Beverly Hills, California: The City of Palm Trees, Wealth and Hollywood History
Beverly Hills, California: The City of Palm Trees, Wealth and Hollywood History Beverly Hills is one of the most recognisable city names in California, yet the place itself is considerably more varied than its reputation for luxury shopping and celebrity homes suggests. Set within the Los Angeles metropolitan area, this independent city combines palm-lined streets, grand residences, historic buildings, landscaped public spaces and the famous shops of Rodeo Drive. Its identity was shaped long before Hollywood made Beverly Hills internationally famous. Water, ranching, real-estate development and the arrival of the film industry all played important roles in its development. Today, the city remains a small municipality surrounded by Los Angeles, with a distinctive landscape that changes from relatively flat commercial streets to steep, wooded hillsides. Its combination of urban polish, architectural history and an unusually strong sense of place makes Beverly Hills an interesting des...