Gulf Stream is a small incorporated town on a barrier island in southern Palm Beach County, wedged between the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Intracoastal Waterway on the west, with Ocean Ridge to the north and Delray Beach to the south. State Road A1A, Florida's scenic coastal byway, runs through the town along the shoreline. With fewer than a thousand residents, Gulf Stream is among the quietest and most exclusive municipalities on the Florida coast, developed almost entirely as a low-density residential enclave rather than a commercial center. The town's identity was shaped in the 1920s, when the Gulf Stream Golf Club opened in 1924 with a course by the noted designer Donald Ross and a Spanish-style clubhouse by architect Addison Mizner. A few years later, the Gulf Stream Polo Club began play on fields that became known as the "Winter Polo Capital of the World" and "the birthplace of Florida polo," drawing crowds of socialites and celebrities during the winter season. By the 1960s, the last of the famous polo fields had been converted into home sites and a par-three golf course, but the golf-and-polo era remains central to the town's character and its architectural legacy. Today Gulf Stream is a community of substantial single-family homes on large lots, many with direct oceanfront or Intracoastal frontage, quiet streets, and no commercial district of its own. Residents rely on neighboring Delray Beach and Boynton Beach for shopping, dining, and services, while the town itself maintains a deliberately peaceful, residential atmosphere. Public beach access at Gulfstream Park, on the town's southern edge near the Delray Beach border, keeps the shoreline reachable for residents and visitors alike. Its small size, private school, and beachfront setting attract residents seeking privacy and a coastal lifestyle within easy reach of the broader Palm Beach County area.