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 the Los Angeles neighborhood of Beverlywood, and on the west by Holmby Hills as well as Westwood Village and Century City, which are also Los Angeles districts.
In 1919, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford bought land on Summit Drive and built Pickfair, the house that would remain Pickford's home after she and Fairbanks divorced and for the rest of her life. Other wealthy movie people followed them and settled in Beverly Hills. The movie colony was well entrenched by 1928 when Harold Lloyd built his mansion in Benedict Canyon, followed by John Barrymore, Robert Montgomery and Miriam Hopkins. Thus, Beverly Hills became famous for being home to the rich and for the large, stylish mansions of famous movie stars.
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. 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.
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 homes in the hills north of Sunset Boulevard have a much higher value than average homes in the rest of Beverly Hills, and the most expensive homes in Beverly Hills are all in the hills. Wilshire Boulevard divides the "flats" into two areas, locally know as "North or South of the tracks," referring to the train tracks that were once used by the old Redline stockcar that traversed Beverly Hills along Wilshire Blvd. Homes south of Wilshire have more urban square and retangular lots, generally 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 home value south of Wilshire is the lowest in Beverly Hills.
Beverly Hills Post Office or BHPO, is a part of Los Angeles that lies in the hills just north of the City of Beverly Hills. This area, as the name might indicate, shares the 90210 zip code with Beverly Hills proper. The very hilly terrain makes BHPO seem more like the Hollywood Hills in character, with many homes overlooking dramatic views of the city.
