History
18th century
Gaspar de Portolà's land expedition arrived in the area on August 3, 1769. The group consisted of Portolà (the first governor of the province of California), some Franciscan priests and a cavalcade of leather-jacket soldiers and horses. 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 (18 km2) Rancho 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.
19th century
California was ceded by Mexico to the United States in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, marking the end of the Mexican-American War. It was admitted as a U.S. state on September 9, 1850.
In 1852 Maria Rita Valdez De Villa asked to purchase a league of land for $4,000. She called the land Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas. It was later purchased by Major Henry Hancock (of Hancock Park fame), a New Hampshire attorney. He had come to the state during the 1849 gold rush. He used the land as a farm until 1868, when Dr. Edward Preuss, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, bought the land.
A brief oil boom raised interest in the area in 1865 when the Pioneer Oil Company bought the rights to drill wells.
20th century
Headquarters building of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
On October 22, 1906, the community of Beverly Hills was declared open by the Percy H. Clark Co., managers of the tract of land. It was described as a "beautiful suburban residence between this city Los Angeles and Santa Monica." The community was designed to allow the buyers to build a custom house on the land they purchased in the new development. The Rodeo Land and Water Company (Burton Green) decided to name it Beverly Hills after Beverly Farms in Beverly, Massachusetts. Prior to this, the land was known as the Hammel and Denker ranch, which was one of Southern California's most fertile lands for growing lima beans.[5] As an area bounded today by Wilshire Boulevard to the south, the foothills just above Sunset Boulevard to the north, Whittier Drive on the west, and Doheny Drive to the east, Hammel and Denker ranch was part of the land grant known as El Rodeo de Las Aguas (the Ranch of the Gathering Waters) and was purchased in 1906 by a syndicate of railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington, oil tycoon Charles A. Canfield, W G. Kerckhoff, W. S. Porter, Burton M. Green, and real estate developer Max Whittier.It lies in the old Morocco Junction of the Los Angeles Pacific road, where the Hollywood and Colgrove branches connect. The investment company marketed Beverly Hills as "between the city and the sea."
In September, 1911, work began on the Beverly Hills Hotel. The Los Angeles Times would call it a "monster hostelry" since it cost $300,000.[8] At the time, lots were selling for around $2,000 each.
In 1919, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford bought land on Summit Drive and built Pickfair.In 1921, they announced that they would build the home that they had been "dreaming" about 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 ('Greenacres'), John Barrymore, Robert Montgomery, and Miriam Hopkins built residences there.
The population in 1920 was 674; 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.
In early 1920, the Beverly Hills Speedway, a 1.25 miles (2.0 km) wood oval track with turns banked 35 degrees was opened. Joe Boyer ran his race car 110 miles per hour (177.0 km/h) during the exhibition run.[citation needed] The races drew huge crowds and radio broadcasts were on a par with today's Indianapolis 500. There were also 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] When Will Rogers became involved in the 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 as such. 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 (1.6 km2) 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.
In the early 1930s, Santa Monica Park was renamed Beverly Gardens and was extended to span the entire two-mile (3-kilometer) 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.
In April 1931, the new Italian Renaissance-style City Hall was opened.
By 1933, the effects of the Depression were being felt in 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.[citation needed] 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.
Geography
Beverly Hills is nearly entirely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, sharing only a portion of its eastern border, primarily along Doheny Drive, with West Hollywood. The precise limits of Beverly Hills are complex, and therefore hard to describe; however, the city limits can be roughly described as the area surrounded by the Los Angeles Country Club and Century Park Drive to the Southwest, Whitworth Drive to the South, at various points Doheny Drive/Robertson Blvd/San Vicente Blvd to the East, and the Hollywood Hills to the North.
Major east-west thoroughfares in Beverly Hills include Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard, and Sunset Boulevard. Shopping is prevalent along Beverly Drive and the world-famous Rodeo Drive. Coldwater Canyon Drive is the main road out of Beverly Hills to the north into the San Fernando Valley. Beverly Drive and Roberston Blvd are the primary roads exiting the city to the south. Beverly Hills is one of the few cities in the Los Angeles area that is not directly served by a freeway.
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 houses in the hills north of Sunset Boulevard have a much higher value than average houses in the rest of Beverly Hills, and the most expensive houses in Beverly Hills are all in the hills. Santa Monica Boulevard divides the "flats" into two areas, locally known as "North or South of the tracks," referring to the train tracks that were once used by the old Pacific Electric streetcar line that traversed Beverly Hills along Santa Monica Blvd. Houses south of Wilshire have more urban square and rectangular lots, in general 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 house value south of Wilshire is the lowest in Beverly Hills.
Nearly all businesses and government offices in Beverly Hills are located south of Santa Monica Boulevard, two notable exceptions being the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Just outside the city limits to the west lies the Los Angeles Country Club. Other locations commonly associated with Beverly Hills include the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Beverly Center, just outside city limits to the east.
Demographics
Historical populations
Census Pop. %±
1920 674
—
1930 17,429 2,485.9%
1940 26,823 53.9%
1950 29,032 8.2%
1960 30,817 6.1%
1970 33,416 8.4%
1980 32,367 −3.1%
1990 31,971 −1.2%
2000 33,784 5.7%
2010 34,109 1.0%
source:
2010
The 2010 United States Census reported that Beverly Hills had a population of 34,109. The population density was 5,973.1 people per square mile (2,306.2/km²). The racial makeup of Beverly Hills was 28,112 (82.4%) White, (2.2%) African American, 48 (0.1%) Native American, 3,032 (8.9%) Asian, 12 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 485 (1.4%) from other races, and 1,674 (4.9%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1,941 persons (5.7%).
The Census reported that 33,988 people (99.6% of the population) lived in households, 121 (0.4%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized.
There were 14,869 households, out of which 3,759 (25.3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 6,613 (44.5%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 1,354 (9.1%) had a female householder with no husband present, 494 (3.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 460 (3.1%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 131 (0.9%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 5,400 households (36.3%) were made up of individuals and 1,834 (12.3%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29. There were 8,461 families (56.9% of all households); the average family size was 3.05.
The population was spread out with 6,623 people (19.4%) under the age of 18, 2,526 people (7.4%) aged 18 to 24, 8,540 people (25.0%) aged 25 to 44, 9,904 people (29.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 6,516 people (19.1%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.6 years. For every 100 females there were 84.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.3 males.
There were 16,394 housing units at an average density of 2,870.9 per square mile (1,108.5/km²), of which 6,561 (44.1%) were owner-occupied, and 8,308 (55.9%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.2%; the rental vacancy rate was 8.0%. 17,740 people (52.0% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 16,248 people (47.6%) lived in rental housing units.
2000
As of the 2000 census, there were 33,784 people. The racial makeup of the city was 85.1% White, 7.10% Asian, 1.80% African American, 1.50% from other races, 0.10% Native American and 4.60% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Beverly Hills is home to a large Persian/Iranian community. According to a 2006 NPR article, Iranians represent 20% of the city's population and 40% of the students in its schools. This includes a large Persian Jewish community. The Census Bureau defines the "White" race category as including "people having origins in any of the original peoples of the Middle East"
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.
Government and infrastructure
Local government
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 William W. Brien, MD is vice mayor. Jeff Kolin is city manager. The other three city council members are John Mirisch, Lili Bosse and Julian A. Gold, MD. In city council meetings, a few celebrities have shown up to speak on local political issues.
The Beverly Hills Police Department and the Beverly Hills Fire Department serve as emergency response for the city. BHFD has the privilege of being distinguished as "Class 1" in fire protection by an insurance industry rating service.
See also: Mayor of Beverly Hills
County, state, and federal representation
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services SPA 5 West Area Health Office serves Beverly Hills. The department operates the Simms/Mann Health and Wellness Center in Santa Monica, serving Beverly Hills.
In the state legislature, Beverly Hills is located in the 23rd Senate District, represented by Democrat Fran Pavley, and in the 42nd Assembly District, represented by Democrat Mike Feuer. Beverly Hills is located in California's 30th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D +20 and is represented by Democrat Henry Waxman.
The United States Postal Service operates the Beverly Hills Post Office at 325 North Maple Drive, the Crescent Post Office at 323 North Crescent Drive,the Beverly Post Office at 312 South Beverly Drive, and the Eastgate Post Office at 8383 Wilshire Boulevard. The Beverly Hills Post Office received listing in the National Register of Historic Places on January 11, 1985.
Economy
Beverly Hills is home to one Fortune 500 company, Live Nation Entertainment; other companies based in Beverly Hills include Platinum Equity, John Paul Mitchell Systems and Spark Networks.
The Los Angeles-area offices of Aeroflot and El Al are in Beverly Hills.
At one point, Hilton Hotels Corporation had its corporate headquarters in Beverly Hills. The original headquarters of GeoCities (at first Beverly Hills Internet) was at 9401 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills.
Underneath the city is the large and still-productive Beverly Hills Oil Field, serviced by four urban drilling islands, which drill diagonally into the earth underneath the city. The most notorious of these drilling islands occasioned a 2003 lawsuit representing former attendees of Beverly Hills High School, approximately 280 of which having suffered from cancers allegedly tied to the drilling operations.
Top employers
According to the City's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:
# Employer # of Employees
1 Beverly Hilton Hotel 1,093
2 City of Beverly Hills 1,080
3 Beverly Wilshire Hotel 750
4 Endeavor Talent Agency 750
5 William Morris Agency 711
6 Beverly Hills Unified School District 600
7 Beverly Hills Hotel 520
8 The Peninsula Hotel 460
9 Saks & Co. 340
10 Nelson Shelton & Associates 300
Diplomatic missions
Beverly Hills has three consulates (Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador.)
Education
Public schools
Beverly Hills High School Gymnasium
Beverly Hills is served by Beverly Hills Unified School District, which includes four K-8 schools (Hawthorne, El Rodeo, Beverly Vista, and Horace Mann), Moreno High School, and the Beverly Hills High School.
[edit]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.
Climate
Beverly Hills has a warm and moderate Mediterranean climate, with an average high of 85 degrees in August, and an average high of 64 degrees in January. Beverly Hills also receives on average 18 inches (460 mm) of rain per year. Summers are marked by warm to hot temperatures with very little wind, while winters are moderate to cool with occasional rain alternating with periods of Santa Ana winds. During Santa Ana events, gusts up to 40 mph (64 km/h) are common.[citation needed] Snow has been witnessed only in 1882,1922,1932 and 1949.
Media
Beverly Hills is served by the following newspapers: Beverly Hills Courier and Beverly Hills Weekly. Beverly Hills is served by the following magazine: Beverly Hills Times. The Beverly Hills Post used to be one of the main newspapers, but it went out of business. The city is also served by all Los Angeles TV, radio, and newspaper media
Beverly Hills also has its own local television channel, KBEV. Run by the students of Beverly Hills High School, it airs on Channel 6 (on Time Warner Cable) to the residents of Beverly Hills.
In 2009, a small group of Beverly Hills residents created an online diary blog of their lives growing up and living in Beverly Hills called The Daily Truffle that has grown into a popular website for residents.
Landmarks
Sign marking the Beverly Hills city limits
Beverly Gardens Park
Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills Hotel
Beverly Wilshire Hotel
Electric Fountain
Greystone Mansion
Greystone Park
La Cienega Park
Pickfair
Virginia Robinson Gardens
Greenacres
Beverly Hills Police Department
Roxbury Park
Will Rogers Memorial Park
Beverly Hills City Hall
Walden Drive
Rodeo Drive
Via Rodeo and Spanish Steps
The Peninsula Hotel Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills Public Library
Derivative nicknames
The name Beverly Hills has often been employed as a nickname for a fashionable, affluent area. For example, View Park, an unincorporated area in southwestern Los Angeles County, has been dubbed the "Black Beverly Hills".[39] Similarly, the city of Scottsdale has been given the nickname "Beverly Hills of Arizona" for its stately homes, high-end shops, the extensive Fashion square mall, Fashion week, resorts and high household income.[citation needed] Calabasas, California located in the San Fernando Valley is considered the Beverly Hills of the valley. Beverly Hills, Michigan is known for its large affluent office buildings and nice homes all located in the affluent areas of Metro Detroit. Respectively, Buckhead, the uptown district of Atlanta, has been dubbed "The Beverly Hills of the South" due to the large number (as well as the highest concentration) of upscale shops, elaborate homes, and high average income.
Beverly Hills in popular culture
Beverly Hills has been featured in a number of television shows and movies set in Beverly Hills, including The Jack Benny Program (1950 to 1954) (and on his radio program from 1932–1955), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962 to 1971), the Beverly Hills Cop movies, Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990 to 2000), and 90210 (2008 – ).
90210
90210 is one of five ZIP codes for Beverly Hills,[2] and perhaps its most famous, gaining popularity with the 1990s television series Beverly Hills, 90210 and its 2008 spin-off 90210. Other series to feature it in its title are Dr. 90210, a reality show featuring Beverly Hills plastic surgeons. and High Maintenance 90210, also a reality show. Rapper Wale released a song called 90210 referring to a girl who wants to be famous.
The other four, less-celebrated ZIP codes for Beverly Hills are: 90209, 90211, 90212 and 90213.
Other pop culture
Replica Beverly Hills sign in Universal Studios Florida theme park
The animated series Totally Spies is set in Beverly Hills.
Another animated series "Beverly Hills Teens" is about young teens who live in Beverly Hills in the 80's
The opening scene of The Andy Griffith Show showing Sheriff Taylor and Opie carrying fishing poles was shot at the Franklin Canyon Reservoir at the north end of town just west of Coldwater Canyon.
In Walt Disney's movie, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, The main character, Chloe, lives in Beverly Hills, 90210.
In the 2009 Simpsons episode, Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh, there exists a spoof version of Beverly Hills, nicknamed "Waverly Hills".
Ted's of Beverly Hills is a fictional steak restaurant on the Phil Hendrie radio show.
The first track on Weezer's Make Believe album is entitled "Beverly Hills" and is one of their most popular songs.
The 1965 Beverly Hills Public Library building facade was featured regularly on the Brady Bunch as Mr. Brady's office building.
The 1995 Film, Clueless (film) is set in Beverly Hills as is its 1996 TV Spin-off Clueless (TV series)
Season one of the The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills aired on Bravo in 2010 with part 1 and 2 of the Reunion show airing in January 2011.
All about Los Angeles:
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- History of Los Angeles
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