Last Updated on December 31, 2022 by Marybeth
Lake Worth Beach has been called many things. The Next Key West. A sweet quirky cottage town. Jewell. A dynamic, multi-cultural city with a strong social and environmental consciousness. And until just recently, it was plain Lake Worth.
Faithful residents and champions of this lesser-known Palm Beach County town said they liked the name just as it was; no need to add “Beach.” So sweet and loyal! But as a coastal Florida travel blogger I applaud the addition. Add the word “Beach” to just about anything and it ups the almost visceral connection we feel by immeasurable amounts.
We came for the cottages and left impressed by so much more. As quoted above from The Cottages of Lake Worth: the dynamic, multi-cultural vibe. The extensive, fascinating history. The mix of gastronomic choices up and down the main streets and also facing – and sitting out over – the ocean. The powerful commitment to the artistic community. The independently owned shops, the Little Free Libraries dotting the town, built and maintained by residents. The giant – the largest of its kind in the country – Street Painting Festival.
Some fun facts about Lake Worth Beach:
- In 1889 a former slave, Fannie James, filled out paperwork for approval of a post office for a community called Jewell. It is thought perhaps she chose that because she and her husband, Sam, were called “the black diamonds” by white homesteaders in the area. Author Ted Brownstein details this history in Pioneers of Jewell: A Documentary History of Lake Worth’s Forgotten First Settlement.
- Because Lake Worth is home to the largest concentration of historic cottages anywhere in Florida, The Cottages of Lake Worth produced a hard-bound coffee table book (which can be purchased on their site) and host a Cottage Tour which you can atttend, or plan your own driving/walking tour using their map.
- Most of the historic cottages were built from 1900- 1940, and back when Lake Worth was first being developed, prospective buyers were offered a 25 ft. lot for a beach cottage if they bought acreage west of Haverhill Rd.
- The Lake Worth Casino and Baths were built oceanfront in 1922, rebuilt after the 1947 hurricane and then gutted – but not torn down – in 2012 and totally renovated to look like the old Casino building. Despite “Lake Worth Casino” signs everywhere this is not an operating Casino; shops and restaurants are located here now.
THE BEACH
R.G. Kreusler Park and Lake Worth Beach Park
2882 and 10 S. Ocean Blvd.
Lake Worth Beach, FL 33480
The water is truly that color; no editing needed!
These two beach parks are situated next to each other, so we’re not sure why the disparate street numbers, but you can’t miss either. Drive East on Lake Ave until you can go no further; R.G. Kreusler and Lake Worth Beach Park are both right there. The restaurants in the Casino Building are to your right.
PARK/WALK: Parking is $3/hour, pay at the kiosk. The beach is a very short walk from all the parking lots.
GO/RINSE: Recently upgraded bathrooms and plenty of rinse-off stations.
CROWD FACTOR: This is Palm Beach County (we are used to a slower pace in Brevard) and so the beach can be a little crowded at times. Lots of space to spread out though, so never the feeling of beach blanket-to-beach blanket.
GUARDS: Lifeguards are on duty from 9-5.
IMBIBE: Alcohol is not allowed on the beach.
BEST FRIEND: Dogs are not allowed on the beach here but there is a dog park: Lake Woof Dog Park at 1996 Center Dr.
WE LOVE: The easy walk to a number of restaurants, including one of our favorites, the family-owned group, Mulligan’s Beach House.
THE BAR
Lake Worth Beach downtown has a number of cool restaurant/bars, including C.W.S. Bar + Kitchen, Lilo’s Street Food & Bar, Revelry, Brogues Down Under and Dave’s Last Resort to name a few, but as we are beach people, we chose to not only overlook the beach but to sit out OVER the beach at Benny’s.
Benny’s on the Beach
10 S. Ocean Blvd.
Lake Worth, FL 33460
561-582-9001
Open Mon-Sun 7 am-9 pm
Founded in 1986 by three guys with surprising pasts (one a Wall Street financier turned celebrity chef whose creations have been featured on Food Network and HGTV, read more about these guys here) the menu at Benny’s is ever-changing – which is not surprising, given the epic history of these partners. Even better, Benny’s gives back by contributing to Make-a-Wish, The Red Cross, No Kid Hungry, and Little Smiles. All that and panoramic views of the beach and roiling ocean under your feet? This place will check all of your boxes.
VIBE: Somehow beach bum meets upscale dining; come as you are but you will see some fancy Palm Beach County-type carefully curated outfits. Fun people watching! Very friendly waitstaff; we felt as though our waitress would definitely remember us next visit!
ARRIVE: Easily reached by car or by bike, or by foot of course, mid beach day! The parking lot is a tiny walk from the restaurant, $3/hour.
SIT: Outside under umbrellas, upstairs out of the sun but surrounded by big windows on three sides and with the screens open you get that delightful ocean breeze and view. Or inside at the bar up front, open air and breezes also included. We saw a sweet indoor room all ready for guests, but not in use that day (perhaps for parties?)
SIP: Happy Hour is every Monday through Friday, 3 pm to 6 pm. Check out their drink menu – my background is graphic design and dang I wish I’d thought of such a clever menu.
NOSH: You’ll find it tough to choose from so many innovative and delicious-sounding offerings. Try the Fried Green Tomatoes and Burrata Cheese, the Marinated Veggie Naan Bread, Cheesy Brisket Dunker, or Choose Your Fish and Then Your Dish. Some Dish choices: Lemon Gnocci, Couscous Pearls, Coconut Lime. Yum!
LISTEN: Live music several afternoon/evenings a week, with Karaoke, bingo and trivia other evenings. Check their schedule, here.
WE LOVE: The festive holiday feel – in fact, their slogan is “Where Every Day is a Vacation.” All the food choices, the friendly atmosphere, the crisp blue and white graphics, the view…
THE BUNGALOW
There are two lovely Bed and Breakfast Inns in Lake Worth Beach: Mango Inn Bed and Breakfast, and Sabal Palm House Bed and Breakfast, and both are within walking distance of downtown. The Mango Inn has a Private Cottage and a Little House that are separate from the main Inn.
Lately we’ve been gravitating toward AirBnb where we can stay in “our own” bungalow. With over 1,000 historic cottages, as you can imagine there are quite a few choices for your stay on the AirBnb website. Visit their Lake Worth Beach link here, and scroll through some of our picks, below.
Coastal Cottage, Downtown Lake Worth Beach
1/1, 2 beds, 4 guests
Rates start at approximately $59/night
Photo courtesy of Coastal Cottage Airbnb
Tropical 2 BR, Dog-Friendly Cottage
2/1, 4 guests
Rates start at approximately $79/night
Photo courtesy of Tropical Cottage Airbnb
The Little Pink Cottage
1/1, sofa bed, 3 guests
Rates start at approximately $65/night
Photo courtesy of The Little Pink Cottage Airbnb
Blue Lizard Cottage 2
2/1, 4 beds, 5 guests
Rates start at approximately $75/night
Heated Pool Home – Downtown Lake Worth Beach
4/3.5, 5 beds, 8 guests
Rates start at approximately $265/night
Photo Courtesy of The Banana Inn
And now for some around-the-town photos, especially a fair number of those vintage cottages!
We’ll take a short break from our cottage obsession to show you some of the downtown:
The Town Hall Annex painted by the world-renowned artist Okuda San Miguel
Aaaand now back to the cottages!
These two intrigued us:
Did you have to go pour yourself a glass of wine to be able to sit through this article to its end? (I did, writing it!) If you’re still here, you must love cottages (isn’t there a book with that title? Oh wait, that’s dogs…) and you’re planning to visit Lake Worth Beach soon. Even if cottages don’t necessarily spark heaps of joy for you, this town has so much to offer otherwise. Plan that trip!
Lake Worth Beach is on Florida’s Atlantic coast, 10 miles south of West Palm Beach and 12 miles north of Delray Beach.
15 Comments
Nicole
I love them all. So pretty. Thanks for sharing so helpful can’t wait to plan our next vacay.
Marybeth
Nicole there were SO many more! You would really like it here. Have lunch or dinner at Benny’s!
Denise
Love all the cute cottages and really appreciate that you included a dog-friendly one!
Marybeth
Dog-friendly is so important to most of us! Thanks for your comment Denise!
Janet Serrano
Thank you for this wonderful article. You really captured the spirit of our town and why we love living here. The only thing I would add is that we have a local playhouse and theater where we enjoy productions and independent films. The music scene is also very vibrant and worth mentioning, especially Rudy’s just south of Lake Avenue on J Street.
Marybeth
Good call, I meant to go into more detail about the arts, including the playhouse and more, but due to a family member’s illness I went ahead and posted without fleshing my article out further. Thanks for sharing, this is valuable info!
Shelagh Dufault
So why this current city commission and the CRA hell-bent on changing our landscape with some utopian dream of modern new downtown vision by destroying a high percentage of these historic cottages?
Their current plan is to destroy or “move somewhere close by” every residential structure between L&M Streets and Lake Avenue and 1st Avenue South (with the exclusion of the condos along 1st) as well as those on the next block at the northwest corner of K & 1st.
Initially these were touted necessary to destroy to “increase parking.”
Now at least one is slated for a high-end mixed use retail/residential structure.
Not what people envision in our “walkable historic cottage neighborhood” is it?
Oh, and that slick move on the ballot asking voters’ permission to sell 501 Lake Ave?
If you live here, one really has to do due diligence going forward and look hard at any question on future ballots.
By allowing the city to sell that old historic building we know this will most assuredly be bundled with that vacant city-owned plot next-door into a future sale to a developer.
Albeit rundown, the old Havana’s Hideout property is also a historic building. It was Lake Worth’s first gas station.
The sale of these two properties is what brings that irregular octagonal plot behind it to a more valuable bit of landscape by opening Lake up all the way to 1st Avenue. This is a developer’s dream.
And our historic cottage neighborhood’s nightmare.
Do we really want another modern monstrosity in the very heart of our downtown? Something that amounts to another high rent housing project?
Something glass fronted or what’s becoming all too common; those fugly faux-historic conglomerates taking place where once longtime, hardworking residents lived in charming, affordable HISTORIC COTTAGES this city is known for… this is a modern tragedy in our old city.
What to do?
What to do?
We implore this city commission and this damnable CRA to stop this insanity.
The state recognises various CRAs have overstepped their mission across the state.
Ours is NOT an area that’s in drastic need of gentrification. This is NOT some old, rundown slum.
Yet that’s exactly how our historic beach-side city is being treated by the, CRA & this current city commission.
Excising locals to bring in a better ‘class’, a higher paid, university educated demographic IS exactly what this current commission and the CRA is trying to pull by crafting modern residential/retail buildings with modern amenities to attract that demographic, according to one city commissioner.
City residents will act to put a stop to this so because these plans are not in keeping with turning Lake Worth Beach into a Palm Beach version of old Key West but into a neon nightmare like Delray Beach.
Ask the people if we want you destroying large swaths of old cottages, why don’t you? You somehow have forgotten it’s those of us who live here, right downtown, that are being directly impacted. We are heartsick by the loss of these cottages and do NOT want to be modernized.
Destroying structurally sound, adorable Historic Cottages is NOT in keeping with the mission the CRA is sworn to uphold. And this is not what we expected when voting in the newest city commissioners.
Shame on all of you.
Leave these historic cottages alone and build your utopian vision elsewhere where development does not entail demolishing quaint auld cottages and displacing longtime residents.
Marybeth
Wow I hardly know what to say. Despite lots of research and talking to locals I had no idea. Thanks for sharing, hopefully something can be done.
Melissa
Lake Worth is the best!! Thanks for highlighting our little beach town 🙂
Marybeth
Lucky you to live there! What a gem, and not your typical beach town which is what we love about it! Funky, artsy, welcoming, and so much to do and see!
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Martha
FUN to read! GREAT PICS!!! WANT TO LIVE THERE!!!
THANKS FOR SUCH DEDICATION TO SHARING FLORIDA WITH US!!!
Marybeth
Thank you so much for your lovely comments! Lake Worth Beach IS cool! Almost every place we visit we say “We could LIVE HERE” but of course we’re so content living on our salty little piece of land. 🙂
Janet Serrano
As a downtown cottage owner, I have faith that our city commission and administration are moving forward to increase our downtown housing stock without sacrificing our cottage history.
Marybeth
Wonderful Janet! I see many articles written about your lovely town and the spirit of the community. Sounds like so many are working together to accomplish much. I’m sad that I’m going to miss the cottage tour this year!