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Here is what I am looking for in a place (and currently lack in Jacksonville):
1) Diversity....I would like to meet people from all over the world.
2) A community Interest in Foods
3) Young professional females in the area with opportunities to meet them (preferably catholic)
4) Some hustle and bustle
5) A strong catholic presence
6) A nice walkable shopping/eating area in some part of town. Not with chains, but with more of a local mom and pop feel.
7) A nightlife that is not just hip-hop dance clubs or smoky bars.....preferably a latin dance club or a chilled lounge or a hookah bar.
8) A cool beach
9) Some parks to hang out on a saturday afternoon (that are not empty)
10) Some people places.....places to go to see and be seen.
11) Good Italian Deli
12) Good Asian Market
13) Good hispanic market
14) A good mix of ethnic restaurants in the area
15) A decent airport within driving distance that will give cheap flights to Newark, NJ and Pittsburgh, PA
16) A few celebrities in the area.....if they will pay to live there, it must be good.
These are really the things that are most important to me.
Cost of living, good schools, and lack of crime are non-issues for me. I am a young professional, renter, non-married so these things are really non issues for me.
1. To an extent. PBC has a weird socioeconomic structure which creates a sense of division.
2. Yes
3. Um...well, I'm sure you will find one .
4. Not really. More than Jactionville though.
5. They are the dominant religion, so there is a fair catholic presence.
6. Local tends to means upscale in Palm Beach County. There is an area called City Place which is walkable with restaurants, nightlife, etc.
7. The former sounds more like WPB nightlife, although the latter exists. You kind of have to go further south for an abundance of both.
8. No! They do have unspoiled beaches up towards Jupiter/Juno though and if you are willing to go a little further south, Delray is pretty cool. I have a feeling you would like that area a lot.
9. Ehh...
10. Definitely.
11. Definitely.
12. You might be able to find one.
13. Definitely. The West Palm/Lake Worth Hispanic culture tends to be more similar to the west coast (as in CA). You have a lot of Mexicans and Central Americans.
14. Yes.
15. Yes
16. In Palm Beach. Not West Palm.
1. To an extent. PBC has a weird socioeconomic structure which creates a sense of division.
2. Yes
3. Um...well, I'm sure you will find one .
4. Not really. More than Jactionville though.
5. They are the dominant religion, so there is a fair catholic presence.
6. Local tends to means upscale in Palm Beach County. There is an area called City Place which is walkable with restaurants, nightlife, etc.
7. The former sounds more like WPB nightlife, although the latter exists. You kind of have to go further south for an abundance of both.
8. No! They do have unspoiled beaches up towards Jupiter/Juno though and if you are willing to go a little further south, Delray is pretty cool. I have a feeling you would like that area a lot.
9. Ehh...
10. Definitely.
11. Definitely.
12. You might be able to find one.
13. Definitely. The West Palm/Lake Worth Hispanic culture tends to be more similar to the west coast (as in CA). You have a lot of Mexicans and Central Americans.
14. Yes.
15. Yes
16. In Palm Beach. Not West Palm.
8. So what is the nearest public beach in west palm?
9.What....no public parks to throw a frisbee in or play a pick-up game of soccer?
And let me add one more question:
17. I have heard that west palm has a good young professional scene....but maybe it is more middle aged (30's and 40's) than just out of school (low to mid 20's). Is this correct? Any thoughts?
I got a chuckle out of your post. I moved to the WPB area (1996-2006) and lived in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Juno Beach and then Jupiter, still have family there (Palm Beach, West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens) and lived in Jacksonville (2006-2007). I'll try to answer your questions but take heart that I haven't done the singles scene in WPB in awhile and it has definitely evolved in a positive way over the last ten years.
1. You will find more diversity than in Jax (but that isn't saying much).
2. My husband and I consider ourselves to be foodies and would drive all over South Florida for a meal. We enjoyed going through our dining book and checking off all the restaurants. We thought we'd be disappointed in Jax but we weren't. But, if you want a fabulous over the top meal - you have to eat brunch at the Breakers--you won't find anything like it in Jax.
3. Not sure on this answer. I found it really hard to meet other singles outside of work in WPB. Met my hubby on a blind date. I think some people do a lot of networking to meet people. But now the places are filled with young people on the weekends. Honestly, median age in Jax is YOUNGER than you'll find in WPB area but getting better. And I did marry me a cute Irish Catholic boy!
4) Hustle and bustle can be found in different parts of PBC. Delray has it. Parts of downtown WPB have it as well as Gardens too.
5) There's a good mix. Finding a good church would be a good starting point.
6) City Place (downtown WPB), Legacy Place and Downtown at the Gardens (both in Palm Beach Gardens) have nice walkable shopping/eating areas. Not sure if it has a local mom and pop feel. Friends in the western communities enjoy the Wellington Green mall area.
7) I don't know off the top of my head but pretty sure there's a latin dance club, chilled lounge and a hookah bar.
8) I personally like the Juno Beach/Jupiter Beaches but Singer Island is nice and Delray is always hopping. Also - going to the beach in WPB depends on where you live. WPB has limited beach access because of Palm Beach. You'd probably have to use Palm Beach, go north(Singer Island, Juno, Jupiter) or south (Lake Worth, Delray). McArthur State Park in Singer Island is also very beautiful and unspoiled.
I'm adding to this -- check out department of parks and recreation :: city of west palm beach, fl (http://www.wpb.org/park/parks.html - broken link) for parks in the WPB area.
9) The weather in south FL is definitely hotter than Jax so I can't answer on the parks. Most people hange out at the beach.
10) Ummnn...Palm Beach proper.
11) Yes--boy, do I miss ours.
12) I've been to a pretty good one in Palm Beach Gardens.
13) H#LL YES!
14) Definitely.
15) We've always really liked traveling in and out of WPB (my husband travels 70% of his time for his job) and it's an easy central airport. But driving down to Ft. Lauderdale is no big deal, either. We usually just picked which airport had the direct, cheaper flight to our destination.
16) Won't be pretentious and name drop but yes--met lots of celebrities. Three professional golfers' kids attended our children's preschool and many times you can see celebrities dining in Palm Beach.
17) I'm not sure if I can answer this correctly but I'll take a stab. We moved out of PBC because we were sick of being the youngest people wherever we went. There are more people in WPB in their mid-late 20s than there was 10 years ago. And thanks for saying that 20s and 30s is middle aged! There are just a lot of older people in Florida. Just flying there on vacation last month, we were the youngest on the plane by 10 years and my kids were the only children on the flight. I will tell you again--there were more young people, in our opinion, in Jax but also, I did see a lot of younger people when we were there last month at Downtown at the Gardens having drinks on a Saturday night that I didn't remember being there 3 or 4 years ago.
And on a different note, I've read some of your posts on the Jax forum and I can tell you that I moved to Florida in 96 from Philadelphia. Florida was a bit of a culture shock but I'm glad I lived in the West Palm area. Local access to Ft. Lauderdale and Miami is easy. For someone your age, I would definitely recommend WPB versus Jax. I liked Jax because I found it very family-oriented and it had a small town feel to it while still being a bit metropolitan. I think you should take a couple weekend trips to Palm Beach County. I think you'll like it more.
I got a chuckle out of your post. I moved to the WPB area (1996-2006) and lived in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Juno Beach and then Jupiter, still have family there (Palm Beach, West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens) and lived in Jacksonville (2006-2007). I'll try to answer your questions but take heart that I haven't done the singles scene in WPB in awhile and it has definitely evolved in a positive way over the last ten years.
1. You will find more diversity than in Jax (but that isn't saying much).
2. My husband and I consider ourselves to be foodies and would drive all over South Florida for a meal. We enjoyed going through our dining book and checking off all the restaurants. We thought we'd be disappointed in Jax but we weren't. But, if you want a fabulous over the top meal - you have to eat brunch at the Breakers--you won't find anything like it in Jax.
3. Not sure on this answer. I found it really hard to meet other singles outside of work in WPB. Met my hubby on a blind date. I think some people do a lot of networking to meet people. But now the places are filled with young people on the weekends. Honestly, median age in Jax is YOUNGER than you'll find in WPB area but getting better. And I did marry me a cute Irish Catholic boy!
4) Hustle and bustle can be found in different parts of PBC. Delray has it. Parts of downtown WPB have it as well as Gardens too.
5) There's a good mix. Finding a good church would be a good starting point.
6) City Place (downtown WPB), Legacy Place and Downtown at the Gardens (both in Palm Beach Gardens) have nice walkable shopping/eating areas. Not sure if it has a local mom and pop feel. Friends in the western communities enjoy the Wellington Green mall area.
7) I don't know off the top of my head but pretty sure there's a latin dance club, chilled lounge and a hookah bar.
8) I personally like the Juno Beach/Jupiter Beaches but Singer Island is nice and Delray is always hopping. Also - going to the beach in WPB depends on where you live. WPB has limited beach access because of Palm Beach. You'd probably have to use Palm Beach, go north(Singer Island, Juno, Jupiter) or south (Lake Worth, Delray). McArthur State Park in Singer Island is also very beautiful and unspoiled.
I'm adding to this -- check out department of parks and recreation :: city of west palm beach, fl (http://www.wpb.org/park/parks.html - broken link) for parks in the WPB area.
9) The weather in south FL is definitely hotter than Jax so I can't answer on the parks. Most people hange out at the beach.
10) Ummnn...Palm Beach proper.
11) Yes--boy, do I miss ours.
12) I've been to a pretty good one in Palm Beach Gardens.
13) H#LL YES!
14) Definitely.
15) We've always really liked traveling in and out of WPB (my husband travels 70% of his time for his job) and it's an easy central airport. But driving down to Ft. Lauderdale is no big deal, either. We usually just picked which airport had the direct, cheaper flight to our destination.
16) Won't be pretentious and name drop but yes--met lots of celebrities. Three professional golfers' kids attended our children's preschool and many times you can see celebrities dining in Palm Beach.
17) I'm not sure if I can answer this correctly but I'll take a stab. We moved out of PBC because we were sick of being the youngest people wherever we went. There are more people in WPB in their mid-late 20s than there was 10 years ago. And thanks for saying that 20s and 30s is middle aged! There are just a lot of older people in Florida. Just flying there on vacation last month, we were the youngest on the plane by 10 years and my kids were the only children on the flight. I will tell you again--there were more young people, in our opinion, in Jax but also, I did see a lot of younger people when we were there last month at Downtown at the Gardens having drinks on a Saturday night that I didn't remember being there 3 or 4 years ago.
And on a different note, I've read some of your posts on the Jax forum and I can tell you that I moved to Florida in 96 from Philadelphia. Florida was a bit of a culture shock but I'm glad I lived in the West Palm area. Local access to Ft. Lauderdale and Miami is easy. For someone your age, I would definitely recommend WPB versus Jax. I liked Jax because I found it very family-oriented and it had a small town feel to it while still being a bit metropolitan. I think you should take a couple weekend trips to Palm Beach County. I think you'll like it more.
Thanks 5FLgirls for the post. This was helpful. I think you can tell from my posts on Jacksonville that I am looking for something more on the lines of South Florida. I just can't take the Jacksonville culture without a family.
It looks like meeting people my age could be a challenge in WPB, but I was in Jupiter a little while back and although I saw lots of rich, retirees I also saw many very good looking young people. More than I would ever see in Jacksonville in one place. And certainly better dressed than Jacksonville. I also have heard that downtown west palm has lots of people out in the evenings which is hard to find in Jacksonville. Jacksonville is what I like to think of as the 10 oclock curfew town. I know that there is a 24 hour cuban place in West Palm which is reason enough for me to move there alone. I would love to get late night cuban food in Jacksonville, but everything closes so freakin early.
I also like south florida because there are lots of communities clustered back to back from about West Palm all the way to Miami. In Jacksonville you have a 30 mile radius of suburbs and then back to the middle of nowhere. So, you can visit many communities in South Florida that probably each have their own character and something to offer you....sort of like New Jersey. In Jacksonville its just Jacksonville.
So we will see what happens. Thanks for the info. Congratulations on the irish catholic boy! You gotta love irish catholics but not as much as italian catholics!!
The city of West Palm Beach is estimated to be around 30% White, 30% black, and 30% Hispanic... that's much more diverse than in Jacksonville.
I think Jactionville is about 60 white, 35 black, and maybe 5 hispanic. What about Asians....are there lots of asians in west palm or within a community within 30 miles?
I think Jactionville is about 60 white, 35 black, and maybe 5 hispanic. What about Asians....are there lots of asians in west palm or within a community within 30 miles?
South FL Asians are in clusters mostly to the south in Broward County. There are a lot of Asian shops and businesses in the Sunrise/Tamarac area along University Dr and North Lauderdale area along 441. A lot of them also live in parts of Coral Springs/Parkland. Further away from PBC there are some communities where their percentages are in double digits. I have never found an area with a significant Asian presence in PBC.
I think Jactionville is about 60 white, 35 black, and maybe 5 hispanic. What about Asians....are there lots of asians in west palm or within a community within 30 miles?
There's not a large percentage of Asians here. They do exist but not in large quantities.
Thanks 5FLgirls for the post. This was helpful. I think you can tell from my posts on Jacksonville that I am looking for something more on the lines of South Florida. I just can't take the Jacksonville culture without a family.
It looks like meeting people my age could be a challenge in WPB, but I was in Jupiter a little while back and although I saw lots of rich, retirees I also saw many very good looking young people. More than I would ever see in Jacksonville in one place. And certainly better dressed than Jacksonville. I also have heard that downtown west palm has lots of people out in the evenings which is hard to find in Jacksonville. Jacksonville is what I like to think of as the 10 oclock curfew town. I know that there is a 24 hour cuban place in West Palm which is reason enough for me to move there alone. I would love to get late night cuban food in Jacksonville, but everything closes so freakin early.
I also like south florida because there are lots of communities clustered back to back from about West Palm all the way to Miami. In Jacksonville you have a 30 mile radius of suburbs and then back to the middle of nowhere. So, you can visit many communities in South Florida that probably each have their own character and something to offer you....sort of like New Jersey. In Jacksonville its just Jacksonville.
So we will see what happens. Thanks for the info. Congratulations on the irish catholic boy! You gotta love irish catholics but not as much as italian catholics!!
you sound alot like me...in the sense of looking for the same things, except the girl part...i'm looking for a hot guy... I'm from Chicago and debating on moving to WPB or NY.....I'm afraid WPB isn't going to have the decent nightlife and young ppl i'm hoping for. I like clubs...dance clubs and beachs, but NY is pulling me b/c of work...that's another thing i'm afraid of not having work available for me...i'm a legal secretary...i would think there are jobs for that there...???
how is jersey compared to NY? why did you leave Jersey for florida? just curious....can u give me any feedback on NY at all? i'd appreciate it....
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.
. I think some people do a lot of networking to meet people. But now the places are filled with young people on the weekends. Honestly, median age in Jax is YOUNGER than you'll find in WPB area but getting better. And I did marry me a cute Irish Catholic boy!
!!
