Hey, on the towners, I'm Frank Licari.

From an eclectic array of mouth-watering cuisine to panoramic skyline views, we've got a ticket to a front row seat to explore a city that entertains and enlightens.

So hop in, buckle up and let's ride as we go on the town in the Palm beaches with me, Frank Licari.

Onward, sir.

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

Visit the Palm beaches.tv for more information.

West Palm Beach is known for its rich history and cultural diversity.

A lot has changed over the years.

Let's meet the man who plays a pivotal role in the growth and direction of the city.

What was your mission when you came in?

I wanted the city to be a community of opportunity for all.

I wanted there to be something in West Palm Beach for everyone.

You've been in in service for so long.

Mayor is a it's a big step.

Well, eight years as a city commissioner.

The mayor's seat opens up, and I threw my head to the rim.

I did it because I was interested in serving my community.

I've always been a desire of mine.

I thought I knew the city when I was a city commissioner.

That's a part time position, right?

And I thought I knew what I was doing.

I get over to this side of the hall, and I don't even know what a bathroom is.

Right.

Uh, so there was a lot of learning that I had to go through, not only learning the job, the ins and outs, but learning.

How do you carry this mantle as mayor?

Uh, the other thing that was very important to me is ensuring that as we grew as a city, that the benefits of the growth would extend to all four corners of my city.

West Palm Beach has seen growth spurt before in the past.

But inevitably there are certain neighborhoods, certain communities, certain zip codes that were left out and left behind.

So I felt it was incumbent upon me, particularly being the first black strong mayor, that I didn't let that happen again on my watch.

And so it's been a very important to me that this growth is inclusive.

People are becoming devices.

Right.

And it takes us or not me, but somebody like you to change that.

If you'd asked me 15 years ago or told me 15 years ago that I would one day be mayor of this great city, I'd have told you were crazy because it wasn't on my radar, not anything I even imagined myself doing.

Well, what are we going to do next?

You need a campaign manager.

You need somebody to.

But this has been a labor of love thus far.

And so I'm going to continue this ride for the next three years.

We'll see what happens.

Getting around town in a cost efficient and environmentally friendly way is just one of the challenges the head of the Downtown Development Authority faces.

Let's meet Rafael Clemente.

Your job, I would think, has gotten more involved over the past few years because the city's been growing, the programming has been growing, people visiting in record numbers.

How has the city changed in your estimation over the last few years.

West Palm Beach, particularly the downtown area, has changed dramatically over the last, say, 15 years.

The Downtown Development Authority's role here has also changed dramatically.

We were primarily an economic development organization, and now we've really evolved into a community development organization.

We have a tremendous neighborhood here.

You know, we're approaching or at 10,000 residents in downtown.

So quality of life is really a key element of what we deliver.

As a special district that serves downtown West Palm Beach.

We get our best ideas from our community.

Sure.

Whether it's the business or residential community, in many ways, our best role is enablers.

Yeah, right.

Can we can we make those great ideas happen or help them happen?

We want to work with local, unique, authentic stuff.

So I think that that authenticity is a big part of our charm and our value.

The buzzword to me is community, and the energy here is palpable.

Now, am I right about that a little bit?

You're right about that.

And I think that the difference, the special sauce in a place is, is people.

Yeah, it starts to build that feel of a community, of a neighborhood.

And that's what we have here.

Yeah.

Because you have to you bring people, but you have to service them.

When I come to work every day as a, as, you know, a public sector employee that's top of mind for me is there's people coming here every day to make this place their home, their business, you know, investment.

And how do we stay in step?

West Palm Beach is situated along the Intracoastal Waterway, and a visit would not be complete without a trip on the water.

We're climbing on board a catamaran for a bird's eye view.

I don't feel like I'm on a boat.

Right?

I feel like I'm kind of.

I'm like, I met you at a little club.

Cool little.

Yeah, yeah, it's very cool.

So how did this all begin?

This?

So we we've had a, um, 50 foot catamaran for years and years and years.

That's been the Hakuna matata.

Very busy.

And we grew to where we needed more.

We're the 20 years of having that boat.

We figured out a lot of things that we wished we had, and we.

Oh, if we could only do that and only if we could only do this.

So we literally built this custom from ground up every single inch of it.

People are dancing every single trip, and we do dinner cruises and we do charters and floating clubs.

It's so.

Much fun.

I like that, uh, we take off from here.

And where do we go?

Where do you take everybody?

We leave.

We go down along Palm Beach Island so people can see all the beautiful homes and estates and yachts.

And then we go up around Peanut Island, Singer Island, we see some of the yachts in from Rybovich and then come on back to West Palm Beach.

It's a great way to see the area from a different perspective.

Everybody wants to be on the water and enjoy this atmosphere, but the biggest compliment we get is how many locals come out on a regular basis and bring their visitors out because they love the experience.

This is just such a destination now for so many people to come out and enjoy being on the water.

Being close to the water.

Yeah, it doesn't suck.

No.

Yeah.

I mean, it's.

Not that hard to sell this, right?

Um, and you're not just cruising because you can snorkel right from the boat.

Yeah.

We bring out big giant floats.

We have a 20 person inflatable flamingo that we tie up to the back of the boat.

Wait, hold on a second.

An inflatable flamingo.

We had one built, and it's the biggest commercial inflatable flamingo in the world.

Yeah, I would imagine it would be.

Yeah, it's probably not a lot of people building flamingos.

Yeah, so.

We tie that up.

We have other floats, we have snorkel gear.

We just have a great time out on the water.

That's really, really cool.

Maybe I'll just stay here.

Well, I've worked up an appetite, and I'm about to get a lesson in barbecue from a James Beard Award winning semifinalist at Tropical Smokehouse.

You look exactly like a guy who should be smoking meat and barbecuing in the back.

How long you been doing this here?

We're relatively new at it.

What I mean by that is that I was a pretty fancy fine dining chef for a lot of years.

Were you really?

Yeah.

You come from the fine dining world.

After about two decades of that.

We shifted gears.

My partner Jason and I, and we opened a barbecue joint, so.

This is fascinating.

What makes tropical barbecue different than maybe somewhere else?

I'd go.

So I think the important thing about tropical is that we are Florida's craft barbecue.

So our menu kind of, you know, revolves around that core idea.

Okay.

So South Floridian flavors, techniques and all of that kind of became this multicultural menu that we have.

So we have mojo pulled pork.

We have jerk turkey.

We do plantains and yucca and yellow rice and black beans.

We do some southern things also.

Yeah.

And of course brisket is king.

The smell definitely speaks for itself.

As soon as we came in here, I was like, whoa.

It's 500 years of fusion here in South Florida.

It was just kind of the thing that I wanted to express as a chef, as far as creating a sense of place with our food.

Yeah.

You know, like, the food kind of speaks for itself in terms of like when you see our menu, you'll see some familiar things, but you'll see some things that you wouldn't really expect in a typical barbecue joint.

You're really putting it to another level.

We've done really well just being here in the community and trying to engage and give back and like it's just, you know, a lot of those things are just they're all building a relationships.

Yeah.

But they're just, you know, like, how can we be a useful part of people's routine walking into tropical?

It's like I'm walking into my home, of course, you know, and it just has that kind of familiarity and comfort to it.

And I'm just so happy to be able to share that with more people.

In an ever-changing downtown Palm Beach, Dramaworks has been a constant providing, award winning professional theater for almost 25 years.

Let's meet the founders of the theater who share a love for the stage and each other.

The work I have always seen here is always so authentically true, and it's a commitment that you, if you don't love it.

Well, we have a tremendous advantage because we love each other and we're doing something that we love together.

Finally, she tells me.

But it makes it so much easier when you're working with someone that you know your vision is the same.

And we have great segregation of duties, but we put our energy together.

When we first started, we were just putting on plays that we could afford and casting ourselves and casting our friends.

And then when I started to push the envelope and do the kind of plays that I gravitate to, the community started coming forward and saying, keep doing it because nobody in the community is doing this.

Yeah, but that's how we started, just by picking plays that were kind of intellectual and had relevant themes for the period.

And our slogan soon became theater to think about.

You know, we create all the art on our stage.

So we're making the costumes, we're building the sets, we're rehearsing the actors.

And recently, you know, of course, we're also creating the words.

I think as a regional theater, first, you have a responsibility to develop new work.

And about ten years ago, I started the play lab upstairs and having an annual play festival, just like an actor feels that charge you do as an audience member, too.

Of course, that that's exhilarating to be in the audience when you know you're especially in a premiere play, that you're in that first audience and something that's going to continue to grow, that's just really exciting.

It is.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

We're very proud of being able to hire some of our local artists all the time.

All the time.

I think about 50% a year of the artists that we employ, and we employ about 100 artists a year, you know, both on stage, off stage, you know.

Well, it's interesting.

Because I've never been in a show here.

It's really, um, uh oh, oh, oh, I think there's a I don't know if anybody.

Oh, I'm just I'm going on here.

Just think about it.

That's all I'm saying.

Now we're headed to a popular Sardinian style restaurant where we are all speaking the same language.

Typical pasta salad.

La la la la la.

This is saffron.

Yeah.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah.

Oh, look at you with so much style.

Oh wow.

Oh man.

Look at that.

That color.

Yeah.

Two sisters from Michigan.

Yes, Italians.

Our parents are born in Sardinia.

And we would go there in the summers.

That's where we spend our summers.

We love the island.

And Sheila and I were stay at home moms for 15 years.

Oh, wow.

Honestly, we never, ever pictured ourselves in the restaurant business.

We have a love for our island.

We have a love for Sardinia.

Like that's our passion.

The food, the culture, the lifestyle, the family setting that you have when you're there.

And when we met Andrea, our chef, he felt like our brother or our cousin, and we just really gelled together, him with the creative side, with the menu and Sheila and I doing the boring stuff in the background with the marketing and the accounting stuff and the business plan.

We love this thing of, you know, having fresh ingredients, bringing everything from the field to the table.

And it's something that is magical about Sardinia to me.

Yeah.

We try to embrace the beautiful simplicity of life.

Yeah.

Sardinia is specifically.

It's a very unique, unique place.

Absolutely.

So Sardinia over thousands of years was invaded by different cultures.

So we have a lot of influence from the Middle East.

We have a lot of influence from Africa, from Greece.

So these different influences that have affected our culture for many years is so diverse.

This is a pecorino, 18 months aged pecorino cheese from Sardinia.

Yes.

And what do we do with this?

What do we will do a tagliolini cacio e Pepe with some fresh black truffle shaved on top.

Are we gonna light it up?

You want to light it?

Yes, I'd love to.

Light.

Of course.

I love lighting things on fire.

Yes.

Just a little splash.

This is.

The smell is fantastic.

Yes it is.

All right.

And here comes the pasta.

So this is everyone.

This is Chef Andrea.

Oops.

Look at this.

Bye bye.

I'm going to.

I'm going to do the what?

All I'm doing is shaving some truffle on top.

The best legacy by Pew pew!

Bravo!

Fantastic.

Bravo!

Wow!

Look at that.

Look at that.

Right here.

Look at this.

This is how they serve it here at Zona Blue.

Big forks, the big appetites.

I got to try this.

I'm not waiting for the.

Look at this.

Oh!

Oh my God.

What?

Come on.

Come on.

Oh my God.

It's time for a pick me up.

And I'm headed to a mammoth size roastery that's become a huge hit with the downtown community.

We're about to visit the pumphouse moratorium, where they're making coffee roasting a science.

But this is, uh, this is a natural process.

Coffee from, uh, Colombia here that, uh, you can even just smell the flavor off of it with the natural process.

Yeah, it's in a little bit more whininess.

Yep.

As they allow the coffee cherry to dry around the chair or the bean, um, prior to processing it.

Yeah.

And it just creates a little bit more intensity to the flavor of the coffee.

A little whiny.

Yeah.

How long have you been at this?

So we officially.

Launched our business in April of 2016.

Uh, my brother was a yacht captain, formally by trade.

And that makes.

Sense with natural progression from yacht captain to coffee.

Roastery.

Ultimately, my brother started researching into coffee, really understanding between either more of the commodity driven industry, but also saw that there was this burgeoning specialty coffee industry that was really where we saw there could be great opportunity for us.

So your brother's a yacht captain?

What are you, a train engineer?

Before you get in here, what are you.

What do you do?

Well, I was following in our parents footsteps and went to law school and passed the bar and became an attorney.

Whoa.

And, uh, so instead of having to either go to trial or stare at contracts, uh, now I get to sling coffee at the West Palm Beach Green Market.

We're able to do around £2,000 of coffee per day on this roaster when we're in full production swings.

We saw this space, we knew it was a very unique opportunity to bring a roastery, retail, cafe and training lab all in one to where we can really showcase what our approach to coffee is, as well as bring the sights, smells and the whole senses of what we do on the production side.

And then Bobby's got the sweet for this dude.

Wow.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Yeah.

Oh, is that smooth?

Yeah.

It's a 50% Honduran wash coffee with a 50% Guatemalan natural coffee.

So, you know that little whininess that we smelled?

You'll taste that on the back end of your sips of that natural coffee shining through in the espresso.

Have you been to Mounts Botanical Garden?

No matter when you visit, there's always something new to see and experience.

This is origami in the garden 20 sculptures merging art and nature.

This is windows on the Floating World, and it couldn't have been a more perfect place to put one of the origami exhibits.

We do an exhibit every year, and this year it's origami in the garden, which is the largest exhibit we've ever done.

And there's 20 larger than life sculptures located throughout the garden that are based on paper folding origami designs by master designers from throughout the world.

And the connection is the obvious connection that Paper tree, right?

Is that what we're trying to do but get to back to Earth?

Paper came from plants and it's a it's an ideal match.

I'm seeing people strolling with little carts behind them.

What's happening right now?

Absolutely.

Today is one of our four seasonal plant sales.

We do them in the summer, winter, fall, spring, and we bring in vendors from all over the state that have succulents, orchids, all kinds of butterfly trees.

And it's open to come out and not only explore the garden, but find all kinds of unique and rare plants.

It's like a plant farmer's market.

Exactly right.

It kind of winds around.

We have 25 different display gardens.

And is that right?

Is that.

Many?

25 wow, that all have a different feature.

One thing that's really cool here is that most of what you see here in the garden is all things that you can plant here in the South Florida tropics.

Oh smart.

Right.

So anything I can go home and I can purchase it here.

Purchase it here and then take it home and plant it here.

Just like an outdoor museum.

That's really cool.

Now, if I call up, can I get a tour?

Absolutely.

We do group tours.

We have all kinds of programming classes, workshops.

So we have programming 30 plus programs happening every month.

That's our mission to inspire and educate through nature.

So everything we do is about educating.

Yeah.

You're probably wondering where I am.

I'm at the bunker in West Palm Beach, home to one of the most unique and eclectic art collections in the world.

Located inside, this vast building is less than 2% of the total artwork from the Beth Rudin Dewoody collection.

Talk to me about the history of this place.

How long has this art gallery been here?

We got the building in 2015, and we've been mounting exhibitions since 2017, inviting the public to come and see our big toy box here.

Speaking of Toy Box, I read am I wrong that this used to be a toy factory?

It was a toy factory, originally built in a toy factory in 1924, and was a toy factory till the Second World War, when it switched over to make munitions for the war effort.

Switched back after the war to make it to be a toy factory again.

Probably was a toy factory to the end of the 70s, went defunct and became a plethora of things.

We do one show a year, we open in early December and the shows run till May 1st.

Then over the summer the shows are de-installed and new shows are put up in the fall.

And when you say shows now, this is not open to the public.

24 hours like you're not coming 9 to 5 and just walking through.

We're a semi-private space.

Anyone can come.

You just have to make a reservation and we have individuals or groups can come.

So you can take a private tour.

We want people to see it because more eyes are put on it.

The more educated eyes there are in the world.

The work wilts and the create and thrives on the wall.

Out you go.

It'll do so much more good.

That's a great quote.

Is that yours?

Yes it is.

Wow, that's a great quote.

What makes this different, in your opinion?

She scours devours Mr. Woody.

Yes, she is a very unique slash unconventional collector.

And that's what makes it so wonderful.

You know, it's a feast for the eyes and the ears.

It really.

Is.

Because you've got sculpture, you've got installation paintings, drawings, everything.

Assemblage, you name it, it's here.

And we don't privilege anything.

Meaning the hierarchy of art world like it has a blue chip artist should be next chip artist.

We mix it all high and low.

So the library is kind of a wunderkammer wonder cabinet or cabinet of curiosities.

Wherever you look, it's kind of intrigue and joy and wonder.

Oh, wow.

How cool is this?

Founded in 1982, Sunfest is Florida's largest waterfront music festival, held annually in downtown West Palm in May.

It has more than 85,000 fans rocking and rolling every year.

Let's meet the executive director.

Here we are, right on the edge of the water here, where it's like, so expansive and open and beautiful.

But once a year, people converge from all over the place and this place becomes a whole other thing.

Talk to me about the history of Sunfest.

Sunfest was started 40 years ago by a group of local business people that said, we want to bring something to the community, to bring people from all over for that point, to drive economic impact for downtown West Palm.

And they had this vision of creating an event to bring people of all walks of life, all genres, bring them here and celebrate, um, celebrate what Palm Beach County has to offer some.

This is a 501 nonprofit that was founded by the community, the members of the community, and it's still that way today, 40 years later.

And we're, I think, most proud of that, of how it's community based.

The community puts the festival on.

There's only four of us on staff that do the work.

Super small group.

It's really the community that makes up the festival.

And it's an eclectic mix of music.

Right when we first started, it was jazz.

We started as.

Jazz.

It was jazz focused.

We try to program a little bit of everything.

We're not trying to be the biggest music festival in the country.

We're trying to be the best community- based music festival.

I love that you have headliners that names that you know, and then also local bands, correct?

Right.

Because if you're a local, you can apply to get on the stage.

We have a fresh local artist series where we have over 300 applications every year, easily 300 that come in, and those local bands to try to have the chance to perform before a headlining act.

Yeah, and it's really a great opportunity for them.

They love to see their name up against a headliner name like that.

That's the cool part about it is that you really are like, you're right here.

You're right on the water as you're watching your favorite band, which is a cool thing, you.

Know, where community coming together to put this on, but it's for the benefit of our community.

It's time for a sweet treat, and I'm ready to be transported to the south of France.

Let's meet the maitre boulangere of the Planetary French Bakery on Clematis Street.

I started cooking, I was like seven, making like simple cakes with my mom and everything.

And, uh, I went along with it and I thought about, like, making it work because I wanted to be able to travel everywhere.

So food is what's brought you here, right?

I mean, absolutely, yeah.

The because to me, food is moment sharing is lighting up eyes.

And that's why that's my most inclined moment is when people bite my pastries or my food.

And I'm like that, that gasping moment.

That's my favorite part of what I do.

You have a secret to what you do, right?

Like what is your what's your thing like.

To do it with love?

That's the only thing.

Yeah, I, I did wrote it in my mirror in my store and do it with love or don't do it.

I mean it in every way of the aspect of my life.

The variety of stuff here is obviously overwhelming because I love sweets.

It's okay.

You're going to be.

Fulfilled now.

If I leave your place only having one thing, what's the thing that you would say?

It's these the cream puffs?

Yeah, that's what you're known for.

I get all my customers addicted to my cream puff period.

Wow.

Like it's a promise.

I do not doubt it for a second.

So once I bite this, I like.

I'm forever, forever transformed.

That's what's going to happen.

It's light and fluffy.

Wow.

You weren't kidding.

No.

What are you.

Doing different here?

What's going on in here?

This I will.

I will not tell.

Oh my God.

But it's.

There is vanilla.

There is pastry cream, there is Chantilly.

This is unfair.

Absolutely.

This is unfair.

It's been a great time as we've traveled throughout this eclectic city to explore just some of the music, people, food, fun and culture.

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

In the meantime, I'll still be here enjoying this great scenery.

See you the next time we go on the town in the Palm Beaches with me, Frank Licari.

Come on, look at this.

Oh, where's my fork?

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