Postcards from the Lake Worth Beach (12 19 12)...

My father and I enjoying the ocean view after lunch at Mulligan's.  Thank you Mark Parrilla, who
works there, for taking this picture with my camera.

We ended up parking in the Kreusler Park (County) parking lot - along with what seemed like everyone else whose ultimate destination was the Lake Worth Casino building.  In a previous post, I showed the brightly colored signs that the county installed saying that there is no parking after sunset - looking like they were recently installed upon the advent of our building coming to life.  They may want to re-think that policy since the opening of the Lake Worth building will likely continue to provide a windfall for their parking revenue account - after all, it is closer than the parking on the Lake Worth side of the line.  The two pictures above show the "walkway" between the southern edge of the county property and the Lake Worth property.  Pedestrians are neatly dumped into the traffic circle/bike lane and have to jump a curb to do so.  One could walk along the ocean where there is more of a direct connection, but a little more circuitous if the Casino building is your ultimate destination.  We made it, but the route definitely seemed "improvised."

We saw many people with mobility issues - canes, walkers, oxygen tanks - having to be dropped off in front of the building.  More able members of their party then parked the car in Kreusler Park (Why go back to where you came from, opposite from the direction your car is pointed, and park in the city's lot which is farther away?  And we aren't even talking about the inferiority of our automated parking kiosks in comparison.) and could be seen 15 minutes later joining the rest of their party after having negotiated the automated parking kiosk.  Their money, of course, would be going to the county's coffers and not to Lake Worth's - was this part of the business plan?  The pictures above are just a few examples of people following this pattern.

While we were enjoying our lunch outside, we were treated to more symptoms of a poorly, politically driven site plan design process.  Having the placement of what turned out to be a NEW building in the same location as the old building left little specified area for deliveries to the retail establishments at the beach.  So this means that, periodically, your ocean side experience will include vehicles that look more at home on the Interstate than at a beach front location.  Here an 18 wheel semi delivers goods to the Lake Worth Beach Tee Shirt Shop Company, blocking the view of many who were there for about 20 minutes.

Now these problems are expensive or impossible to fix - I suppose you could designate delivery times during  what would be low volume visitor periods, but this is difficult to coordinate with suppliers.  Again, many of these problems could have been dealt with during the site plan review process - and by the Micheal Singer Group - but any mention of potential problems or re-thinking the location of the building were written off as coming from the mouths of people that were "against the project" or "against preservation" or "just being negative."  So, we are living with the result - hope those that made these decisions are happy now.

As far as our lunch at Mulligan's, service was prompt, efficient and attentive.  We were encouraged to choose the lobster salad, which my Dad had in the form of a sandwich - which he said was quite good.  I had the Mahi-Mahi sliders, which was o.k. - a little dry and a little on the skimpy side considering the price.  Our total bill was just under $40, including tax, tip, a diet Coke for me and water for my father.

After lunch, I wanted to check out the other retail tenants to see how their build-out was coming along and whether they were open or not.  The t-shirt is open and has been for a few days, Kilwin's is well underway - but not ready to open yet - and Mama Mia's was open for business.  Here are some pictures along with a description or two.

Inside the t-shirt shop - most (70%) of the items contain "Palm Beach" as the main message/design element
of the garment.  You had to look a little more for the "Lake Worth" items.  Such is life as a tourist destination that is part of  the island of Palm Beach.

I got this shirt as a gift for Bill - it has the city's birth year prominently displayed, along with a distinctive "LW" as part of the design.

This is one I got for me - I liked the retro-looking design, but here the city's birth year is 1912. No biggie, must be referring to when the city's library opened.  This is the back of the shirt - the front has a smaller image of the same design over the left breast.

Looking through the northern door of Kilwin's with work underway.

This is the view through the southern door of Kilwin's.

Mama Mia's - open for business and serving pizza.  There were some customers there who seemed to be enjoying what they were eating.

Upstairs, it appears, is clearly off limits.  There is a series of tapes strung across the stairway leading to the second floor.  I could hear mechanical sounds - something akin to grinding/sanding? coming from above as I walked back to Mulligan's.  Apparently, the fix to the water problem and the ballroom is being worked on, but what are they doing to address the issue?  It would be interesting to know what the fix actually is and how much work is required to address it.  Strangely, as I walked in front of the building, my face was lightly pelted with debris from whatever was going on upstairs.  Hmmmm.

One last thing...I know that the parking lights are "turtle friendly" but they are a little bit "turtle ugly" too.  Black?  At a beach?  One of the regulars at the beach said he has been there at night when they are on and they give what he referred to as "light as bright as a flashlight."

It was a beautiful day weather-wise.  You need to go there and experience it yourself.  Let me know what you think about it after your visit.