Whoever said that small and opulent don’t mix, that chic has to be shabby, and that bankers are boring never met Alice and Robert Brittingham. Like the couple themselves, the 1,700-square-foot West of the Trail cottage they recently rehabbed is confident, inventive, adventurous and unexpectedly playful. Framed by palms, bougainvilleas, hibiscus and a courtyard wall [...]

March is baseball month in Sarasota, as a gang of about 65 young, athletic millionaires called the Cincinnati Reds come to town for spring training and warm-up games against all of the other big names in major league baseball. It’s probably the best opportunity most of us ever have to see such talent in action [...]

The new way to dine out is to eat in, as many Whole Foods Market take-out aficionados are discovering. You brave Sarasota’s downtown construction traffic, negotiate the market’s parking garage (or opt for valet), wind your way through the food-and-healthful-living-related aisles in this 36,000-square-foot store and brace yourself for a crush at the checkout counters. [...]

Donald Trump got married today-his third wedding. And according to the cover story in Vogue, he seriously considered having the whole thing televised in prime time live on Saturday night on NBC. It didn’t pan out; and while many people consider that a minor but important victory for good taste, I consider it a disaster. [...]

It was a heist worthy of a master thief, flawlessly timed and brilliantly executed. Within minutes, almost from under my nose, a masked bandit had stolen not only my breakfast but most of my film. The scene of the crime was a long, narrow saltern, a desert-like tract of parched mud in the heart of [...]

Can it really be 25 years since the Jazz Club of Sarasota took shape in the living room of Hal and Evelyn Davis? It can; and the late Davises, who fondly birthed and babied the club because of their devotion to the unique art form of jazz, will receive tribute at this month’s silver anniversary [...]

When George Luzier, 80, was a young boy in Sarasota, the only way to have a boat was to build one yourself. So when he was 14, under the watchful eye of his yacht captain uncle Bob, Luzier built his first boat under a pine tree on Hudson Bayou, then a playground of vacant lots [...]

Best Bite Although it’s not on the printed menu, it’s often on the "specials" board and nearly always available if you ask. I’m talking about taramosolata at El Greco Café, a splendid example of the classic Greek appetizer. A whipped combination of olive oil, fish roe (caviar, if you prefer), shredded bread and touches of [...]

As far as I know, Carl Hiassen hasn’t used this in a novel yet, but here’s betting you a paycheck he will. After all, it’s just "over the river and through the woods" down I-75 and you’re in Jurassic Park. Remember those seven-foot-long monitor lizards that showed up living in the Cape Coral canals five [...]