Boca Boca
Boca: True or False? BOCA IS THE BOCA’S SO SAFE 1 BEVERLY HILLS OF 4 YOU’LL FORGET FLORIDA WHAT LOCKS ARE
Lake Boca
TRUE. The median per-capita income TRUE. The crime rate in Boca Raton is for Boca is more than double the median 38 percent lower than that of the rest of for the rest of Florida, and Boca is home Florida. to three of the 10 most expensive gated communities in the U.S.
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
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average of six feet deep, and its sandbar is the site of Boca’s popular annual Boca Bash, a big daylong boat party that takes place in early April. Lake Boca is also great for fishing, kayaking, water skiing/ wakeboarding and, of course, boating.
EVERYONE AND THEIR DENTIST IS JEWISH
FALSE. But almost. Palm Beach County’s Jewish population hovers around 255,000, making up roughly 20 percent of the total population. (Jerry Seinfeld’s fictional television parents, Morty and Helen Seinfeld, lived in a retirement community called Del Boca Vista.)
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YEAH, YOUR GRANDMA’S GONNA RETIRE HERE
TRUE. The 65-and-older crowd makes up 20 percent of Boca’s population, residing in apartments near the beach and gated retirement communities.
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SHOPPING IS A LIGHT FORM OF EXERCISE
£ There are 7,324 recreational boaters
FALSE. Shopping is more of a contact sport in Boca, with copious luxury stores, including those at Town Center at Boca Raton, one of only two malls in the U.S. with four high-end anchors (Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom) under the same roof. So you can imagine how dangerous the sales can be! —Mvoto.com
BOCA TIMELINE
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£ The earliest known inhabitants of Boca Raton were the Tequesta Indians who lived in communities near the ocean until the 18th century.
TH EO
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£ By the early 1900s, Boca Raton was a tiny agricultural community. There were groups of Japanese immigrants under the leadership of Joseph Sakai, who formed a community along Yamato Road. One of the colony’s members, George Morikami, donated his farm for what is now the Morikami Museum.
£ Lake Boca, near the Boca Inlet, is an
£ In 1925, the Boca town council commissioned renowned architect Addison Mizner to plan a world-class resort community. In 1926, the Boca Raton Resort & Club opened, then known as the Cloister Inn; it stands to this day, many times as large as it once was, and still internationally revered.
living in Boca Raton, so it’s no surprise that one of the city’s holiday parades takes place on the water—with around 40 boats and yachts decked out in twinkly lights cruising down the Intracoastal.
£ Boca is known for its pristine twomile stretch of lifeguard-protected beaches—a rarity in South Florida, where many beachfront areas are overrun with condos and development. (The city had the foresight decades ago to buy up the beachfront and thereby preserve Boca’s coastline.) The beaches also have many parks with picnic facilities.
£ In 1991, Mizner
£ In 1962, Boca became
the site of the newest state university, Florida Atlantic.
£ The first IBM personal
computer was developed in Boca Raton in 1981.
Park opened, with shops, apartments, offices and restaurants—and a new era of downtown vitality was launched. This same year, the College of Boca Raton became Lynn University, and chemical giant W.R. Grace relocated its corporate headquarters to Boca after 126 years in New York.
BOCA CHAMBER ANNUAL 2019
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