Tranny Treks : Palm Beach, Florida

For a century, the town of Palm Beach has been the winter refuge for the rich and fabulous. The island-enclave, and ritzy communities that sprung up around it, play host to a perma-tan leisure class for whom everyday is a cocktail party. Like every seaside paradise, Palm Beach attracts plenty of sharks and pirates. Because of this, much of what PB has to offer goes on behind manicured hedges. Parties, the ones at private homes, aboard yachts, in the shops and galleries along Worth Ave. are key. They occur nightly during the season which begins at Thanksgiving and is over each Easter. The rule for visiting Palm Beach is to have an introduction, bring your blazer and wear a smile.

Let's measure how things in Palm Beach compare to those in Williamsburg:

Saturday Evening Festivities:
11211 - Recovering from Friday's happy hour - turn dinner - turn Boiler Room expedition - turn trick-fest, arrange a Saturday night dinner at your place for six via text and Twitter. By the time a meal fit for Martha, with modifications for vegetarians and glutards, hits the table, it's 10pm and everyone is drunk on red and Grinding away on their iPhones. Forget dinner, drink more, trunk show, car service, on the dancefloor at Sugarland by 1 and in a car home with a tickity-tack trick by 2:30.

33480 - After an afternoon perusing the sales at Saks while avoiding cruisy eye contact from the sales associates, pop home for a workout, shower and cocktail with the fam (yours or your host's) before heading out in uniform (blue blazer, khakis or crisp jeans and loafers) for a night of party hopping. Begin at Ralph Lauren, vodka soda, Shiny Sheet photo, vodka soda, gift bag, door. Motor over to Jungle Road for exotic animal charity event. Pay respect to aging gay establishment, endure ass grabbing with a smile, vodka soda, vodka soda, vodka soda, dinner plans, New York Social Diary photo, door. Table for eight on the patio at McCarty's. Facelifted and belligerent aging gay who's picking up the tab declares "I will not sit in a parking lot!" Relocate indoors. Vodka, vodka, chicken, vodka. Hit the Lounge, survey the fresh meat, remain polite to the old. Wake up at 10 AM, Sunday not quite sure how you got home.

Libation of choice:
11211 - Bloodies at brunch, Pinot Gris for the afternoon, reds at dinner, vodka to maintain

33480 - Bull shot for breakfast, champagne at lunch, manhattan before dinner, vodka to maintain

Tracks on the Dancefloor:
11211 - Kid Kudi, Discovery, Cassius, Lady Gaga remixes, "Meet Me Halfway", Black Eyed Peas

33480 - Ke$sha, Rihanna, Madonna, whatever Daisy Deadpetals brings up from Miami

Crowd:
11211 - An ever-growing influx of boys from far-flung places (Jersey, The Bronx, HK and WV) makes going out in the 'burg more diverse. You're as likely to meet your banker-husband on the stage at Sugar as you are your next disposable trick.

33480 - The men of Palm Beach are a polarized set. Fresh out-of-high school boys and guys visiting home from Princeton, Duke and Penn sip vodka sodas alongside late-in-life homo converts two generations older. Most of the guys in Palm Beach are under 30 or over 60: waiting to begin their careers or having already completed them with much success.

But, the most notable difference . . .
Despite its exclusively WASPy origin, Palm Beach has morphed into an increasingly open society. Still a conservative place and staunchly Republican, there is much socioeconomic co-mingling in the PB. Some of the biggest events of the social season are hosted by GPCs at which WAMRs and millionaires do not self-segregate but party together, and, in many cases, are the very best of friends. For all its supposed exclusivity, Palm Beach is a place that requires only a good pair of shoes and good attitude to enjoy.


(clockwise from top: "Dad, can I take the car?", vintage English cars are PB's answer to the family beater; vintage Versace on a vintage gent; in PB, even the drag queens worship Lilly; PB schoolmates Nathan Galui and Jessica Stevenson. Galui's shop, Mesh, in downtown West Palm will carry Stevenson's Dear Georgette jewelry.)