What kind of people you see in there coming through?

You see Um, a pretty wide range of people.

So sometimes people will surprise you with the things they buy.

Yeah.

Where are you looking for this stuff?

It's just like a I mean, where do you find this stuff?

Those are trade secrets.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

Um, it's, you know, vintage is everywhere.

People don't think that it is.

Sure.

They think that it's really scarce.

But the reality is, it's not.

Um, it is everywhere.

So, you know, you just really have to know where to look.

This is in a positive way.

I felt like I was coming into, like, a cave.

Yeah.

Like, it was like a clubhouse.

Yeah.

Got to push the buttons.

There you go.

That's what it felt like.

I'm like, this isn't just like a place you, like, throw some stuff on the walls.

This was like a design from, like, top to bottom.

It's all the brain.

I like that you got it.

Listen, I got it as soon as I came through the door.

If you loved hitting the arcade as a kid, there is a spot in Delray with over 150 pinball machines.

And the ride over is epic.

When I walk in here, it reminds me of my sort of my upbringing.

Yes, it's bringing back memories from way back in the days, right?

So when people walk through the door, they normally be like, oh, this brings back a lot of memories.

Oh, we're a kid again.

We feel alive.

Yeah.

It's like.

And it's a rare two type of business where the parents could come in with the kids and they're both having fun.

Yes.

Right.

You've got the the old school pinball.

We have the oldest one is the kick out.

That's like a boxing game.

That's from the 1950s.

And then us recent game we have is Gallico that was published in September 2021.

Whoa!

And all the games are unlimited.

Free play.

That's a no brainer.

That's awesome.

So this is a cool thing even for kids, because a lot of them don't even know what this is, right?

They walk in here and go, wait a second.

I didn't even know this existed.

This type of machine.

Right?

Yes.

So you're getting that kind of cool.

What's the most popular game in here?

The most popular game is keyboard.

Everybody loves keyboard.

I mean, that's the simplest one.

Yeah, but it's so old school.

Every kids come in.

Whenever they come to the door, they're like, oh, skee ball, I want to play skee ball.

So it's like everybody.

Most popular game is skee ball.

This is so cool.

You got gumball machines and all that retro stuff.

All.

It's a it's a kind of an experience.

I kind of lose myself as I come in here.

Yes.

It's awesome.

Yes.

You leave at the end of the day with, like, the ringing of the machines in your ears.

All right.

For the first off, yes, but not because I get used to it.

I do not hear it.

You've lost your hearing at this point.

Yeah.

You don't hear anything.

If you're looking for something for the person who has everything.

I've got the store for you.

The tacky tourist.

How did you come up with this?

And why?

The tacky tourist was always on my bucket list.

And it was the fun piece of me.

And I wanted something that said retro.

That said vintage fun Florida gifts.

And that's what I create.

A little bit of everything.

New vintage estate and just to make it fun.

Destination.

What are the things that you're most proud of?

When I walk through here that you can get here that I can't get anywhere else?

Um, Tupperware.

Vintage.

Retro.

Tupperware.

I love it new and vintage.

I have a clothing section with both new and vintage clothing.

We love donations.

A lot of people just bring us things and tell us find it a good home.

We have candy, cigarettes.

We have vintage salt and pepper For Shaker's retro Badoo clothing.

You know, just a little bit of everything.

I don't want to just call you a Tupperware lady, so let's get you a real name.

What's your real name?

My real name is Amy Shaw.

Amy, uh, first of all, I love all this.

I love that you get so into it and you're surrounded by vintage Tupperware in the shop.

Now, what do you do?

Do you come in here and hold Tupperware parties in costume?

Is that what you do?

Andy's the one that holds the Tupperware party.

But I love that you just showed up.

Yeah.

The first time he announced on Facebook he was going to have a Tupperware party, I just showed up dressed as the Tupperware lady.

I love it with gloves and everything.

And I just love it.

Yeah, they're so retro.

Now.

Are you a Jell-O mold?

I was going to say thank you.

Very nice little.

Miniature hot dogs.

Great for potluck dinners.

Look at.

You.

I mean, it's like.

It's like opening up a 50s magazine and coming to life.

Hearing the crackle of an old 45 and a selection of pristine albums takes me back in time.

Dust off your turntables, because we're about to buy some records here at Rust and Wax in a neighborhood called Industry Alley.

There's no real demographic here because you love music.

The younger crowd, they come in, they want to hold the record.

They want to flip through the lyric book.

It's that connection to the artist and meeting other people who also love the artist, and they can connect with other people who are into the same things as them.

What were you doing before life hits you?

And the epiphany happened and you went, that's it.

I'm going to open up a record store because there's got to be a story, right?

Yes.

I actually went to school for finance and accounting.

I was an accountant for about five years, and then I actually switched into social media marketing for a while.

I was an attorney for 11 years, and in the middle of 2020, both of us kind of realized we hated our jobs.

The music was always the passion of ours, and it was just like a fun side thing.

We would pop up on the weekends at different markets, and then the vinyl really spoke to us, and it kind of took off a little more on its own.

And, um, yeah, it just really grew organically from there and that's cool.

It turned into this.

And music fans to begin with.

Yes, very much so, yeah.

Musicians.

No, no, not at all.

No.

Okay.

You've become music aficionados, buffs, different eras, genres now.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, we've really branched out.

I mean, it's hard not to when you're seeing amazing stuff come in every day.

Yeah.

You know, I'm pretty observant.

Yeah.

Really good at what I do.

Yeah.

I notice you got a record player sitting out with a little set of headphones.

You know, in the old days, you could go and listen to the album and see if you wanted it, you liked it or what songs.

Yeah.

So any record in the store that's already open, you can take it over to the turntable.

They're still pressing.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, this this wall behind us here is everything that came out on Friday.

Clientele.

All over the map.

All over the map.

Yeah, yeah, it's really everyone.

I mean, we see we've got young kids that are, you know, eight, nine, ten that come in and then, you know, all the way up and you see whole families come in together and everyone's shopping for different stuff.

Yeah.

It's a good.

Yeah, a little power couple.

You guys.

Right.

Yeah.

I really think, yeah.

You got the business side taken care of and you're becoming, you know, audiophiles.

You've become audiophiles.

Yeah.

And not far from the rust and wax shop is the vintage supermarket held once a month.

It draws people from throughout the Palm Beaches, offering up a variety of vendors who share one thing in common a love for vintage.

Let's meet the mastermind behind this concept.

How does a young dude like you get into vintage stuff?

Like, how did that start?

It started all when I was going to the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Over there, I kind of just always drifted my whole life just for like cool jerseys and stuff to wear.

But there they actually had a market there that was kind of curated towards vintage, had amassed so much stuff that was like for me technically, but just too much for my college closet.

There I had built up so much that I had started going to those markets and then vending at those markets.

Gotcha.

I fell in love with vintage and selling vintage and all that.

You start the market outdoors only.

Outdoors only?

Yeah.

Florida.

You can do that.

Florida.

Okay.

How was it when you first started?

I would say at first it started off kind of slow, but we definitely stuck with it and maintained and just kind of saw the build-up time after time.

And kind of the last six months or so, we've kind of feel that we've really taken off and kind of saw that that leap in growth.

It's once a month, usually the third Sunday of the month.

Okay.

It's 30 to 40 vendors for the most part, and it's ranging from clothing, jewelry, vinyl and records cameras.

It's a great community.

Everybody here is super kind, and they want to see you succeed.

And everybody helps everybody.

It's just an all-around great, great, inclusive community.

This is actually my second time here and I really love it.

It's a lot of fun.

I love the vibe, the people, the atmosphere.

It's really fun.

People watching here, seeing what everyone is wearing.

It's actually inspirational.

Watching the inspiration for me.

How many people are coming through?

Are we going to get a guy with a clicker?

That's what that's what we need.

But I'd say at least a thousand people are coming through every event, at least every Sunday.

Every Sunday.

Yep.

You've created a community event.

Culture, man.

It's about the culture.

It's about West Palm.

West palm just hasn't really experienced anything like this.

And I think that we've hit that demographic that really needed this, you know?

It's been good.

Next, we head to the studio of Jamaican born pop artist Allen Creary, a self-taught painter who tells a story with every brushstroke.

You and I, we've got a lot in common.

Really?

Yes.

We're both self-taught artists.

Okay, now here's the difference.

I can barely draw a box with a roof on it.

You are creating some pretty cool stuff.

Thank you.

How and why?

What got you into just saying.

You know what I'm going to teach myself?

Well, about 10 or 11 years ago, my friend took me.

Took me to Miami, Art Basel.

I pretty much fell in love with art at that point, and I was like, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I was like, just so amazed.

Art everywhere.

I basically started with digital art, and then after that, then I started painting physically.

Do you have any inspirations?

I mean, you have a Warhol shirt, right?

There's Warhol wanted.

A Basquiat, Warhol, Keith Haring, you know, I love these artists, and I try to emulate them sometimes in a, in a way, but make it more fresh and more me.

You know, there's really no in my opinion, there's really no bad, like, wrong way to be an artist.

Sure.

Talk to me about a process for you.

Yeah.

I mean, I may start out with a template, an outline, and then the only the the only thing that may stay the same is like, the muse.

Like who?

I'm painting.

Like if I'm painting The Flintstones or The Jetsons or what?

I started off painting.

Maybe a totally different final image.

And sometimes it's not necessarily a crazy change, but sometimes it's just like the color.

Like I might change the color, like, oh, okay, well that's okay.

Now that makes sense.

So this is the pendulum painting room, you could say.

I mean, the past few years I've just been experimenting a lot with a lot of different things and mediums.

It's very cool concepts.

It's a lot harder to stay on the line than you think.

Yeah, I can't I can't do any of it.

I told you, get.

In the abstract.

I gotta do it.

Yeah.

There are so many other things that I don't do well already.

You know what I mean?

And another thing I don't do really well, it's kind of, I don't know, I got time for that.

I don't know, but there's no.

Mistakes in art.

Okeechobee steakhouse has been sizzling since 1947, and this food is great in any decade.

I'm meeting up with the third generation of the Lewis family to find out why.

It's a must visit in the Palm Beaches.

I'm a third generation, but there's five generations now.

Have been involved in the restaurant.

Amazing.

Yeah.

Talk to me about how that started here.

My grandfather, he was an executive chef of the restaurant in a hotel in Tampa, here in Tampa, Florida.

He transferred with that company in February of 1933, moved to West Palm.

That's where he met my grandmother in 1935.

They got married, decided they wanted to open a restaurant here and set a ten-year goal.

And it took them 12 years because of World War two.

But but they made it.

It was so far out of town when they built here that they couldn't even get deliveries.

For the first eight years.

They were told that it would never make it, they would never last.

And the ironic thing is, almost everyone that told them that they're all gone.

And we're still here, of course.

And this is the original building.

Original location.

We sold steaks from the beginning, you know, things have changed a little bit over the years.

Now we sell steaks.

Sea bass?

Sure.

Salmon.

Back then, we sold steaks, burgers, barbecue and catfish.

Is that so?

Yeah, we sold about £2,000 of catfish a week.

That's.

And steaks.

We were known for steaks and fish.

It feels like I'm literally going back in time here in a great way.

That's obviously by design.

And that's something you guys wanted to keep, right?

My grandparents I seen the sacrifice.

They did.

I know looking back they would look at this and not believe we're still here I'm sure.

Sure.

Now look at this.

Are you kidding me?

A little tomahawk for us.

This is my go-to when I say that I don't eat them every day.

Just six days a week.

Just six days a week.

Yeah.

But this is a prime 45 day dry aged bone in ribeye.

So, Tomahawk, we have this in our dry aging room.

This is kind of like one of my babies.

I pay attention to the dry aging rooms.

I'm in there all the time.

Kosher salt, black pepper only let the meat speak for itself.

The fire.

Oh, it's.

Speaking.

It's loud.

Smell that.

Smell that.

It smells unbelievable.

That's good enough to eat again at night.

Wow.

What a retro trip through the palm beaches.

Wouldn't be complete without visiting Kelsey vintage Goods right here in Lake Park.

My friend Jesse has everything.

Toys, memorabilia, signs.

It is definitely a snapshot into yesteryear.

I was selling action figures on the side to put food on the table, and it's amazing how things work.

One thing led to another and nine years later, here we are.

I started, I remember you had just like a couple little things in your garage.

And then I remember when you opened this, you We first open it.

It was like, oh, I don't know what kind of what it's going to be.

When you grow with the market, you grow with the audience.

Records weren't hot when they opened.

Now they're blazing hot.

Furniture styles change all that.

So that has grown.

Obviously I've created a relationship with a number of customers.

You know, you develop your customer base, you become friends, and it's also evolved into a market that I started producing six years ago called the Rust Market.

And so it's gone from this little 1000 square foot store to a block.

So we have a block party once a month.

You grew up here?

Sure I did, I grew.

Up just a couple blocks behind the store and had my formative years here.

There was a soft spot in my heart for Lake Park.

And I came back and opened the business because I wanted Lake Park to grow.

We're now at the point in my nine years here where we do this event once a month, and people travel from Orlando to Miami to come, and it's now become a very reputable place to go.

If you love vintage and you want to see cool vintage stuff.

This place has kind of everything.

It's more of a I would say it's more of a walk.

Down.

Memory lane for not just those things, but like pop culture of the era.

You got signs.

Talk to me a little bit about why you went that route with everything.

When you go back to things your mother had, your grandmother had toys.

You played with things that you grew up and they make you feel good.

You want to surround yourself with that.

Whether it's your man cave, your living room, your garage, your business, wherever it is, when you surround yourself with that stuff and you look at it, it makes you smile.

I want you to come in and feel good.

And people come in all the time and they don't spend any money.

And that's cool too, because they leave and they go, thank you, I smiled.

It's that connectivity, that emotional connectivity that is it lasts a lifetime.

I am laced up and rolling my way into the past and once you start, you just can't stop.

Is there a trick to staying upright?

I would say just that.

Stay upright and just kind of walk.

Move your feet.

It's just a walk thing.

It's a walk.

How's that look?

Does that look good?

Perfect.

I think you got it already.

I can see it happening.

I've been in this ring since I was seven.

My dad managed it before I did.

Whoa.

I get to see other kids grow up the way I got to grow up.

You know, loving skating, learning skating.

And not just kids, right?

Like you're seeing all ages.

All ages.

Right?

All ages come.

We still get.

We get, you know, adults that come now that they're bringing their kids.

They grew up here.

It's amazing.

It's just been great to see.

Oh my gosh.

We also have art skating, speed skating, jam skating.

You know, we just we want to get all ages in here.

How many people are you getting in here through a week to a through a weekend.

What's the what's the.

We're pretty busy.

Yeah, we're pretty busy, I would imagine.

4 to 600.

What?

We're pretty busy.

Everybody loves skating, and that's what we want.

4 to 600.

Yeah.

That's solid.

And how many can I get on this rink at the time before it gets, like, crazy?

Like, if you got guys like me, let's say, who you know might skate a little, but probably more of a hazard than anything.

How many of those guys can you get on there before things?

First off, I would recommend you come to our skate lessons because you give lessons.

We do.

That's where I was going.

I don't want no hazards.

We want everybody to skate.

You can spin around.

Just kind of turn.

Turn?

Yes.

Like what?

Skate backwards.

Oh.

I don't know if I could do that.

I don't know if I could do that.

Can.

Oh, that was too easy.

I can't.

I don't know if I can do that.

Yeah, I don't know about that.

Maybe next time.

Yeah, yeah.

It's for everybody.

I love that.

We don't want to leave anybody out.

That's what I say about the skating floor.

It makes everything else go away.

Right.

You could be having the worst day and you just skate.

A bad day at the skating rink is better than a good day at work.

There's no bad day at the skating rink.

I like that.

It's been great even here, because I hired a staff.

None of them skated, and now I can say 95% of them.

They skate, they bought their own skates, and it's great.

Speaking of, are you a little impressed at what's going on this side?

100% impressed.

I think you were fibbing because you're doing just fine.

I was not.

Fibbing.

There's no walking here.

I don't believe it.

Is anybody else impressed?

He's doing.

You're doing great.

It's been a fun time as we've wheeled into the years exploring the many retro and vintage spots throughout the Palm beaches, from cars to candy to pop art.

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

Join me next time as we go on the town in the Palm Beaches with me.

Frank Licari.

Hey, can I get an Uber on this?

It must be a bad connection.

Obviously you haven't had a celebrity like this before in your restaurant.

And I wonder if.

Is there any chance of me getting, I don't know, a steak named after me or something?

You know what I mean?

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