THE NEXT GENERATION

Where Flagler left off began a young man named Addison Mizner, a talented architect who designed some of New York's most notable mansions. It was failing health, not inspiration, that prompted Mizner's journey south. But while sitting on the veranda of the Royal Poinciana Hotel with friend Paris Singer, discussing his "vision" for Palm Beach, he would cause the island's second chapter to be written.

Passionate about recreating the distinctive Moorish-Mediterranean-style architecture he had seen on his travels to Central American and Europe, Mizner wasted little time picking up where Flagler left off. First came the Everglades Club, a decidedly bold statement that set the pace for subsequent design. His first commission to build an oceanfront house resulted in El Mirasol (The Sunflower), home of self-made Philadelphia financier and stock market icon Edward T. Stotesbury and his wife, Eva, Palm Beach's most notable family of the time. Costing more than $1 million, the 37-room estate is considered decadent even by today's standards: In addition to a 40-car garage, the mansion featured an auditorium and private zoo.

Mizner went on to build equally grand estates for some of the island's most influential residents. Among them were the Phipps, whose fortunes were made in ironworks and steel and later parlayed into Bessemer Properties, once one of the largest land owners on the East Coast; and the Vanderbilts, who earned their wealth through lucrative railroad and lumber mill holdings.

But not everyone thought well of Mizner's vision. In fact, Casa Apava, which was later purchased by Revlon chairman Ronald Perelman, was built on five miles of oceanfront as an anti-Mizner statement by Dudley S. Blossom, a Cleveland industrialist who disliked Mizner's work.

"The people who lived in Palm Beach didn't know what to make of Mizner's creations," says Ponce. "He was so whimsical at mixing up all kinds of architecture. On the north facade of the Everglades Club, for example, he used 22 different window treatments, concluding with a California-style mission tower. He was so controversial that when he started building the Mediterranean vias on Worth Avenue to blend with the Everglades Club, there was a petition circulated to stop him from building any more of those "ugly, foreign-looking buildings."

But there was a method to his madness. Unlike his peers who built without regard for the summer heat, Mizner was generous with his use of courtyards, balconies and windows to take full advantage of the tropical breze. Undaunted by his distractors, Mizner continued building shops and apartments along Worth Avenue as well as private residences throughout Palm Beach. In 1925 and 1926 he created Via Mizner and Via Parigi, two of the eight charming side streets that would come to define this world-famous street's special charm.

Mizner died in 1933 but not before seeing one of Palm Beach's most influential construction booms: The Brazilian Court, Colony and Biltmore hotels had been build, and the Bath & Tennis Club - across the street from Mar-a-Lago, built by Edward F. Hutton to meet the social needs of his wife, Marjorie Merriweather Post - offered a nice alternative to the Everglades and Sailfish Clubs.

Post, the enterprising breakfast-cereal heiress, spent $8 million to create her very own Shangri-La - a 17-acre estate with a 100 plus-room mansion complete with a 75-foot tower (the island's tallest), lakeside cottages, nine-hole golf course, citrus groves, greenhouses, pool and underground tunnel to the beach.

A veritable Who's Who of international business and politics were frequent guest of Palm Beach's grande dame. Post would fly in diplomats from around the world to attend the Red Cross Ball at Mar-a-Lago - a tradition later continued at The Breakers by society dame and pharmaceutical heiress Sue Whitmore, whose great-grandfather developed Listerine.

Fifty-eight years later, Donald Trump would purchase Mar-a-Lago for a mere $7 million ($5 million for residence and $2 million for the furnishings). He kept the Post tradition alive, however, and transformed Palm Beach's largest home (55,695 square feet) into a private club - reviving the tradition of one of the most envied guest lists in town.

"Marjorie was the personification of complete and utter dignity combined with a marvelous work ethic and sense of fun that had been passed down by her father," says Agnes Ash, former publisher of "Palm Beach Life" magazine, the country's oldest society journal, started in 1906.

"Post had tremendous influence. She had people square dancing at a time when the shimmy was the rage," says Ash. "And she had everyone from her lawyer in his pinstripe suit to her private pilot out there dancing."

Extravagant about wearing diamonds and owning airplanes, Post was also known for her keen sense of practicality: To prevent women's lipstick from staining her table napkins, she discreetly lined them with layers of paper.

Post's interests extended well beyond her palace; she is credited with Palm Beach's first charitable event. In the late '20s she hosted a tea to benefit the Animal Rescue League and continued the annual tradition until her death in 1973. After Trump purchased Mar-a-Lago, animal rights activist and Save-A-Pet founder Gertrude Maxwell was given permission to stage her organization's annual gala at Mar-a-Lago, keeping Post's affinity for "pet" organizations alive.

Today, Palm Beach is home to more than 100 charitable foundations, among them some of the nation's largest: the American Heart Association, American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and UNICEF.

Following Post in the headlines was Mary Sanford, "Queen of Palm Beach" society, who occupies an entire chapter in the island's gilded history. Married to Stephen (Laddie) Sanford, partner in the then-thriving Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Company, she represents an interim generation of vivacious, beautiful ladies who made and left their mark on Palm Beach.

"Many of Palm Beach's charity balls would have faded if it weren't for her great leadership and energy," says Ash, who frequently lunched with Sanford and close friend Rose Kennedy at the Poinciana Club.

An avid tennis player and horserider, Sanford was one the first women to flaunt her athleticism - paving the way for future generations of Palm Beach ladies.