Seaside

Made famous as the picture-perfect backdrop in Jim Carrey's The Truman Show, Seaside is one of America's original New-Urbanist communities. Designed from the ground up to be traversed by foot and bicycle moreso than car, Seaside is where luxury and simple intersect. Just west of Western Lake, Grayton Beach State Park and the WaterColor resort community, Seaside's stretch of Florida Emerald Coast beach is as breathtaking as anywhere on 30A. The homes and businesses of Seaside are blessed with a truly unique mixture of Victorian, New Classical, Modern, Postmodern, and Deconstructivist buildings, bringing to mind something instantly familiar, yet 100% distinct. At the main beach access, a pyramid lighthouse looks out onto the Gulf, which you can see in the picture below. Taking a stroll through this romantic beach community, it is easy to see why Seaside is fond of the saying "New town, old ways".

 

 

One of three planned communities in 30A coast designed by Driehaus Prize winners Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Seaside came before its younger siblings Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach. What makes Seaside more fun is its more eclectic motif. In Seaside, every building is required to be different, to stand out in its own way. Each structure as unmistakable as the next, they are tied together through the use of traditional beach town palettes such as bright pastels and light earthy tones.

 

In the 1980's New-Urbanism became a popular movement, with its belief that cities should be small places that coexisted with the natural habitat and consisted of a wide range of housing and job types where everything was within walking distance. One walk through Seaside and you can see how this town is known as the first fully realized New-Urbanist place to live in the world. Local grocer The Modica Market, The Sundog Bookstore and classic record store experience offered by Central Square Records sits alongside multiple clothiers and restaurants. Everything from fine dining to hot dog serving food trucks is readily available, because in a New-Urbanist community, even small spaces recognize that variety is the spice of life.