He holds court at Buccan most nights after 8, calmly sipping his pinot grigio. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign, has zipped up and down the Newport-Georgetown-Palm Beach axis for 50 years. Quinn’s father, Tom Quinn, a partner at the Venable law firm in Washington who worked in college on John F. Word has it that no one gets a table in any season without knowing the owner, Piper Quinn. The One Where You Just Need to Know the Ownerĭown South County Road, a few blocks from Worth Avenue, stands Buccan, a restaurant that has become yet another version of a private club. The most popular Palm Beach restaurants require a slap-on-the-back relationship with the owner unless a reservation on a distant Tuesday at 5 p.m. So why not drink and dance in a fabulous supper club with friends rather than try to book a table in a packed restaurant?” “These people haven’t changed all that much - they finally have time for fun. He playfully picks his slacks based on the Geiger counter clicks the fabric emits. “Think about it, all the New Yorkers who were going to Nell’s or Au Bar in the ’80s and ’90s have kids who’ve now flown the coop,” said Tom Shaffer, a former advertising executive who has been a fixture in Palm Beach social life for years. At Casa Cruz in New York, San Vicente Bungalows in Los Angeles or the new Carriage House in Palm Beach, members have monthly house accounts and never suffer through a delayed table reservation. The dining club expansion in Palm Beach mirrors the trend among upper-crust urban sets across the country. But memberships to the dining clubs can be fast-tracked if the applicant knows the owners or key members. Initiation fees for dining clubs are $10,000 to $250,000, and mounting as demand rises.Īcquiring a golden ticket to Palm Beach country clubs with golf or tennis can take years: Long waiting lists, piles of required recommendations from members, and persnickety committees drunk on power all slow the acceptance process. The private dining clubs offer no amenities - members come for an elegant locale to drink, dine and dance with people they know or want to know. The traditional country clubs cater to families with tennis, golf and a beach. “There are two types of private clubs that new residents hope to join, with different purposes. “No one can get a dinner reservation, so people are focused on joining the clubs,” said Ryan Williams, a public affairs executive and former strategist for Mitt Romney. They are chasing good health, sunshine, Florida’s no-income-tax status and, for the wealthiest among them, the elusive private club membership. During the early years of the pandemic, there was a 20 percent increase in New Yorkers moving to Florida compared with the average of the previous eight years, according to I.R.S. And Palm Beach is all about fitting in and showing you belong. Why? Sartorial armor is practically required in any exclusive enclave. If you plan to dine at a hot spot in Palm Beach this season, pack clothing so bright that it might be radioactive.
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