Beverly Hills is a city in the western part of Los Angeles County, California. 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.

Beverly Hills is bordered on the north by Bel-Air and the Santa Monica Mountains, on the east by West Hollywood and the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, on the south by Los Angeles' Beverlywood neighborhood and on the west by Holmby Hills as well as Westwood Village and Century City, which are also Los Angeles neighborhoods and not separate cities. While Beverly Hills is administratively a separate city, it is culturally very much a part of Los Angeles.

Contemporary Beverly Hills

By the 1950s, small vacant lots remained and developers cropped whole mountains to ease the housing shortage. 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.

Rodeo Drive

A little known fact about the center divider that runs from North Santa Monica to Sunset in the middle of Rodeo Drive is built in place of a trolley track, 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.

90210

90210 is a ZIP code in Beverly Hills, made the most famous postal code in the world by the television series Beverly Hills 90210 and because of the celebrity residents that preside in the area. (West Beverly Hills High School is a fictional high school.) The real Beverly Hills High School is actually located in 90212. 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. The population of 90210 is 21,396.

2 Rodeo Drive and its "Spanish Steps" is at the heart of the exclusive shopping district on Rodeo Drive.

Landmarks

Sign marking the Beverly Hills city limits

• Beverly Gardens Park
• Beverly Hills High School
• Beverly Hills Hotel
• Beverly-Wilshire Hotel
• Burton Way - named for Richard Burton, city co-founder.
• Electric Fountain
• Greystone Mansion
• Greystone Park
• La Cienega Park
• Pickfair
• Beverly Hills Police department.
• Roxbury Park
• Will Rogers Memorial Park
• Beverly Hills City Hall
• Rodeo Drive
• Via Rodeo and Spanish Steps
• The Peninsula Hotel Beverly Hills