By Steve Winston
Addison Mizner, the man who founded Worth Avenue in Palm Beach in the early 1900s, was a lot heavier than Rick Rose. And Rose doesn't stroll the avenues of "the gilded isle" with spider monkey Johnnie Brown on his shoulder.
But when Rose steps into the courtyard of Via Amore to lead his historical walking tour of Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, he wears a wide-brimmed white hat, a light blue seersucker sport coat, a crisp blue shirt and tie, and bright white pants. In this sense, he bears a striking resemblance to Mizner, the high-living architect who created Worth Avenue.
And when he tells the story of zip code 33480 – the wealthiest in America – he takes on Mizner's charismatic personality, too.
As you roam the whitewashed Mediterranean alleys and courtyards and the elegant shops with colorful awnings and wrought iron balconies, Rick Rose will tell you this street wasn't always so glamorous. After all, its original name was Jungle Road.
But Addison Mizner saw the potential of this land, which, until he came along, was populated only by wealthy guests staying in the hotels built by Standard Oil mogul Henry Flagler. And so he designed a posh private club on Jungle Road to serve as a social and entertainment hub for those prominent visitors.
When Mizner opened the Everglades Club in 1914, the alligator wrestlers who had plied their trade at the western end of Jungle Road moved on. And the street, Rose said, hasn't been the same since.
After the club's opening, Mizner built a Mediterranean Revival-style shopping and dining boulevard to accommodate international visitors. Mizner named it, Rose said, after Lake Worth, the section of the Intracoastal Waterway between Palm Beach and West Palm Beach.
"The name of the lake was a happy coincidence," Rose said. "(It) played perfectly into the type of people Mizner was trying to lure onto his fancy new avenue here."
Rose, who guides tours every week December through April, leads you past the Duesenbergs, Bentleys, Rolls-Royces and Lamborghinis on one side of the sidewalk, and the Guccis, Ralph Laurens, Tiffany & Cos. and Saks Fifth Avenues on the other. He leads you to courtyards that look more like Venice than Palm Beach. He takes you past artists in their studios, past bronze, life-sized sculptures of children at play and past jewelry, clothing, antique and collectibles shops with window displays.
Rose is a treasure trove of stories about the legendary families who've visited or called this area home. Among the names you're likely to hear about: Kennedy, Trump, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Post (cereals), Singer (sewing machines), Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. In fact, the royal couple used to frequent the Ta-boo restaurant here, as did the patriarch of the Kennedy clan, Joseph.
Rose also takes you to the only home ever constructed on Worth Avenue – Mizner's, called Villa Mizner. Here, the architect gave free rein to his eccentricities and his affinity for Mediterranean and Arabic architecture. The eastern section is a five-story Mediterranean tower featuring white, stucco construction and a colorful, barrel-tile roof, while the western section features Moorish and Arabic windows and accents.
"Palm Beach doesn't allow cemeteries," Rose said, as he lead the group into the shaded courtyard in Villa Mizner. "But there are actually two graves on the island... right in front of you!"
One of them is the grave of spider monkey Johnnie Brown, without whom Mizner never left his home. Though Johnnie apparently had a long-running feud with Academy Award-winning actress Marie Dressler, he was extremely popular among pretty much everyone else. He even won some votes in a one-time run for Palm Beach mayor.
Johnnie Brown died in 1927. His gravestone reads, "Johnnie Brown, the Human Monkey."
Johnnie got company three decades later. In 1959, the owners of Villa Mizner had their Scottish Terrier buried alongside the monkey. The dog's grave reads simply, "Our Laddie, 1959."
Before Mizner died in 1933, the lifestyle he had grown accustomed to was all but gone, Rose said. Land deals went awry for Mizner, and the Great Depression deepened his financial gloom.
"He died broke, no longer a member of the wealthy society he had helped create," Rose said.
As Rose strolls "the Avenue," he, much like Mizner, moves among the movers and shakers with ease. Rose co-owns one of the area's top B&Bs – Grandview Gardens Bed and Breakfast and Vacation Homes – just across the Intracoastal in West Palm Beach.
He's a living encyclopedia of "the gilded isle" – and he'll take you on a living history tour of its stories and characters.
When you go...
Call 561-659-6909 or visit worth-avenue.com for costs and tour times.
Grandview Gardens, 1608 Lake Ave., West Palm Beach, offers bed-and-breakfast lodging and two- and three-bedroom vacation homes. For more information or to place a reservation, call 561-833-9023 or visit grandview-gardens.com.
