December 2011
Volume 4 Issue 12
Serving Coastal Boca Raton and Highland Beach
Boca Raton
An old house no more
La Vieille Maison falls to bulldozer, but delicious memories remain By Tim Pallesen The 1927 house fondly remembered as Boca Raton’s favorite French restaurant has been demolished. La Vieille Maison defined Old World charm in fine dining for 31 years. But the old house
deteriorated after the restaurant closed in 2006, prompting city officials to condemn it last month. “It was an unsafe structure and had to be taken down,” Assistant City Manager Mike Woika said. “It had been neglected too long.”
A groundswell of La Vieille Maison’s former patrons didn’t want to see the bulldozer. “It’s a crime,” said Marvin Kaplan, a patron for three decades. “Nobody should have destroyed it.” See MAISON on page 6
The Giles House, home for 31 years to the restaurant La Vieille Maison, deteriorated as it sat vacant. Photo courtesy of the Boca Raton Historical Society
Boca Raton
Council approves 7-Eleven
Area to get facelift on developer’s dime By Margie Plunkett
40... and growing
Junior League of Boca Raton past presidents and other members gather around a sand castle on the beach. Photos courtesy of the Junior League of Boca Raton
In 1984, the Boca Raton Junior League dropped ‘Service’ from its name, but not from its core mission. At left: a 1975 clipping of club news from The Boca Raton News.
Boca Junior League chapter marks four decades By Ron Hayes
In 1971, a group of 26 young women declared themselves The Junior Service League of Boca Raton and decided the 46-year-old city had been around long enough to deserve a historical society. Today, that historical society is only the first in countless community projects the organization has nurtured, and the 700 women of the Junior League of Boca Raton are celebrating their own four decades of history. Jeanne Baur was a charter member and the league’s third president. “We were all Junior League members from all over the country,” she recalled
recently, “and when we moved down here we saw a need. We were a growing town in 1971. IBM was here and we saw the need for all kinds of volunteer projects.” Next came the challenge of restoring the 1912 Singing Pines house, now the Boca Raton Children’s Museum. In those early days, the Junior Service League supported puppet shows and consignment shops, the Morikami Museum and Planned Parenthood, the Children’s Home Society — and on and on. “Our biggest problem was See LEAGUE on page 14
Inside House of the Month
Home in coastal Boca Raton mixes elegance, convenience. Page 27
Holiday Gift Guide
We have scoured the coast for holiday treasures. Special Section Inside
Coastal Delights 2011 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
Holiday entertaining
These pantry items are the perfect recipe for quick and easy entertaining this season. Page 11
The highly contested redevelopment of a property at 800-899 E. Palmetto Park Road —including an addition for a 7-Eleven convenience store — will allow area revitalization on the developer’s dime rather than the taxpayers’. So say City Council members who voted in November to allow the project to move forward. “Our job is based on the law and on what is best for the entire community,” said Mayor Susan Whelchel before the vote that upheld a Planning and Zoning Board approval of the site plan for the property owned by James Batmasian. The council vote followed the hearing of an appeal of the site plan by some neighbors of the property, who voiced numerous concerns including that a convenience store was incompatible with the neighborhood and would cause a variety of disruptions. By the time the Nov. 22 meeting was over, two of three named appellants had dropped out (Peter Baronoff and Don Nadick) after conditions were proposed to address their concerns; two council members had recused themselves See 7-ELEVEN on page 10
Coastal Star
Preserving and enjoying the outdoors is in Elisabeth Hoffman’s nature. Page 2
Meet Your Neighbor
Joan Wolf of Boca Raton is one of the few female commodores in the country. Page 13