The Beverly Hills zip code was the first I knew by heart after my own. Nine-oh-two-one-oh. It rolled off the tongue like smoke above a velvet chaise, like buttery whisky over a smooth hunk of ice, like a satin glove peeled off immaculate nails. And to my nine-year-old imagination, recently and completely captivated by the debut of the hit teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210, it represented the pinnacle of sophistication, affluence, and exclusivity.
It was Julia Roberts with armfuls of shopping bags admonishing snooty salesgirls about their “big mistake—huge.” It was Shelley Long’s Girl Scouts hawking cookies at a concert in front of Giorgio. It was Cristophe, Spago, and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. It was Cher Horowitz in the loqued-out Jeep Daddy bought her. And of course, it was Dylan McKay’s 1964 Porsche Speedster convertible.
Beverly Hills has long been the place of dreams and abundance, long before early Hollywood stars like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Rudolph Valentino built mansions here: The native Tongva considered it a sacred site, where converging streams flowed down the canyons. (The Beverly Hills Hotel now sits on that exact location.)
But after COVID and an ensuing upsurge in retail theft contributed to the closures of many of the neighborhood’s longtime businesses, Beverly Hills is getting a small facelift currently. There has been a spate of buzzy new dining options and hotels—with some New York names planting their flags on the West Coast for the first time—in addition to some major luxury retail openings: Chanel, Balenciaga, Loewe, Louis Vuitton men’s, and Rimowa, in addition to forthcoming flagships of Dior and Cartier. Taken together, they’re reinvigorating an area celebrating its 110th birthday this year—and providing locals and visitors alike an excellent reason to give the city long synonymous with glamour a fresh look.
A California-Cool Twist on British Hospitality Heritage
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Photo: Danielle Hamilton