Every city has a story it tells visitors—the skyline, the waterfront, the headline-grabbing openings. But then there’s the story a city tells itself, the quieter one, shaped by the people who show up every morning to build something with their hands, their voices, and their conviction that this place is worth the effort. This issue of WPB Magazine is about that second story.
Our cover belongs to Wilkine Brutus, an award-winning WLRN journalist whose place-based storytelling captures the cultural richness of Palm Beach County in ways that press releases and ribbon cuttings never could. From documenting a FAMU-led community garden that tackles food scarcity to profiling the Hungarian enclave in Lake Worth Beach, Brutus finds the deeper narrative beneath the surface. His work reminds us that the most powerful stories are often the ones hiding in plain sight—at a commission meeting, a neighborhood dance night, or a mother’s refugee journey retold across a kitchen table.
That same spirit of making something meaningful from the ground up runs through every piece in this edition. Lani Goodrich started Avenue Pottery with a discarded kiln, YouTube tutorials, and a backyard studio. Today, her Dixie Highway workshop supplies handmade stoneware to local restaurants and has become a gathering place where an 80-year-old named Jack drops in most mornings just to talk, learn, and feel connected. Christian and Alex Le Clainche turned a grandfather’s unrealized dream of growing Jamaican coffee into Pumphouse Coffee, a homegrown brand now expanding from its 8,000-square-foot Pouratorium to a downtown café, Palm Beach International Airport, and a donut shop in Flamingo Park…