| City of Beverly Hills, California |
|
Picture of Beverly Hills taken at Wilshire Boulevard |
| Nickname: "Garden Spot of the World" |
|
Location of Beverly Hills in Los Angeles County, California |
| Coordinates: 34°4′23″N 118°23′58″W / 34.07306, -118.39944 |
| Country |
United States |
| State |
California |
| County |
Los Angeles |
| Government |
| - Mayor |
Jimmy Delshad |
| - Vice Mayor |
Frank M. Fenton |
| - City Manager |
Roderick J. Wood |
| Area |
| - Total |
5.7 sq mi (14.7 km²) |
| - Land |
5.7 sq mi (14.7 km²) |
| - Water |
0.0 sq mi (0.0 km²) 0% |
| Elevation |
259 ft (79 m) |
| Population (2000) |
| - Total |
33,784 |
| - Density |
5,927/sq mi (2,298/km²) |
| Time zone |
PST (UTC-8) |
| - Summer (DST) |
PDT (UTC-7) |
| ZIP Code |
90210, 90211, 90212 |
| Area code(s) |
310, 323, 424 |
| FIPS code |
06-06308 |
| GNIS feature ID |
1652672 |
| Website: http://www.beverlyhills.org |
Beverly Hills is a city in the Northern part of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together entirely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles. The area's "Platinum Triangle" of wealthy neighborhoods is formed by Beverly Hills and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Bel-Air and Holmby Hills. The population was 34,980 as of the 2006 census.
Beverly Hills is bordered on the north by Bel-Air and the Santa Monica Mountains, on the east by West Hollywood, the Carthay neighborhood of Los Angeles, and the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, and on the south by the Beverlywood.
Beverly Hills contains some of the largest homes in Los Angeles County and the nation. These homes range from the extravagant and luxurious in size, to the more elegant and modern homes, and then to the many small duplex rental units and detached homes with less than 3,000 sq ft. The city's average household income is just over $87,000.[1]
In 2007, Coldwell Banker lists Beverly Hills as the most expensive housing market (second year in a row) in the United States, with a median home price of over $2.2 million[2].
History
Early years
The land on which Beverly Hills is now located was historically fertile because of the streams that met there in the rainy months. Water cascaded down from the canyons that became known as Coldwater and Benedict, creating a ciénaga (or swamp) at the location of present day Sunset Boulevard and Beverly Drive. The foothill site had flocks of geese and ducks, bands of wild horses and herds of antelope. Native American inhabitants, the Tongva (called the Gabrielino by the Spanish) tribe, considered it a holy site and named it "The Gathering of the Waters," which in the Spanish language is El Rodeo de las Aguas.
Gaspar de Portolà's land expedition arrived in the area on August 3, 1769. The group, composed of Portolà (the first governor of the province of California), some Franciscan priests and a cavalcade of leather-jacket soldiers and horses, traveled over the Indian trail, which would one day be Wilshire Boulevard, across the plain toward the foothills gouged with deep canyons, and made camp in the cool of the sycamore trees at the present site of La Cienega Park, near the large swamp. On September 27, 1821, New Spain became Mexico and the province of California quietly changed flags.
That same decade, retired Spanish soldier Vicente Ferrer Valdez and his wife, Maria Rita Villa de Valdez, settled on the 4,500 acres (1,821.1 ha) Rancho El Rodeo de las Aguas. Rita did not care for the name, however, and chose to call it San Antonio. The Valdez adobe home was built near what is the present day intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Alpine Drive. Valdez died in 1828, leaving Rita and eleven children.
In 1831, Los Angeles mayor Vicente Sanchez granted to Rita, jointly with her kinsman Luciano Valdez, a tract of land he named San Antonio. She began having trouble with Luciano Valdez, however, and decided that the rancho was not big enough for the two of them. In 1834, she testified before the Los Angeles City Council, bringing up a number of charges against Luciano. The council agreed and ordered him to vacate the premises. In 1840, the land grant was confirmed by the governor of California, Juan Bautista Alvarado. By 1844, Rita had built a second home, this one on Main Street in Los Angeles, where she kept her title papers and grant. She fled prior to the arrival of U.S. forces into the city in 1846. When she returned, she found her papers had been stolen.
Benedict Canyon circa 1910
California was admitted as a U.S. state on September 9, 1850. The United States Board of Land Commissioners later confirmed her title. However, prior to this, Rita sold the rancho in 1854 to Benjamin D. Wilson and Major Henry Hancock. Hancock sold out to William Workman, who planned to grow wheat. But after one successful season, the drought of 1863–1864 put a temporary end to farming in the area. The legendary waters dried up, crops withered and cattle died.
A brief oil boom brought a flourish of interest in the land in 1865 when the Pioneer Oil Company bought the rights to drill wells. But the wildcatting ended when the land proved as dry underneath as on top. Then newcomers arrived and herds of sheep appeared on the land, with portions being sold. James Whitworth bought a 125-acre (50.6 ha) parcel between what became Robertson and La Cienega Boulevards, north of what became Pico Boulevard, and Edison A. Benedict built a home in 1868 at the mouth of the canyon that bears his name. Benedict and his son, Pierce, bought adjoining land, planted walnut trees, beans and other vegetables and raised bees.
The De Las Aguas Land Association was formed with headquarters in San Francisco. Nearly the whole ranch was divided into 75 acres (30.4 ha) farming lots with the center reserved for the "Town of Santa Maria," which was to be split into five acre lots (2.0 ha) to be sold at $10 each. The proposed main street of the town was Los Angeles Avenue, now Wilshire Boulevard. The plans were dropped followed another drought, and the land reverted to sheep ranching.
Henry Hammel and Charles Denker, owners of the United States Hotel in Los Angeles, then purchased the land. Lima beans were the only crop to flourish, along with the sheep, but their ultimate dream was to establish a subdivision called Morocco. During their ownership in the 1880s, there was a land boom and a steam train brought buyers from Los Angeles to Santa Monica, passing through the Hammel and Denker Ranch. A station named Morocco, with a town of the same name was shown on the map of 1888, but the station and the town existed only on paper. The land boom collapsed, taking their plans along with it.
Middle years
Aerial view of Pickfair, 1920
In 1906, the community of Beverly Hills was developed with winding roads and tree-lined streets. The community was designed to allow the buyers to build a custom house on the land they purchased in the new development, so Beverly Hills was never designed as a tract housing development. During its construction, Beverly Hills was never intended to be a haven for the affluent but rather a rural community with homes on large lots. The Rodeo Land and Water Company(Burton Green)decided to name it Beverly Hills after Beverly Farms, Massachusetts. Developers wanted to create a west coast replica of this town-although it transformed over the years to be quite different.
In 1919, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford bought land on Summit Drive and built Pickfair, the house that would remain Pickford's home after she and Fairbanks divorced and for the rest of her life. Other wealthy movie people followed them and settled in Beverly Hills. Will Rogers, a wisecracking political humorist, wrote of the land boom in 1923, "Lots are sold so quickly and often out here that they put through escrow made out to the 12th owner... They couldn't possibly make out a separate deed for each purchaser; besides, he wouldn't have time to read it in the 10 minutes' time he owned the land." The movie colony was well entrenched by 1928 when Harold Lloyd built his mansion in Benedict Canyon, followed by John Barrymore, Robert Montgomery and Miriam Hopkins. Thus, Beverly Hills became famous for being home to the rich and for the large, stylish mansions of famous movie stars.
The population in 1920 was 672; in 1924, it was 5,000; by 1930, it was 17,429. The issuance of building permits in 1918 totaled $35,200; in 1919, $304,900; in 1921, $787,729; 1922, $1,838,994.
The track that would become the Beverly Hills Speedway, 1912
In early 1920, the Beverly Hills Speedway, a 1.25 miles (2.0 km) wood oval track with turns banked 35 degrees, which was built at a cost of $500,000 on the south side of Wilshire Boulevard between Beverly Drive on the east and Lasky Drive on the west in Beverly Hills, was opened. Joe Boyer ran his race car 110 miles per hour (177.0 km/h) during the exhibition run. The races drew huge crowds and radio broadcasts were on a par with today's Indianapolis 500. There were also some aviation shows, another national craze. The speedway was closed in 1924 and the site was later subdivided for housing and businesses.
In 1923, annexation to the city of Los Angeles was proposed, but faced opposition. Residents Mary Pickford, Will Rogers and others mobilized local voters against the plan. Those for annexation argued that Los Angeles would provide an adequate supply of better quality water for growth. Workers left bottles of sulfur-smelling water on the doorsteps of every home in Beverly Hills with a label that read: "Warning. Drink sparingly of this water as it has laxative qualities." Despite the campaign tactics, annexation was defeated 507 to 337. The following year, the city voted $400,000 in bonds to purchase the water system from the Beverly Hills Utilities Company and drill additional wells.
This fight for an independent city was arguably the first union of show business and politics in the United States. When Will Rogers became involved in local city government the community received international advertising. In 1925, Rogers was given the title "Honorary Mayor of Beverly Hills," becoming the first and (to date) only person so honored. The same year, the citizens of the city voted a $100,000 bond issue to purchase with Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Venice 385 acres (155.8 ha) for the building of UCLA. There were 96 miles (154.5 km) of paved streets in the city limits by 1927. In 1928, the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard between El Camino and Rodeo Drives, part of the old Beverly Hills Speedway, was completed. That same year, Greystone Mansion was completed by Edward L. Doheny, Jr., the only son and heir of wealthy oil man Edward L. Doheny. And in 1930, horses were banned in the City of Beverly Hills. Beverly Hills continued to grow. Promotional materials from the period touted the young metropolis as the "center of the next million." Fortunately, human-scale public improvements helped soften the effects of growth. In the early 1930s, Santa Monica Park was renamed Beverly Gardens and was extended to span the entire two mile length of Santa Monica Boulevard through the city. At its Santa Monica and Wilshire corner, the Electric Fountain, a constant symphony of form and color at night, was installed, with a small sculpture at the top of a Tongva kneeling in prayer, homage to the heritage of Beverly Hills as a wellspring of fertility and abundance.
Will Rogers standing with a model of plans for constructing City Hall
The following year, 1932, a new Italian Renaissance-style City Hall was opened. By 1933, however, the Depression hit Beverly Hills. The city and school board cut salaries to save funds. In February, some 161 parcels of land were advertised for sale for delinquent lighting assessments. The Chamber of Commerce established an employment bureau and the mayor requested a branch welfare office from the County of Los Angeles.
Despite these problems, in April 1934 there was a huge celebration over the dedication of the city's new United States Post Office. The civic festival that followed was called Beverly Hills on Parade. By 1937, the city had weathered the storm of the Depression and was riding the crest of a wave of retail sales that reached more than $20,000,000 and bank deposits topped the $25,000,000 figure. Property values of that year showed a 30% increase over the previous year and new buildings were being opened regularly.
In the years after World War II, energies were again turned toward the building of the city; businesses and residential areas began to flourish.
Contemporary Beverly Hills
By the 1950s, small vacant lots remained and developers cropped whole mountains to ease the housing shortage. The stables and trails of the unusually large Doheny family estate, Greystone Mansion was bought by Paul Trousdale. The Trousdale Estates area was eventually annexed and an expensive housing development began to take shape in the hills above the city. Beverly Hills marketed itself as one of the most glamorous places in the world to shop. The Golden Triangle, with Rodeo Drive at its center, was marketed as the apex of chic shopping and fashion.
The Via Rodeo, the first new street in Beverly Hills in seventy-six years, was completed in 1990. The Spanish cobblestone street leads to 2 Rodeo Drive, a "mini-mall" with upscale shops and restaurants. In 1992, the Beverly Hills Civic Center was opened. Designed by architect Charles Moore, it links the new public library, fire and police departments with the historic City Hall. The exterior of the old public library, which had featured a mosaic resembling books on a shelf, appeared in stock shots in The Brady Bunch as Mike Brady's office building.
It's a little-known fact that the center divider that runs in the middle of Rodeo Drive from North Santa Monica to Sunset is built in place of a old trolley track (that once ran from downtown Beverly Hills to the Beverly Hills Hotel along that route).
While the city derives its unique personality from being favored by show business people; and it is true that many actors, writers, directors and producers live in the city and take part in civic life; many professionals, doctors and lawyers, have homes and offices in the city also. The Beverly Hills Unified School District, with its four K-8 schools and the Beverly Hills High School, boasts particularly high academic achievement.
The city's image has been enhanced by being featured in television shows and movies set in Beverly Hills, including the The Jack Benny Program (1950 to 1954), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962 to 1971), the Beverly Hills Cop movies, and Beverly Hills 90210 (1990 to 2000). There's a worldwide hit animation series Totally Spies based in Beverly Hills, as three teen girls attend fictional Beverly High School are part-time undercover spies.
Rodeo Drive, Beverly and Canon Drives all recently underwent construction to widen the sidewalks and beautify the streets. New construction has also just been completed that added more parking for visitors to the famed shopping area.
2 Rodeo Drive and its "Spanish Steps" is at the heart of the exclusive shopping district on Rodeo Drive.
90210
90210 is a ZIP code in Beverly Hills, made famous by the television series Beverly Hills, 90210 and because of the celebrity residents that reside in the area. Beverly Hills also has two additional ZIP codes based on the general area. These ZIP codes are 90211 and 90212. In 1983, the local weekly magazine "Beverly Hills 213" debuted as the city's first color ultra-luxury magazine.
Geography
Beverly Hills is surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, albeit the small Northeast corner shares the boundary along Doheny Boulevard with West Hollywood, another city known for the Sunset strip that includes Beverly Hills on the famous Sunset Boulevard.
Main thoroughfares include Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard, and Sunset Boulevard. Shopping streets include Beverly Drive and Rodeo Drive. Coldwater Canyon Drive is the main road through Beverly Hills into the San Fernando Valley.
In spite of the city's name, most residents live in the "flats" of Beverly Hills, a relatively flat land that includes all of Beverly Hills south of Sunset Blvd. The homes in the hills north of Sunset Boulevard have a much higher value than average homes in the rest of Beverly Hills, and the most expensive homes in Beverly Hills are all in the hills. Wilshire Boulevard divides the "flats" into two areas, locally know as "North or South of the tracks," referring to the train tracks that were once used by the old Redline stockcar that traversed Beverly Hills along Wilshire Blvd. Homes south of Wilshire have more urban square and retangular lots, generally smaller than those to the north. There are also more apartment buildings south of Wilshire Blvd than anywhere else in Beverly Hills, and the average home value south of Wilshire is the lowest in Beverly Hills.
Except for the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Beverly Hilton Hotel, all businesses and government offices in Beverly Hills are located south of Santa Monica Blvd. Nearby the Beverly Hills city limits is the famous Los Angeles Country Club, with its two golf courses, where golfers tee up beside celebrities.
Demographics
As of the census[3] of 2005, there were 34,980 people. The racial makeup of the city was 82.06% White, 1.77% Black or African American, 0.13% Native American, 7.05% Asian, 1.50% from other races, and 4.63% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
In the city the population was spread out with 20.0% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 26.8% from 45 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age for the city was 41 years old.
There were 15,035 households out of which 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.8% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.0% were non-families. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 3.02.
The median income for a household in the city was $70,945, which is typical for an upper-middle class suburb and close to the median household income of San Jose, California. Yet, the median price for an owner-occupied house exceeds $1,000,000. This is because of an unusually large proportion of renters in the city. There are so many renters in Beverly Hills that homeowners are not the majority. Renter-occupied housing units comprise 56.6 percent of the city's housing stock and the median household income for renter-occupied housing units in the city is $48,179, which is just slightly above average for the entire United States.
The median household income for an owner-occupied housing unit is $125,707.
The median income for a family is $102,611. Males had a median income of $72,004 versus $46,217 for females. The per capita income for the city was $65,507. 9.1% of the population were below the poverty line, most of those were 65 an older Senior citizens.
Despite its reputation, 90210 is not the wealthiest ZIP Code in the United States or even California (the wealthiest ZIP Code in California is 94027, generally located in Atherton, California; the wealthiest ZIP Code in the United States is 33139, which is located in Miami Beach, Florida). In fact, Beverly Hills has the lowest median household income of any city with both a population over 10,000 and a median housing price over $1,000,000. Other places in the area that are generally considered to be very wealthy, such as Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, display the same characteristics.
Government and politics
Beverly Hills Police being inspected by Sir Harry Lauder's, late 1930s
See also: Mayor of Beverly Hills
Of the 21,426 registered voters in Beverly Hills; approximately 50.3% are Democrats and 25.9% are Republicans. The remaining 23.8% are Independents or are registered with one of the many smaller political parties, like the Green Party or the Libertarian Party.
The heavy Democratic advantage makes Beverly Hills one of the more liberal cities in Southern California. In 2004, John Kerry won 62% of the vote compared to 37% for George W. Bush. In the 2006 state governor election, Arnold Schwarzenegger got nearly 45% of the vote but won a second term by a state-wide majority, while Democratic opponent Phil Angelides had just over 54%.
Beverly Hills is a general law city governed by a five-member City Council including the mayor and vice mayor. City Council hires a city manager to carry out policies and serve as executive officer. Every odd-numbered year either two or three members are elected by the people to serve a four-year term. Each March the City Council meets and chooses one of its members as mayor and one as vice-mayor.
Barry Brucker is mayor and Frank Fenton is vice mayor. Roderick J. Wood is city manager. The other three city council members are Linda J. Briskman, Jimmy Delshad [4] and Nancy Krasne. In city council meetings, a few celebrities showed up to speak on local political issues. The Beverly Hills Police Department has its stake to claim in serving the city in law enforcement, included run-ins with celebrities in its history. The police department was featured on the 1986 comedy movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills and another comedy, Beverly Hills Cop.
State and Federal
In the state legislature Beverly Hills is located in the 23rd Senate District, represented by Democrat Sheila Kuehl, and in the 42nd Assembly District, represented by Democrat Mike Feuer. Federally, Beverly Hills is located in California's 30th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D +20[5] and is represented by Democrat Henry Waxman.
Education
Public schools
Beverly Hills is served by Beverly Hills Unified School District; the district's sole high school is Beverly Hills High School.
Los Angeles neighborhoods near Beverly Hills are served by Los Angeles Unified School District.
Private schools
Beverly Hills also has several private schools.
Good Shepherd School, a PreK-8 school in Beverly Hills, is a part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Other Beverly Hills private schools include Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy, Emanuel Academy of Beverly Hills, and Page Private School.
Marymount High School in nearby Westwood, across from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), is in close proximity to Beverly Hills.
Media
Beverly Hills is served by the following newspapers: the Beverly Hills Courier, Beverly Hills Weekly, and Beverly Hills 213 Magazine. The Beverly Hills Post used to be one of the main newspapers, but it went out of business. Due to its location, it is also served by all Los Angeles TV, radio, and newspaper media.
Beverly Hills also has its own Television channel, KBEV. Run by the students of Beverly Hills High School, it airs on channel 6 (on cable) to the residents of Beverly Hills.
Landmarks
Sign marking the Beverly Hills city limits
Derivative nicknames
The name Beverly Hills has often been employed as a nickname for a fashionable, affluent area. For example, Ladera Heights, an unincorporated area in southwestern Los Angeles County, has been dubbed the "Black Beverly Hills"[6]. Similarly, the city of Scottsdale has been given the nickname "Beverly Hills of Arizona" for its upscale shops, stately homes, and high household incomecitation needed.
Famous residents past and present
See also
References
External links
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