Popular Worth Avenue historic walking tours return

On a cloudy Wednesday, 38 guests joined Worth Avenue Association historian Rick Rose for the association’s first historic walking tour of the season.

Led by the author of a local travel blog and Palm Beach tourist guide, the 75-minute tour has guests visit multiple spots on the avenue as Rose details the origins and history of the shopping district, which dates back more than a century.

“It’s a good two generations older than Rodeo Drive, and many designers consider this to be the role model of Rodeo Drive in California,” Rose told the group.

The Nov. 20 tour started in the courtyard of Via Amore, a historic building that once was home to the winter workshop of historic fashion designer Guccio Gucci, Rose said.

“He brought his entire design team to be based here in this building during the winter months, to do design work, and he used to hold private fashion shows in this courtyard to introduce new Gucci designs,” Rose said.

Established in 2001 by the late historian Jim Ponce, the Worth Avenue Historic Walking Tours regularly draws in a large crowd of history enthusiasts to the Avenue during the Palm Beach season. “I’ve been trying to go for 10 years, and every time I try to go it’s sold out,” Palm Beach County resident Beth Curran told the Daily News.

Ponce, who died in 2015, centered his tour on the avenue’s architecture. That theme is still central to the tour through Rose’s exploration of the rise and fall of Addison Mizner, the architect credited with leading the Mediterranean Revival style that continues to define Palm Beach.

When Rose took over in 2011, he expanded the tour’s scope to include fashion, retail history and anecdotes of the rich, royal and famous who’ve visited the Avenue.

The Nov. 20 tour began at Via Amore, then went to the Everglades Club, Via Parigi, Via Mizner, and a few other landmarks before ending in front of the Ferragamo building, where Rose made his final presentation.

The Everglades Club, which was designed by Mizner and opened in 1919, is “ground zero” for the Mediterranean Revival style, Rose said, noting that the style’s eclectic combination of European-architectural stylings was first met with criticism from other architects.

“But you know, it doesn’t really make a difference what the architects were making fun of, because in fact, the club was a huge success,” Rose said. “Members loved the design because it reminded them of their visits to the French and Italian Riviera.”

During the 1930s, the club was a center for fashion in high society as Mizner and famed Singer Sewing Machine Company heir Paris Eugene Singer invited fashion designers to introduce their works during the club’s Wednesday luncheons, Rose said.

“The designers during the lunch would show their designs,” he said, and the “club itself became a vibrant center of social happenings in the island.”

That led to Worth Avenue becoming a luxury retail hub, as it was one of the preeminent locations for designers to catch the eye of the U.S. and European upper class, Rose said.

Fort Lauderdale resident Emily Bennett praised Rose as an informative and entertaining guide. She was joined by Palm Beach County resident Joan Moore, and three other lifelong friends who came to Florida to reunite. “We all went to high school in Hudson, Ohio, and decided to get together here,” Bennett said.

At Via Mizner, a Mizner-designed location that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Rose noted that it was home to fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer’s first shop. The via’s courtyard eventually became the scene of a new type of social gathering, the cocktail party. This was partly inspired by Mizner’s support for the suffragette movement and his embrace of men and women socializing.

“The whole notion of women coming together with men to have cocktails before dinner was a new thing,” Rose said.

Additional stops on the Nov. 20 tour included Villa Mizner, a five-story apartment designed by Mizner in 1924 and the Via Veneto courtyard, home to sculptures of children playing created by exiled Romanian Prince Monyo Mihailescu-Nasturel Herescu.

“The tours been great, it’s been fascinating, the architect been fascinating and the colorful anecdotes have been wonderful,” said North Palm Beach resident Tara Vayianos, who was joined by her husband Gary.

Proceeds from this season’s walking tours will go to the Historical Society of Palm Beach. As a surprise gift to guests, the organization supplied the tour with handheld fans that contain a QR code for a discounted ticket to “Wish You Were Here: Tourism in the Palm Beaches,” an exhibition at the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum in West Palm Beach.

The tours, which are scheduled for Wednesdays excluding Christmas Day and New Year’s Day until April 30, costs $25 per person. Register online at www.eventbrite.com/e/worth-avenue-historic-walking-tour-tickets-739526372287?aff=oddtdtcreator.   

Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Worth Avenue historic walking tours resume for the season