Is Palm Royale Country Club Real? (& Where Was It Filmed?)

Palm Royale has finally started streaming on Apple TV, and we can’t wait to soak up the dreamy ‘60s vibes. The series whisks us off to Palm Beach, where Max Simmons (Kristen Wiig) strives to attain a place in the town’s high society by joining its exclusive resort club, the Palm Royale Country Club. The sun soaked aesthetic harks back to Don’t Worry Darling and an older school rendition of The White Lotus: think vibrant blue swimming pools flanked by palm trees, striped loungers and fringed parasols, plus ‘permanent vacation’ style tones of green, yellow and pink. But where was Palm Royale filmed? And can you visit? Spoiler: your first guess is wrong.

Image courtesy of Apple TV+

Where Was Palm Royale Filmed?

Palm Royale was filmed in Los Angeles, not in Florida, despite being set in the real town of Palm Beach.

Why Los Angeles? ‘We were fortunate that much of the development of Los Angeles in the 1920s and 30s was occurring around the same time as Palm Beach, so there is a nice mirroring of architectural style,’ Jon Carlos, the series’ production designer, recently told Conde Nast Traveller. ‘We felt there wasn’t anywhere better that we could “cheat” than Los Angeles,’ Jon explains, adding: ‘Even if we went to Palm Beach, a lot of it has changed since ’69 so we were going to have to augment or change it back.’

Image courtesy of Apple TV+

Where Is The Palm Royale Country Club?

Many exteriors of the Palm Royale Country Club were shot at The Ebell of Los Angeles, while intimate scenes were shot on sound stages, though a team did go out to Palm Beach to shoot establishing and aerial shots.

Is The Club Real?

Sadly not. The idea behind the Palm Royale Country Club ‘is an amalgam of real-life places in Palm Beach,’ Jon says. ‘The Breakers, The Everglades Club, The Bath & Tennis Club – but we needed to create a fictional version for our story.’

The Palm Royale Country Club may not be real, but it draws on some very real places, one being The Colony. ‘Our Palm Royale pool looks like theirs, very feminine and pink,’ says Jon. ‘Historically, The Colony Hotel held a lot of fashion shows poolside – Slim Aarons photographed them – so we picked up on the dominance of fashion in that space in the show.’

VISIT: Rates at The Colony start from $479 per room, per night. thecolonypalmbeach.com

The swimming pool at The Colony

Where Is The Saga Motor Inn?

Having fallen on hard times, Max lives in a motel in West Palm called the Saga Motor Inn, which was actually filed in Los Angeles – at a real hotel called Saga Motor Hotel Inn in Pasadena. ‘We used a room there and completely changed it to the 1969 version,’ Palm Royale’s set decorator Ellen Reede recently told Conde Nast Traveller. ‘We took away the fabrics, drapery, bedding, everything and had replacements custom-made using our palette. Motels had these very specific quilted coverlets back then; I found the pattern in an old Sears catalogue and our quilter used that to replicate them. We also had to completely wipe all the pool furniture and bring in our own period pieces – we wanted some well-used, mismatched furniture because this is an older motel that she’s living in. It’s not pristine by any means.’

Where Is The Martini Bar?

Scenes in Dina and Maxine’s Martini Bar were filmed at a real bar called The Prince, located in Koreatown in LA. ‘That space looks almost identical to what you see in the show,’ says Ellen. We changed out the art works—because we had to for clearance purposes—but your readers will actually get that feel when they go there.’

Kristen Wiig and Ricky Martin in “Palm Royale,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

WATCH

The first three episodes of Palm Royale are streaming now on Apple TV. New episodes arrive on Wednesdays.