Scouting Boca
Vintage Hollywood Station
I went to Boca for two reasons. I wanted a day out, a long bike ride, and some adventure. The other reason was more practical. I wanted to see if Boca might suit us better than Hollywood as a winter base.
I brought my bike on the train and loaded it in the bike car. The ride north was easy. The train was full, but not packed, and when I got off the El Rio Trail entrance was right there at the station. I picked it up and rode east no need for a navigation app. The signs were where they should be and it was intuitive to find a good road east to the beach.
From the station I rode out toward Spanish River Boulevard and then to A1A. There was a bike lane on the road and, in many places, a separate paved path off to the side. I usually took the sidewalk or the shared path. It felt easier that way. The riding was simple, the crossings manageable.
The Boca bikers are different from Hollywood. In Hollywood people ride loose. No helmets. Shirts off. Fat-tire e-bikes, decorated and lit up each cruisers, Trikes and home built cycles all rolling along the boardwalk. The bike is part of the day, a way of getting around, something recreational and incidental. In Boca it was road bikes, helmets, proper cycling kits, clipped shoes. The riding itself was the point - the sport.
A1A Bike Path
I turned into Spanish River Park for a break. The park sits just across from the ocean, though once you are inside it feels tucked away from the road. There aren’t dedicated bike trails, but there are park roads and paths, plenty of shade, and room to move around. The trees are big and old and the ground is sandy under them. There were several differnt groups picnicing. I rode through slowly, drank water, and sat in the shade for a bit.
From there I rode through downtown Boca by way of Palmetto Park Road and over the bridge. Again, no app, no confusion. The signs were enough. The whole place had an orderly quality. No spectacle, no drifting. I stopped for lunch at Café Chéri, a little bakery with sandwiches, coffee, and sweets, and it felt exactly right.
There was a long glass case with pastries laid out in even rows. Behind the counter was a gleaming espresso machine with white cups of different sizes stacked neatly on shelves above it. Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra tunes playing in the background. My iced coffee came out on a bamboo tray with a cookie on the side, delivered by a waiter in a sharp black uniform and white gloves.
As I sipped my coffee, a man came in who looked so much like my boss that I couldnt help staring. Not only the same face, same hair, but also the same New York Jewish accent. Only ten years older maybe. He sat down and made conversation while he waited for his order - told me he worked in software sales, had once been a child actor, had gone back into acting, and had just won an award for a comedy show he described as a kind of Seinfeld or Larry David spinoff. He fit the role perfectly.
He also gave me real estate advice. Pompano Beach, he said, was the place to buy if you wanted quicker upside. Boca and Delray were different markets. Then he told me the almond croissants at the café were the best in South Florida.
After lunch I rode down to the South Beach pavilion and looked out at the water. The beach was full of local students. I had brought a bathing suit and towel, but it was too hot to lay out. Boca was easy to ride, but South Florida in midday is not forgiving. I drank three full bottles of water and a very large iced coffee, and I sweated it all out. The humidity holds everything. Even with the breeze of riding, the sweat doesn’t evaporate
Boca South Beach
The sun was brutal so I made my way back to the station and waited for the train in the shade. The platform itself was fine. There was a nice breeze moving through. It was the ride that had done me in. If you are going to bike in South Florida, the rule is simple: leave at six in the morning and be done and in the shade by eleven, or learn to ride at night.
On the train ride home a biker from Argentina loaded his foldable wide-tire ebike and sat next to me. We compared ebikes. He told me about a small concierge company called MTB Tours that does a lot of trips in Europe and costs far less than Trek Travel or Backroads. The owner of the company rides with the tourists and the service is very personal. Another note to remember from another stranger.
By the end of the day, the differences between Boca and Hollywood felt plain enough without much interpretation. Boca is older, wealthier, and more educated, and that shows up in the streets. The median household income is just over $106K in Boca versus $67K in Hollywood, and the share of adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher is 62% in Boca versus 32% in Hollywood. Average asking rents run higher in Boca, with one-bedrooms around $2,350 and two-bedrooms around $3,000, versus roughly $1,850 for a one-bedroom and around $2,500 for a two-bedroom in Hollywood.
The mix of people feels different too. In Hollywood you hear many languages as you ride—Spanish, Russian, English, sometimes all in the same block. The crowd shifts from one street to the next, a blend of backgrounds and energies.
In Boca, the range feels narrower. The riders and café crowds look more alike—well-kept, athletic, settled into a similar rhythm. Boca felt more ordered, more intentional, more like the kind of place where a certain version of a person could hold her shape.
