From the rows of gorgeous houses to the easy access to downtown Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice, and Koreatown, Beverly Hills is what many would consider perfectly located real estate. Some of the best shopping centers and restaurants in all of Los Angeles are at your disposal, as well as numerous parks and a superb public library. Additionally, many of Los Angeles County’s best beaches are only a short drive away. Furthermore, Beverly Hills’ status as an independent city right in the middle of Los Angeles and within the county allows for self-governance and a greater commitment to keeping the city clean and safe than you can find in much of the area, meaning that local beauty maintains its sheen. 

Much of what locals love about the location though is that in spite of being in the middle of the chaos of Los Angeles, Beverly Hills is an oasis of greater calm for locals. Sure you get tourists on Rodeo Drive, but most of the city is beautiful neighborhoods with quiet residential blocks. Hard to beat that. 

Location

The Best Thing About Beverly Hills?

Simply put, while its status as a celebration of the rich and famous is overstated, the cost of living is definitely on the high side in Beverly Hills. The city’s luxurious houses do not come cheap, and amenities such as groceries, gasoline, and utilities are similarly high-priced. This can also be reflected in attitudes of the locals- Beverly Hills has a reputation for being home to celebrities and aspiring socialites. Many fear the judgmental attitudes of Beverly Hills and its residents, and while this is also overstated, it can be off-putting to those who prefer a more modest and subdued lifestyle. 


The Cost

The Worst Thing About Beverly Hills? 

Beverly Hills size and insularity drives a sense of community. The local government is designed for public participation, with city beautification efforts and other services funded by public offices. Beverly Hills is perfect for families due to the many great schools, services and events at the local library, and numerous parks and community events. The strong sense of community often leads residents to forming close bonds with their neighbors, which in general fosters a high opinion of the area among families. 

Beverly Hills also has a high number of elderly residents, making it a perfect place for retirees to bask in the warm California sun alongside their fellow senior citizens. That being said, if the nightclub and bar hopping scene is something you crave, while you won’t find Beverly Hills the most accommodating, West Hollywood is only a short drive away to service all of your partying needs.


Lifestyle of Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills has its own school district that rates an [**A+ on niche.com**](https://www.niche.com/k12/d/beverly-hills-unified-school-district-ca/). The public schools are some of the best Los Angeles County has to offer, with four Kindergarten through Eighth Grade schools and two high schools that boast consistently high standardized test scores and college acceptance rates. Numerous private schools also call Beverly Hills home, giving families a plethora of educational options to choose from for their children.


Schools of Beverly Hills

If you've got the bucks and are interested in living in the middle of Los Angeles but also completely insulated from the intensity of that city you should put Beverly Hills on your shortlist. 



An Escape

Why You Should Move Here Now?

The Flats are your best bet if you’re looking for a walkable neighborhood and have the bucks for one of the massive homes. There are fun restaurants and bars within walking/biking distance to the Downtown area, and for the outdoorsy among you The Flats has great parks like the stunning [**Beverly Gardens Park**](https://lovebeverlyhills.com/things-to-do/view/beverly-gardens-park) and [**Will Rogers Memorial Park**](https://lovebeverlyhills.com/things-to-do/view/will-rogers-memorial-park). You won’t find more beautiful outdoor spaces in the county than these. 
The homes in The Flats are typically iconic Spanish architecture and many of the streets are lined with tall majestic palm trees. There truly is no more stunning a set of homes than the wealthy blocks of The Flats. They do come with a hefty price tag at a median home price of $8.5m. 


Families

The Flats

Benedict Canyon is a secluded neighborhood that is home to many celebs including Jay Leno, Bruce Springsteen, and David Beckham. It’s prized for 1) massive, beautiful homes built into the hills 2) the views of the Canyon, Santa Monica Mountains and Los Angeles from your back deck 3) privacy that comes from living up in an area that feels like you're living in the countryside. 4) an incredibly short commute down the hill to the commercial areas of Beverly Hills, or down the other side of the Canyon to the shops of the Valley. 

The Canyon preserves its beauty and safety via the Benedict Canyon Association that works to stave off obscene development or misuse of lands. All of this beauty and privacy comes with a median price tag of $6.7m. 


Benedict Canyon

Beverly Glen sits at the edge of Beverly Hills and Bel Air and is predominantly single-family homes and a notable air of tranquility. Plenty of celebs make this neighborhood home, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and Reese Witherspoon. The area is extremely popular with families who appreciate the wonderful schools in the area and the direct access to tons of outdoor activities. 

Much of the outdoor experiences available come from [**Beverly Glen Park**](https://www.laparks.org/park/beverly-glen). The park has 3.5 acres of hiking trails, community pool, tennis courts, playground spaces, and amazing open green spaces for kiddos and doggos to roam.  

The homes in the neighborhood have a median price of $3.5m which shockingly is not too crazy for the area. While there are certainly mansions in Beverly Glens, the homes are at a more reasonable scale for more "modest" families. 

Beverly Glen

Beverly Park is a gated community on the northern edge of Beverly Hills. It's divided into two areas: North Beverly Park and South Beverly Park. There is probably no neighborhood more associated with stars than Beverly Park and the homes match the glamour of the residents. Th average home size is 20,000 square feet(minimum requirement of 5,000 sq ft) and there are only 80 or so homes across the two communities. The gates and privacy they represent is a distinct characteristic separating Beverly Park from other neighborhoods in the area and is in part why celebrities flock to any open home that comes available. 

Every home lives up to the mission of the South Beverly Park developers: "develop South Beverly Park as an idyllic community of historic-feeling grand estates that would feel like the Beverly Hills of yesteryear". 

Beverly Park 

The Golden Triangle is the center of commerce in Beverly Hills. It's where the luxury shopping and exquisite dining happens on Rodeo Drive. It's also where the tourists come to shop themselves or just to ogle the wealth and hope for a star sighting. It's also where many of the younger professionals who choose to make Beverly Hills home live amidst the many condo and apartment buildings that rise above or adjacent to the retail offerings. 

The Golden Triangle is also home to the [**Beverly Hills Community Dog Park**](https://lovebeverlyhills.com/things-to-do/view/beverly-hills-community-dog-park), so if you have a doggo and are a registered resident you can release the hound off-leash for play. The neighborhood is also home to [**Beverly Hills Farmer's Market**](https://www.beverlyhills.org/departments/communityservices/farmersmarket/?NFR=1), which runs every Sunday morning and offers the usual produce + a small petting zoo for the kiddos. Finally, there the neighborhood is also home to the [**Beverly Hills Public Library**](https://www.beverlyhills.org/departments/communityservices/beverlyhillspubliclibrary/), a hugely popular spot for families during story times and for adults looking for a quiet reading spot. 

Young Professionals/DINKs

Golden Triangle (Downtown)

Beverly Hills

**Best things about Beverly Hills compared to Santa Monica and West Hollywood?**

Beverly Hills if obviously a nicer and safer area compared to areas that are already nicer and safer than most anywhere else. You won't get the freaks, weirdos, homeless and troublemakers who seem to be drawn to Santa Monica (or come up from Venice Beach), even though Santa Monica itself is nice. Especially Ocean Park, Ocean Avenue and North of Montana (the nicest part of SM).

Beverly Hills is older, more expensive, and is more where people live and shop rather than where they work or play. The BHPD pretty much exists to serve (they're more like a private security company than an actual police department like LAPD), and will be exceedingly polite and deferential to most residents. The response time is unreal. They're never more than half a minute away. They keep the riff-raff out and are focused on the area. Unlike West Hollywood, which has the LASD. I don't think the LASD even likes West Hollywood.

West Hollywood is where a lot of people (especially well-heeled LGBT) go to party. If you're not into the club scene, or the LGBT scene, then West Hollywood may not do much for you. It's not particularly safe, and has one of the highest incidence rates of reported assaults (mostly drunk gay bros indulging in lover's quarrels).

Culver City bores me.

Silver Lake isn't a city. It's just a neighborhood that might as well be on the moon if you're living in any of the other places mentioned during peak hours.

**Would you rather live in Los Feliz or Beverly Hills?**

I used to live in Los Feliz and currently live in Beverly Hills; enjoyed both, so my advice would be to go with whichever is closer to work.

Beverly Hills Pros: Very walkable (if you're in the flats, versus the hills), pretty tree-lined streets, quiet, small-town feel, very well maintained streets and public spaces, great service from the city (you don't have to sort trash versus recycling for example, you throw it all away in the same trash bag and they sort it for you), close-ish to the beach, close to low key nature spots like TreePeople or Franklin Canyon, homeless problem isn't as bad as the rest of LA (though definitely still exists), and that sample sale place on Canon Drive is pretty awesome (I know it's a dumb thing to include on the list, but it's this space that hosts sample sales from different brands every week where you can get some crazy good deals on designer clothing).

Cons: not much to do at night unless you want to hang out at a hotel bar or Wally's or urth caffe lol. And everything is a crappier version of itself (like the Whole Foods is tiny with half the selection of other locations, the Thai and Chinese food around here is bland, little things like that), and this next one is weird...but...lots of assholes in loud cars. Like all of a sudden at 3am you'll hear a loud roar because some dick decided to show off his Lamborghini. Also a lot of tourists and kids taking photos for social media. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but the other day I missed a left turn because a couple of girls had hopped into the middle of the street to do a tik tok dance lol, and that happens almost daily.



**Best things about Beverly Hills compared to Santa Monica and West Hollywood?**

All 3 are great, but for different reasons.

Santa Monica has the mildest temperatures of the 3. It rarely gets hotter than 79 degrees. The public schools are good. Many family oriented neighborhoods. Very walkable. Bike friendly.

Safety wise, Santa Monica is good, but it's been declining over the past few years. The decline is most pronounced in the downtown area, where there has been more homeless problems. With that being said, other neighborhoods in Santa Monica like Ocean Park, Sunset Park, and Montana are still fantastic areas to live in and remain very safe.

West Hollywood is vibrant and more geared towards people that want to be out and about. Nightlife, bars, fancy restaurants, etc. It's quite walkable but some parts are hilly, FYI. You will experience more crime incidents because that's inevitable with so much drinking and partying going on. Generally speaking though, WeHo feels safe. I've never felt on edge over there compared with other more questionable nightlife hotspots like Downtown LA or Central Hollywood. I would not describe WeHo as family oriented.

Beverly Hills is geared towards 3 types of people: 1.) Those who have zero tolerance for riff raff 2.) Very wealthy people 3.) Older people

If you fit into any of those 3 buckets, you will like Beverly Hills.

I like the southern part of BH (around Beverly Dr). Feels less billionaire fancy and more neighborhoody.

Beverly Hills, California

90210

Looklyloo Score: 87

We're on it!