Dealing with Florida as a resort area is like trying to cover the snow crop in the Arctic. It's almost too much to handle. The temptation is strong to say simply that Florida is the greatest sun recreation area on earth that more has been written about it, probably, than about any other resort section, and then just to refer the reader to the forty-seven-foot bookshelf on Florida in his local library. Nevertheless we will be manful about it, and try at least to limn the bare outlines of this land largely dedicated to the happy pursuit of fun in the sun.
Here is an area of 58,666 square miles with more coastline than any other state in the Union, devoted mostly to the business of pleasure, good living, and happy retirement. Florida is growing so fast that census statistics are quickly outdated. There is nothing quite like it.
On the east coast just south of Jacksonville begins a 350-mile stretch of resort territory that culminates at Miami Beach. The Pedro Verde Inn and Club is set amid lagoons on a mile-long strand of glistening white beach. To the south is historic St. Augustine, site of the nation's oldest house and oldest stone fortress. Next is Daytona Beach with its twenty-three-mile-long, 500-foot-wide stretch of sand. A popular family resold in the summer, Daytona is also the site of spectacular auto-racing events in February and March.
Some 200 miles down the coast, where the Gulf Stream slipping close to shore brings sub-tropical climate, is Palm Beach. This is Florida's first great society resort, but it began humbly in 1878 when a ship carrying coconuts was wrecked offshore. The coconuts were planted by settlers and miraculously transformed a barren strip of sand into a palm-shaded paradise. Palm Beach is known for its quiet elegance, magnificent private estates, and the Breakers, a self-contained luxury resort covering 200 acres. Across Lake Worth is West Palm Beach, more friendly, relaxed and commercial than its sister city and far less socially conscious.
Boca Raton began as the dream of architect Addison Mizner, who bought 1,000 acres of farmland in the 1920's and set out to build the most beautiful city in the world. The Boca Raton Hotel and Club which grew from this dream look like a pink and white Spanish castle set amid 500 acres of exotic tropical gardens.
Residents of Fort Lauderdale are likely to park their cars in front and dock their boats in back. Sometimes called the "Venice of America," the city is a paradise for boatsmen and fishermen, offering over 270 miles of waterway, half of them navigable. There are also six miles of Atlantic beachfront, recently known as "the place where the girls are," and a springtime mecca for the college set.
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