The History of Beverly Hills

the land that was to become Beverly Hills was originally known as a rodeo de las aguas which in Spanish means the gathering of the waters it's hard to believe that a little more than 100 years ago there was no Beverly Hills as his comparison shows it was barren land a desert there were barely 50 people living in what would become one of the most famous cities in the world the evolution of Beverly Hills was transformed because of water and the population that it brought as a matter of fact the original developers of Beverly Hills came in to strike oil there was no oil but they did find water and water allowed them to build a subdivision that became Beverly Hills the trolley stop at Beverly was originally called Morocco Junction the name Hills was added later people would get off the train and be met by real-estate brokers who had piled them into their buggies or horseless carriages and show them lots then try to sell them for nine hundred dollars apiece unfortunately nobody was buying and the city floundered to spur sales the city master plan was updated and evolved into curving streets that many say was modeled after Beverly Hills resident and silence screens it girl Clara both in an early silent film local boy Will Rogers is attacked by s crow Indians armed with mortgage deeds by 1910 there were still only six houses in Beverly Hills and that is when the decision was made to build a luxury hotel on Sunset Boulevard it was the only restaurant lodgings and watering hole in the city again real estate brokers would go out on the weekends and try to sell the guests lots or even one of the few finished houses that existed at the time it wasn't until the Beverly Hills Hotel was built the Beverly Hills started to succeed in 1920 Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford two actors who divorced their spouses and married each other established the first great celebrity estate called Pickfair it became such an opening for Hollywood that within the next ten years Hollywood fueled the dreams of the world and Beverly Hills became its bedroom many of these estates that still exist have a pedigree a provenance and architectural significance unlike any place in the world almost every single estate has a dramatic biography that goes along with it Greystone mansion is one of those iconic Beverly Hills signature estates it was built by the Doheny family in the late 1920s Edward L Doheny was the first man to discover oil in the West with his newly earned riches he built his fabulous estate for his only son Ned and less than nine months after Ned his family moved in there was the tragic accident some say it was the murder of Ned by his male secretary others claimed Ned killed the secretary and then himself still others claimed the father caught them together and killed them both whatever happened was covered up by the local police within 48 hours the story was brought back to life in the Academy award-winning movie there will be blood which was shot at the actual mansion before the days of swimming pools you either play tennis or you went horseback riding so almost every estate north of Sunset Boulevard had its own stables you could ride your horses all the way down Sunset Boulevard as far as the Pacific Ocean there were over 50 miles of trails and when you think about what life was like a hundred years ago even sixty years ago this was how people spent their leisure time you could also write up Mulholland and overlook the San Fernando Valley which would soon be turned from desert to oasis when the imported water turned the worthless land into the third-largest subdivision in Los Angeles this real estate scam was memorably portrayed in the movie Chinatown one of the most celebrated families who used horseback riding for leisure with the Dohenys they would lean Greystone mansion where they had their stables crossed co-author can into the park beyond the reservoir and arrive at the Doheny ranch the ranch house is still there to this day and that big 3 acre park in front is where they would sit enjoy drinks and libations and all kinds of barbecue by the time was over the Sun had set and as they headed back many were so wasted that they just got on their horses because the horses already knew the shortest way back to the Doheny stables in those days there was no traffic and even the street sign said horses had the right-of-way those were the days one of the early concepts to bring people to Beverly Hills was the clever idea of building a racetrack in just four years that accomplished its goal and was demolished to make way for the first subdivision in the southern part of the city Rodeo Drive meets Wilshire Boulevard at the Beverly Wilshire hotel which was at the northeast corner of the old Speedway walking down the street pretty woman me you God or you haven't got did you stand out and of course Beverly Hills has become the most famous ZIP code in the world 9:02 a know where all the stores along Rodeo Drive and the surrounding streets with their shops find restaurants and banks even doctors lawyers and media moguls have helped create the buzz that is Beverly Hills this is really Beverly Hills the architecture is really consistent isn't it French makes the Spanish next Tudor it makes the Japanese it's so clean out here because they don't throw their garbage away they make it at the television shows to this day as you drive Beverly Hills you'll see some of the greatest homes the the signature styles of Beverly Hills one of the greatest real estate stories takes place just to the right of gravestone where you see the orange groves this area was developed into one of the most famous subdivisions in the world called Trousdale Estates the Lots were originally sold for $50,000 and today command anywhere from 5 million to 35 million dollars and that's just for the dirt in fact one of these Lots holds the current record for the highest sale in Beverly Hills for single-family residence built on spec it sold for a mere seventy million dollars the house 22,000 square feet with jetliner views from downtown to the ocean even contains a car elevator and turntable inside its own car museum movie stars have lived in Beverly Hills from the very beginning their legendary estates attract millions of visitors the streets have hosted some of the greatest names in motion pictures music and industry and no city has had more of its residents on stamps than Beverly Hills house the resident honorees have included dozens of actors composers singers but also sports heroes a legendary general a couple of presidents and a king the first hometown hero to get a stamp was Will Rogers and there have been many notable since imagine they all used the same post office Beverly Hills is not just a zip code Beverly Hills is a state of mind it's the Platinum triangle that includes Bel Air and Holmby Hills the Beverly Hills post office area even the Sunset Strip where you buy a 3,000 square foot house for 15 million dollars and proceed to tear it down Bel Air is perhaps the jewel to crown for luxury estates in the Platinum triangle all our estates build on at least an acre of level land and go upwards from there many having spectacular views Bel Air's developers thinking way into the future hid many of these mansions from public eye thus making them paparazzi proof for those living today who desire require privacy and security Bel Air and Holmby Hills are home to some of the most powerful and influential people in the world in the evolution of Beverly Hills in just over a century it is interesting to see how these estates then considered huge at five to ten thousand square feet each are now becoming massive mega mansions there are states that are forty to fifty thousand square feet in up like many major centers of world wealth these buyers will probably spend on more than four to eight weeks a year visiting their estate that is what international buyers are looking for today as both a private playground and safe refuge world renowned Beverly Hills in the Platinum triangle is one of the most luxurious and exclusive neighborhoods in the world the weather central location and investment opportunity make it the center for the movers and shakers that shape our culture

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Keywords: Christie's International Real Estate (Business Operation), Hilton & Hyland, Jeff Hyland, Beverly Hills (City/Town/Village), California (US State), Douglas Fairbanks (Film Actor), Mary Pickford (Film Actor), There Will Be Blood (Film), Hollywood, Hotel California (Musical Album), The Godfather (Film), Beverly House, Chinatown (Award-Winning Work), Real Estate (TV Genre), Documentary (TV Genre), History (TV Genre), Architecture (Industry)

Id: BGIt2JQBT7M

Length: 11min 29sec (689 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 16 2015