California

90210: 101 Things to Do in Beverly Hills

101 Things Expert

Beverly Hills is the most famous zip code in the world. A 5.7-square-mile city entirely surrounded by Los Angeles, it has maintained its independent incorporation since 1914 and has managed, across the intervening century, to become the global shorthand for a specific kind of American aspiration: the palatial estate, the Rodeo Drive boutique, the pink hotel behind the bougainvillea, the celebrity at the corner table, the Rolls-Royce in the valet queue, the sunset light on the Wilshire Boulevard towers.

But Beverly Hills is also genuinely surprising to those who look past the postcard. The Doheny Estate — a 46,000-square-foot Tudor mansion with grounds free to the public and views stretching to the Pacific — is one of the finest free parks in Los Angeles. Virginia Robinson’s six-acre botanical garden has Australian palms and Italian terraces and almost no visitors. Franklin Canyon Park is a 605-acre wilderness of chaparral and reservoir that feels entirely removed from the city around it. The city has 25,000 street trees and has been named Tree City USA for 41 consecutive years. And the food — from the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel to the late-night diner culture of Beverly Drive — is among the finest concentration of restaurants in the Western United States.

This guide covers 101 things to do in Beverly Hills and the immediately adjacent areas of West Hollywood, Bel Air, and the Sunset Strip — the complete social, cultural, and culinary world of the city and its neighbourhood.

The Icons: What Everyone Comes For

  1. Rodeo Drive — The Walk — The 0.4-mile stretch of Rodeo Drive between Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards is the most celebrated shopping street in the United States and one of the most recognisable addresses in the world: Gucci, Prada, Cartier, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Harry Winston, Dior, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Bulgari, Tiffany, and the Valentino and Hermès flagships within walking distance of each other. You do not need to buy anything. Walking the street — the palm trees, the fountain at the base, the architecture of the boutiques (the Louis Vuitton building’s chequerboard facade, the Chanel’s interlocking C in the window display) — is entirely free and entirely itself.
  2. Two Rodeo Drive (Via Rodeo) — The cobblestoned pedestrian street off the main Rodeo, designed in a European arcade style with arched passages, balconies, and a grand staircase: the most specifically cinematic corner of the commercial district, used in Pretty Woman and a dozen subsequent productions. The Beverly Wilshire Hotel at the base of Rodeo is the building from which Julia Roberts exits; it remains the most specific Pretty Woman pilgrimage available in Beverly Hills. The Fountain restaurant at the hotel — an American café in a room of Beverly Wilshire grandeur — is the finest people-watching lunch on the street.
  3. The Beverly Hills Hotel & the Polo Lounge — The Pink Palace: the 1912 Mission Revival hotel on Sunset Boulevard, with the bungalows where Howard Hughes lived for decades (in alternation with several other permanent celebrity residents), the banana leaf wallpaper that was originally designed for the Fountain Coffee Room in 1949 and has never been changed, and the Polo Lounge — where every major Hollywood deal of the studio era was conducted over a Cobb salad and a bottle of Cristal. Breakfast at the Polo Lounge (the Belgian waffles, the fresh-squeezed orange juice, the basket of pastries that arrives with the coffee) is the most specifically Beverly Hills start to any morning.
  4. Beverly Wilshire Hotel, A Four Seasons — The hotel at the corner of Wilshire and Rodeo, most famous as the location of Pretty Woman (1990): the Rodeo Drive rooms are the most specific, but the pool terrace, Wolfgang Puck’s CUT steakhouse in the building, and the Four Seasons service standard make it a destination regardless of film association.
  5. The Beverly Hills Sign & Beverly Gardens Park — The wrought-iron city sign at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Rexford Drive is the most photographed object in Beverly Hills and the correct entry point to the mile-long Beverly Gardens Park: the Rose Garden (over 5,000 rose plants in 130 varieties, best visited in April and May), the cactus garden, the lily pond, the public art installations, and the walkway that connects the length of the park from Doheny to Crescent Drive. Free; open daily.
  6. The Golden Triangle — The commercial heart of Beverly Hills, bounded by Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard, and Rodeo Drive: the three-block zone that contains the most concentrated luxury retail per square foot in the United States. Beverly Drive (the central north-south corridor, with the better everyday restaurants and independent boutiques) and Canon Drive (the more residential parallel) offer the full range of the neighbourhood without the Rodeo Drive premium.
  7. Rodeo Collection — The multi-level shopping arcade on Rodeo Drive, with the 270 North Rotunda (the circular skylight entrance) and the European-style outdoor terrace: Bijan (the most exclusive single-client boutique in the world — by appointment only), Panerai, Grand Seiko, and the Rodeo Collection’s distinctive 1980s postmodern architecture make it the most architecturally specific piece of Rodeo Drive.

The Historic Estates & Gardens

  1. Greystone Mansion & Gardens (The Doheny Estate) — The 46,054-square-foot Tudor-Gothic mansion built in 1928 for Edward Doheny Jr., the son of the oil magnate, who was murdered (or killed himself) in the building six weeks after moving in: the most dramatic murder mystery in Beverly Hills history, in the most magnificent building. The grounds (905 Loma Vista Drive) are free and open daily 10am–6pm, with formal gardens, a fountain courtyard, the West Terrace (views stretching to the Pacific Ocean), and the pool and inner courtyard area. The mansion exterior has appeared in over 100 films. The finest free heritage experience in Beverly Hills.
  2. Virginia Robinson Gardens — The six-acre botanical estate of Virginia Robinson — the “First Lady of Beverly Hills,” whose husband built the J.W. Robinson department store empire — at 1008 Elden Way: the first luxury estate built in Beverly Hills (1911, one year before the city was incorporated), with the Australian King Palm Forest (the largest grove of Archontophoenix cunninghamiana outside the Pacific Islands), the Italian Terrace Garden, the Rose Garden, and the original pool pavilion. Tours by appointment only (call 310-276-5367); the most specifically historical garden in the city and one of the most extraordinary private-estate-turned-public-resource in Los Angeles.
  3. The Jack Warner Estate (No. 1 Angelo Drive) — The former estate of Warner Bros. studio chief Jack Warner, with the original 1920s main house and the greatest private garden in Beverly Hills: the Italian Renaissance formal garden designed by Florence Yoch (who also designed the Gone with the Wind plantation). The estate is privately owned and not publicly accessible, but the drive on Angelo Drive and the visible formal garden wall (one of the finest pieces of garden architecture in the city) constitute the finest free heritage drive in the hills.
  4. Pickfair — The Birthplace of Celebrity Culture — The former estate of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks at 1143 Summit Drive, Pickfair, built in 1919 and sold by Pia Zadora in 1988, who demolished the original and built a replacement mansion. The site of what was once the social centre of Hollywood’s golden age — every celebrity, politician, and European royal of the 1920s was entertained here — and now a private residence. The Summit Drive neighbourhood retains several properties from the original silent-film era.
  5. The Spadena House (Witch’s House), Walden Drive — The most eccentric piece of domestic architecture in Beverly Hills: a 1921 fantasy cottage with a sharply pitched shingled roof, Gothic windows, and a moat, built as a production set for a silent film studio and moved to its current location at the corner of Walden and Carmelita. Now a private residence, entirely accessible as a sidewalk attraction. The best Halloween decoration in the city is entirely permanent.
  6. Doheny Road Historic Architecture Walk — Doheny Road from Santa Monica Boulevard north to the Greystone Mansion: the finest concentration of 1920s Mediterranean Revival and Tudor Revival residential architecture in Beverly Hills, with original streetscaping, mature jacaranda trees, and the specific quality of the light through the canopy on an April afternoon that makes this one of the most beautiful streets in Los Angeles.

Parks, Nature & the Hills

  1. Franklin Canyon Park — The 605-acre wilderness park above Beverly Hills, managed by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy: the Franklin Canyon Reservoir (the lake visible in thousands of television and film establishing shots, most famously the opening credits of The Andy Griffith Show), the Hastain Trail (2.8 miles, the finest view of Los Angeles from the Franklin Canyon ridge), and the birding trails around the lower reservoir. Entirely free; entirely unknown to most Beverly Hills visitors; entirely extraordinary.
  2. Coldwater Canyon Park & TreePeople — The 45-acre environmental education campus at the mouth of Coldwater Canyon, operated by the TreePeople organisation: hiking trails with educational signage about the Los Angeles watershed, native plant restoration demonstration gardens, and the finest community environmental programming in the Santa Monica Mountains. Free to visit; the canyon drive north through the park toward Mulholland is the finest scenic road in the Beverly Hills hills.
  3. Mulholland Drive — The ridge road running across the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains from the 405 freeway to Cahuenga Pass: the finest view of the San Fernando Valley to the north and the Los Angeles Basin to the south, with the Pacific Ocean visible on clear days. The pull-off overlooks at the Mulholland-Laurel Canyon and Mulholland-Coldwater Canyon intersections give the finest panoramic views of Los Angeles available without hiking. David Lynch named his 2001 film for the road; the view at night — the basin lit below in every direction — is the finest free nighttime view of Los Angeles.
  4. Runyon Canyon Park — The 160-acre park above Hollywood, accessible from Fuller Avenue off Franklin Avenue: a 3.4-kilometre loop trail from the canyon floor to the ridge, with the finest views of the Hollywood sign, the Griffith Observatory, and the downtown Los Angeles skyline from any city park in the region. The most visited hiking destination within range of Beverly Hills; come before 7am on a weekday for the emptiest version.
  5. Will Rogers Memorial Park — The triangle of formal gardens at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Canon Drive, with the statue of Will Rogers (the 1930s radio personality who gave the land to Beverly Hills): the finest formal garden in the central city, with a fountain, box hedges, and the specific quality of morning light through the old-growth trees that makes it the finest meditative starting point for a Beverly Hills day.
  6. Roxbury Memorial Park — The park on Roxbury Drive south of Olympic Boulevard, where Jack Benny, Jimmy Stewart, and Lucille Ball played tennis: the finest public park in the residential south of Beverly Hills, with well-maintained courts, a community centre, and the specific residential calm that distinguishes the south of the city from the tourist circuit. Free; the tennis courts require reservation.

The Hotels as Destinations

  1. The Beverly Hills Hotel Pool — The hotel pool at the Pink Palace: the oval pool surrounded by striped cabanas, where the Beverly Hills day begins for the hotel’s permanent-resident demographic. Day passes for the pool (with towel service, sun cream, and a poolside food and drink menu) are available for non-guests at a premium. The most specifically Beverly Hills midday experience.
  2. The Peninsula Beverly Hills Terrace — The Peninsula Hotel’s rooftop terrace and club on South Santa Monica Boulevard: the finest roof terrace in central Beverly Hills, with the gardens, the heated pool, and the view of the Santa Monica Mountains from the upper terrace. The Peninsula Tea (afternoon tea in the Belvedere restaurant) is the finest in the city.
  3. The Maybourne Beverly Hills — The former Montage Beverly Hills property on Canon Drive: the rooftop pool, the terrace restaurant (Soulmate), and the most elegantly architectural hotel exterior in the central city. The Sunday brunch and the rooftop pool at sunset are the most specific Maybourne experiences.
  4. Checking into a Beverly Hills Hotel Bungalow — The bungalow tradition of Beverly Hills: both the Beverly Hills Hotel (the Mission-style bungalows in the tropical garden, numbered 1–24, each with its own specific Hollywood history) and the Beverly Wilshire’s villa suites provide the experience of staying in a private residence within a luxury hotel complex. Howard Hughes lived in Bungalow 4 at the Beverly Hills Hotel for more than 30 years; Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand conducted their affair in Bungalow 20.
  5. The Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills Rooftop Bar — The rooftop bar and pool on the 12th floor of the Waldorf Astoria on Wilshire and Santa Monica: the finest panoramic view from any hotel in the central city, combining the Century City skyline to the west, the Beverly Hills hills to the north, and the Westside grid to the south. The Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant (Jean-Georges Beverly Hills) on the same property is the finest hotel fine-dining experience in the city.

Art, Culture & Performance

  1. Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts — The finest performing arts venue in Beverly Hills, in the restored Beverly Hills Post Office building (a 1933 Italian Renaissance landmark now housing a 150-seat theatre, a 500-seat courtyard, and a community garden): the most architecturally extraordinary performance venue in the city, with an eclectic programme of theatre, dance, and music from the LA Philharmonic to international touring companies. The courtyard café is the finest outdoor cultural dining in Beverly Hills.
  2. Saban Theatre — The 1930 Fox Wilshire Theatre, restored to its original Art Deco grandeur on Wilshire Boulevard: the finest movie-palace interior in Beverly Hills, now used for concerts, comedy, and special screenings. The 2,100-seat auditorium’s Art Deco detailing — the ceiling murals, the original proscenium arch, the terrazzo lobby floor — is the finest surviving pre-war theatre interior in the Westside.
  3. Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation — The private art foundation of the business executive and philanthropist Frederick R. Weisman, at 265 North Carolwood Drive: the most accessible private contemporary art collection in Beverly Hills, with guided tours of the Holmby Hills residence and its extraordinary collection of modern art (Rothko, de Kooning, Basquiat, Jeff Koons, Bruce Nauman). Tours by appointment (310-277-5321); free; the finest single private-collection art experience in the city.
  4. Gagosian Gallery, Camden Drive — The Beverly Hills outpost of Larry Gagosian’s global gallery empire: the finest commercial contemporary art gallery in the city, with a programme of exhibitions at the level of the major New York and London galleries. Free to enter; open Tuesday through Saturday.
  5. Sotheby’s Beverly Hills — Sotheby’s first West Coast permanent gallery space, with exhibitions of works upcoming for auction: fine art, jewellery, and rare objects in the most prestigious auction house space in Southern California. Free to view between auctions.
  6. Winn Slavin Fine Art — The gallery on Camden Drive specialising in international and American contemporary painting: one of the finest commercial galleries in the Golden Triangle, with a programme of exhibitions and the most knowledgeable single-gallery expertise in Beverly Hills.
  7. Mr. Brainwash Studio, Beverly Hills — The pop-art studio of Thierry Guetta (Mr. Brainwash), the Banksy-associated street artist of Exit Through the Gift Shop fame: the studio and gallery in Beverly Hills produces the most accessible contemporary art experience in the city, with the full range of the artist’s work in print and original form. The mural programme that Mr. Brainwash has executed across Beverly Hills walls is the finest street art tour in the city.
  8. Paley Center for Media — The media archive on North Beverly Drive: the archive of 160,000 television and radio programmes from the entire history of American broadcasting, accessible on individual viewing consoles by visitors who book time in the Library. Watching the first episode of I Love Lucy on the original broadcast network recording, or the Nixon-Kennedy debate as broadcast, or any of the 60,000 news programmes archived, is the finest media culture experience in the city. The temporary exhibitions on the history of television are consistently excellent.

The Shops Beyond Rodeo

  1. Beverly Drive Independent Boutiques — The alternative commercial spine of Beverly Hills: the blocks of Beverly Drive between Wilshire and Little Santa Monica contain the most accessible and the most genuinely interesting retail in the city, with independent fashion boutiques, home goods stores, and the coffee shops and lunch restaurants that the Rodeo Drive boutiques’ staff eat at every day.
  2. Il Pastaio & the Café Culture of Canon Drive — The Italian restaurant on Canon Drive that has been the definitive Beverly Hills weekday lunch since 1993: homemade pasta, the Italian clientele, and the outdoor tables on the Canon Drive terrace. The most specifically Beverly Hills lunch available for under $50. The morning espresso at the adjacent bar is the finest informal start to a Beverly Hills day.
  3. Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, Beverly Drive — The cheese shop on Beverly Drive, in continuous operation since 1967, with over 400 varieties of artisan cheese from every cheese-producing country in the world: the finest single-product retail experience in Beverly Hills, with knowledgeable staff, truffle oil, aged balsamic, artisan charcuterie, and the finest wine and cheese combination advice available in the city. The most specific reason to visit Beverly Drive independent of restaurants.
  4. Oliver Peoples Opticians, Beverly Drive — The Los Angeles eyewear brand that has been defining California optical style since 1987: the Beverly Drive flagship store is the brand’s most complete retail expression, with every frame from the current and archive collections available to try. The brand’s aesthetic — California preppy, quality-focused, specific — is the most specifically Beverly Hills take on luxury accessible goods.
  5. Lily et Cie, Camden Drive — The vintage couture boutique that has been the most celebrated vintage fashion destination in Beverly Hills since 1998: archive pieces from Balenciaga, Givenchy, Chanel, Schiaparelli, and Halston, with a clientele that includes every major stylist working in the entertainment industry.

Food: Eating Beverly Hills

  1. Spago Beverly Hills, Canon Drive — Wolfgang Puck’s original fine-dining restaurant (opened 1982, relocated to Canon Drive in 1997), the birthplace of California cuisine as a concept: the smoked salmon pizza, the Wiener Schnitzel, and the seasonal California menu that Puck introduced the world to Austrian-Californian fusion. Still the most celebrated restaurant address in Beverly Hills and the one most associated with the industry dinner.
  2. CUT by Wolfgang Puck, Beverly Wilshire — The steak restaurant in the Beverly Wilshire that has been Michelin-starred since its opening: the 35-day dry-aged prime rib-eye (the finest steak in any Beverly Hills hotel restaurant), the bone marrow flan, and the wine list. The most celebrated special-occasion dinner in the city.
  3. Nobu Los Angeles, Wilshire Boulevard — The original Los Angeles Nobu, in the first building designed specifically for the restaurant concept in LA: the black cod miso and the yellowtail jalapeño are as specific to the Beverly Hills entertainment industry dinner as a silk tie. The most recognisable Japanese fine dining in the city.
  4. Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura, Rodeo Drive — The Gucci fashion house’s restaurant concept, operated by three-Michelin-star chef Massimo Bottura: a menu combining Italian regional cuisine with Japanese and Californian influences, in a Gucci-designed dining room above the Rodeo Drive flagship. The most fashion-industry-specific fine dining experience in the city.
  5. The Polo Lounge, Beverly Hills Hotel — Already mentioned (item 3), but the lunch specifically: the McCarthy Salad (iceberg lettuce, chopped turkey, egg, beets, and the Polo’s proprietary dressing) and the Cobb Salad at the Polo Lounge are the most specifically Hollywood power-lunch dishes in America. The Polo Lounge at noon on a Tuesday, with the wisteria terrace tables and the Old Hollywood atmosphere, is the finest lunch setting in Beverly Hills.
  6. 208 Rodeo, Two Rodeo Drive — The bistro on the cobblestoned pedestrian street at the base of Two Rodeo: the outdoor terrace tables with the direct view of Rodeo Drive, the California-French menu, and the sidewalk parade of shoppers and tourists. The most accessible quality lunch on Rodeo Drive itself.
  7. The Fountain Coffee Room, Beverly Hills Hotel — The counter-service coffee room inside the Beverly Hills Hotel, with the original 1949 banana-leaf wallpaper by Doris Draper that has become the most reproduced interior in Beverly Hills: the finest banana split in the city, a counter that has been serving since the Truman administration, and the only room in the hotel where the service is informal and the prices are not.
  8. Nate ‘n Al’s Delicatessen, Beverly Drive — The Jewish deli that has been the breakfast institution of Beverly Hills since 1945: the pastrami sandwich, the matzo ball soup, and the table where Larry King held his morning court for decades. Open daily from 7am; the most historically continuous celebrity breakfast in the city.
  9. Factor’s Famous Deli, Pico Boulevard — The Los Angeles institution just south of Beverly Hills, in continuous operation since 1948: the corned beef sandwich, the blintzes, and the rye bread produced in the same way since the Truman administration. The finest authentic Jewish deli experience accessible from the city.
  10. Bouchon Bakery, Canon Drive — Thomas Keller’s French bakery in the Beverly Hills Golden Triangle: the finest croissant, baguette, and tarte citron in the city, produced by the same team as the three-Michelin-star restaurants. The morning pastry from Bouchon on Canon Drive with a café crème is the finest French bakery experience in Beverly Hills.
  11. Craig’s, Melrose, West Hollywood — The celebrity-facing American restaurant on Melrose just outside Beverly Hills that is the most reliably celebrity-populated restaurant in the neighbourhood: the chicken soup, the sliders, the New York strip — a menu of American classics at the table that is currently hosting the conversation the entire entertainment industry is having. Reservations advised; recognising someone is almost guaranteed.
  12. Mastro’s Steakhouse, Canon Drive — The Beverly Hills steakhouse with the finest bar scene of any steakhouse in the city: the Bone-in Ribeye, the butter cake (the dessert that Craig Conant created and every steakhouse in the city has since copied), and the live jazz on the mezzanine. The most convivial American steakhouse in the Golden Triangle.
  13. Jon & Vinny’s, Beverly Boulevard — The Italian-American restaurant that has been the most consistently excellent neighbourhood dinner in the Fairfax-to-Beverly Hills corridor since 2016: the Sunday Gravy, the cacio e pepe, the garlic bread, and the natural wine list. The most specifically Los Angeles Italian restaurant in the reach of Beverly Hills.

Sunset Boulevard & West Hollywood

  1. Sunset Strip Drive (Sunset Boulevard, 8600–9200 Blocks) — The legendary mile of Los Angeles: from the Chateau Marmont (where John Belushi died, and from which its owner André Balazs has never installed CCTV or improved the dark-corner culture) to the Comedy Store, the Roxy, the Whisky a Go Go, and the Rainbow Bar and Grill. The Sunset Strip at night — the neon, the billboards that rotate in service of the next album release, the motorcycles, the valet queues — is the most specifically rock-and-roll public experience in Los Angeles.
  2. Chateau Marmont, Sunset Boulevard — The castle hotel above the Sunset Strip that has been the most reliably discreet celebrity hotel in Los Angeles since 1929: the Garden Cottage restaurant, the pool, and the specific understanding that no photographs of other guests are permitted, ever. Dinner at the Chateau — the pool patio in summer, the Garden room in winter — is the most specifically Hollywood experience available in West Hollywood.
  3. The Comedy Store, Sunset Strip — The comedy club where Richard Pryor, David Letterman, Jim Carrey, and every major American comedian of the past 50 years worked their material: the Main Room, the Original Room, and the Belly Room, with nightly sets by touring headliners and LA-based comics. The most culturally important entertainment venue on the Sunset Strip.
  4. The Roxy Theatre, Sunset Strip — The 500-seat rock venue opened in 1973, where Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, and Tom Waits all played early sets and which remains the most historically important mid-size rock venue in Los Angeles. The backstage wall (covered in autographs from every major rock act of the past 50 years) is the finest single rock-and-roll heritage object in the city.
  5. The Troubadour, Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood — The venue where James Taylor, Carole King, Don Henley, Elton John, and Tom Waits were discovered: the 400-seat folk and rock club that produced more significant careers than any other single room in Los Angeles. Still operating as a performance venue with a full programme.
  6. SkyBar at the Mondrian Hotel, Sunset Strip — The rooftop pool bar that defined the 1990s LA nightlife culture: still operating, still producing the finest panoramic view of the Los Angeles Basin from the Sunset Strip, still the most specifically 90s-Hollywood outdoor bar experience in the city. The sunset from the SkyBar — with the grid of Los Angeles spreading to the Pacific — is the most reliably spectacular free sunset in West Hollywood (free with a drink reservation).

Celebrity Culture & Hollywood History

  1. Celebrity Home Tours (Open-Top Bus or van) — The Beverly Hills celebrity home tour: the open-top bus departing from the Beverly Wilshire Hotel forecourt multiple times daily, driving through the residential streets of Beverly Hills (the Caruso estates of Bel Air, the Trousdale Estates on Carmelita, the Benedict Canyon mansions), with a commentary identifying the homes’ current and former residents. The tour covers more ground than walking and provides the address-by-address context that makes the residential neighbourhoods comprehensible.
  2. Trousdale Estates Drive — The mid-century modern neighbourhood on the hillside above Beverly Hills, developed by Paul Trousdale from 1955 to 1970: the single finest concentration of 1960s California modernism in an accessible residential setting, with homes by William Krisel, A. Quincy Jones, and Richard Neutra. Frank Sinatra’s estate on Strada Vecchia, Dean Martin’s on Mountain Drive, and Elvis Presley’s on Perugia Way are the most historically documented. A Sunday morning drive through the estates is free and entirely revealing.
  3. Greystone Film Location Tour (Self-Guided) — The Greystone Mansion has appeared in over 100 films and television productions: There Will Be Blood (Paul Dano playing the organ in the Great Hall), The Bodyguard, Ghostbusters, The Witches of Eastwick, Rush Hour, Spider-Man — the list is the complete history of the Hollywood studio production map. Walking the grounds with the film credits in mind is the most specifically cinematic heritage walk in Beverly Hills.
  4. Beverly Hills Cop Filming Locations — The 1984 Eddie Murphy film that made Beverly Hills globally famous as a fish-out-of-water comedy setting: the Palm Terrace Hotel (the Beverly Wilshire stand-in), the Harborview Farms warehouse (Cahuenga Pass), and the Rodeo Drive scenes are all accessible as a self-guided walk. The specific moment when Axel Foley drives the banana-stuffed police car away from the Beverly Palm Hotel is the most specific Beverly Hills film moment and the most easily relived on the actual street.
  5. Walk of Stars: Beverly Hills Walk of Style — The Beverly Hills Walk of Style on Rodeo Drive and Dayton Way: brass plates in the sidewalk honouring fashion designers and fashion icons — Gianni Versace, Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, and Carolina Herrera — who have defined the Rodeo Drive aesthetic. The fashion-specific counterpart to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Wellness, Spa & the Beverly Hills Body

  1. The Beverly Hills Hotel Polo Lounge Sunday Brunch — The most celebrated brunch in Beverly Hills: the Sunday brunch at the Polo Lounge, with the wisteria-covered terrace and the service of a hotel that has been doing this for 110 years. The Eggs Benedict, the lemon-ricotta pancakes, and the fresh-squeezed juices are the essential orders.
  2. Hotel Spa at the Peninsula Beverly Hills — The Peninsula’s spa on the fifth floor: the finest hotel spa experience in Beverly Hills, with the signature Peninsula Massage, the thermal suite, and the Beverly Hills aesthetician treatments that define the city’s wellness culture. The most technically accomplished spa in the city.
  3. Equinox Beverly Hills — Flagship — The gym-as-luxury-hotel concept at its most complete: the Beverly Hills Equinox on Wilshire Boulevard, with the finest group fitness programming in the city (the Precision Running, the metcon classes), the spa, and the post-workout café. The most socially specific athletic experience in Beverly Hills.
  4. Face Gym, Rodeo Drive — The facial workout studio that arrived at Rodeo Drive from London: a 30-minute facial workout using electrical muscle stimulation, microcurrent, and the specific technology that has made it the most discussed skin-care experience in the city. The most specifically contemporary beauty destination on the street.
  5. Japanese Head Spa Culture, Beverly Hills — The Japanese scalp treatment culture that has moved from Japan to Beverly Hills: the Japanese head spas on North Rodeo Drive and the adjacent streets offer shiatsu scalp massage, hot oil treatments, and the most specifically wellness-forward culture on Rodeo. The most recently arrived and most culturally specific wellness experience in the Golden Triangle.
  6. Bel Air Hotel Spa — The hotel spa at the Hotel Bel-Air on Stone Canyon Road: the most peaceful luxury spa in the Beverly Hills area, with the natural swimming pool (the finest hotel pool in West Los Angeles, fed by a natural spring), the swan lake, and the garden setting that makes the Hotel Bel-Air the finest urban resort experience accessible from Beverly Hills.

Day Trips & Greater Beverly Hills

  1. Hotel Bel-Air, Stone Canyon Road — The hotel in the Bel Air Canyon that has been the most romantic hotel in Los Angeles since its opening in 1946: the Swan Lake, the garden path from the parking lot (the most theatrical hotel arrival in LA), the Bar and Lounge, and the restaurant terrace where the jacaranda petals fall into the wine glasses in May. Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant at the Hotel Bel-Air is the finest hotel restaurant in the immediate Beverly Hills area.
  2. The Getty Center, Brentwood — The Richard Meier-designed museum campus above the 405 freeway: the finest museum building in Los Angeles, with the Central Garden (Robert Irwin’s landscape work, the finest public garden in the city), the French Impressionist collection, the J. Paul Getty’s antiquities, and the view of Los Angeles from the travertine terrace. Free admission; the tram ride from the parking structure to the campus entrance is the finest institutional arrival in the city. 15 minutes from Beverly Hills.
  3. The Getty Villa, Malibu — The replica of the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum, housing J. Paul Getty’s Greek and Roman antiquities: the most specific ancient art experience in Los Angeles, with the Roman garden recreated to the 1st-century standard and the permanent collection of ancient Greek, Roman, and Etruscan artefacts. Free admission (timed reservation required); 30 minutes from Beverly Hills.
  4. LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) — The largest art museum in the American West, 10 minutes east of Beverly Hills on Wilshire Boulevard: the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (the most complete contemporary art collection in the region), the Ahmanson Building’s European and American art, and Chris Burden’s Urban Light (the 202 antique LA street lamps that form the most photographed public art installation in the city). General admission required; the Urban Light installation is free and is best photographed at dawn.
  5. The Museum of Tolerance, Pico Boulevard — The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s museum of the Holocaust and global human rights, 10 minutes south of Beverly Hills: the most technically advanced museum of its kind in the United States, with an immersive Holocaust experience and a permanent exhibition on the history of tolerance and prejudice in America. The most emotionally demanding and the most important museum in the Beverly Hills area.
  6. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Wilshire Boulevard — The newest and most significant film museum in the United States, opened 2021 in the restored Saban Building adjacent to LACMA: the complete history of cinema with the Oscars Gallery, the Haskell Wexler Gallery of cinematography, and the Harryhausen Gallery of special effects. The David Geffen Theater (a 1,000-seat sphere at the building’s rear) hosts film screenings in the finest contemporary cinema in Los Angeles.
  7. Hammer Museum, Westwood — UCLA’s free contemporary art museum in Westwood, 10 minutes from Beverly Hills: the most consistently adventurous programming of any museum in the city, with the Made in LA biennial and a permanent collection of American and international contemporary art. Free admission; the gallery courtyard café is the finest museum lunch in Westwood.
  8. Annenberg Space for Photography, Century City — The free photography gallery in the Century City development adjacent to Beverly Hills: the most accessible photography museum in the region, with exhibitions rotating through documentary, fine art, and commercial photography at the highest international level. Free admission; underground parking.

Drives, Views & the Beverly Hills Hills

  1. Benedict Canyon Drive — A Sunday Morning Drive — The serpentine canyon road from Beverly Drive north to Mulholland: the most beautiful single canyon drive in the Beverly Hills hills, with the original 1920s estates (including the Cielo Drive site of the Manson murders in 1969, now replaced), the mature sycamore canopy, and the specific early-morning light through the canyon that makes it the finest pre-10am driving experience in the city.
  2. Sunset Boulevard: Beverly Hills to the Pacific — The full drive of Sunset Boulevard from the Beverly Hills Hotel west to the Pacific Coast Highway: through Bel Air (the Bel Air gates at the junction with Sepulveda, the UCLA campus on the south side), through Brentwood, and the descent through the Palisades to the ocean. 12 miles; 30 minutes without traffic at dawn; the most complete single cross-section of the Westside of Los Angeles available by road.
  3. Laurel Canyon Drive (From West Hollywood to the Valley) — The canyon road that was the home of the late-1960s and early-1970s Los Angeles music scene: the Country Store (where Joni Mitchell, Jim Morrison, and Crosby Stills Nash & Young all shopped in the same weeks), the Houdini Estate ruins, and the specific residential bohemian quality of the Laurel Canyon neighborhood above the Sunset Strip. The most specifically 1960s music geography drive in Los Angeles.
  4. Loma Vista Drive — The Greystone Neighbourhood — The residential street above Greystone Mansion, with the finest concentration of 1920s and 1930s mansion-scale residential architecture in Beverly Hills: the views of the city below, the mature hedge lines, and the complete absence of commercial intrusion make it the finest estate-district walk in the city.
  5. Carmelita Avenue — The Most Beautiful Residential Street — The east-west residential street through the heart of the flatland Beverly Hills: lined with mature olive, magnolia, and jacaranda trees, with the most complete residential streetscaping in the city. The specific quality of a Carmelita Avenue spring morning — jacaranda in bloom, the sprinklers running before 6am, the neighbourhood quiet before the commercial districts wake — is the finest free experience in Beverly Hills.

Hidden Beverly Hills

  1. The Beverly Hills Flats: Walking the Grid — The 25-block residential grid south of Sunset and north of Olympic: the original Beverly Hills real estate, with houses from every decade of the city’s history on uniform lots of extraordinary variety. The walks between Canon, Bedford, Roxbury, Walden, and Rodeo Drives (the residential parallel of the commercial Rodeo) reveal a domestic scale entirely at odds with the city’s global luxury image.
  2. The Moreton Bay Fig Tree, Beverly Gardens Park — The single oldest living thing in Beverly Hills: a Moreton Bay fig tree (Ficus macrophylla) planted in the early years of the city, with a canopy of extraordinary spread and the specific quality of the air beneath it on a warm afternoon. Free; unmarked; located at the Santa Monica Boulevard end of Beverly Gardens Park.
  3. The Electric Fountain, Wilshire and Santa Monica — The Art Deco fountain at the junction of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards, built in 1930 and decorated with Aztec and Native American motifs: the most specific piece of public Art Deco streetscape in the city, illuminated at night in coloured light. Free; always accessible.
  4. Beverly Hills City Hall — The Spanish Colonial Revival building at the centre of Civic Center Drive: designed by William Gage in 1932, with a baroque central tower and the beautifully maintained formal garden in the forecourt. The finest single piece of civic architecture in Beverly Hills; free to enter on weekdays.
  5. The Beverly Hills Public Library — The contemporary library building on Rexford Drive: designed by architect Jack Charney in the 1960s and renovated in 2019 with a reading garden and expanded digital resources. The finest public library in the Westside in terms of design, collection depth, and the specific Beverly Hills quality of the reading room’s light.

Events, Festivals & Beverly Hills Life

  1. Beverly Hills Art Show (May & October) — The biannual outdoor art show in Beverly Gardens Park: over 200 fine art and craft exhibitors in a park setting, with the finest concentration of California and national artist representation in any outdoor show in the Westside. Free admission; the May edition coincides with the rose garden at peak bloom.
  2. Concours d’Elegance, Rodeo Drive (June) — The annual concours of classic and vintage automobiles on Rodeo Drive: the most specifically Beverly Hills event, with pre-war Bugattis, Duesenbergs, and Rolls-Royces parked on the world’s most famous luxury shopping street for a morning. Free to attend; the combination of the automobiles and the boutique facades is the finest single morning event in the city’s calendar.
  3. Festival of Lights Holiday Display, Beverly Gardens Park (December) — The holiday light installation in Beverly Gardens Park: the most specifically Beverly Hills Christmas experience, with the rose garden illuminated and the Beverly Hills sign lit in seasonal colours. Free; open throughout December.
  4. Spadena House at Halloween — Already the most architecturally appropriate building for October 31st in the city; the owners decorate it additionally for Halloween, making it the most specifically designed Halloween destination in the Los Angeles area. The queue of children on Walden Drive on the night of October 31st is the most endearingly human experience in Beverly Hills.
  5. The Los Angeles Country Club (North Course) — From the Wilshire Boulevard Sidewalk — The private club that hosted the US Open golf championship in 2023 and will host it again, visible from Wilshire Boulevard between Club Drive and Comstock Avenue: the finest turf in the city visible from a public sidewalk, with the original 1911 clubhouse behind the hedge. The most exclusive view of grass in Beverly Hills; free from the sidewalk.

Practical Beverly Hills

  1. The Free Trolley Service — Beverly Hills operates a free electric trolley service on a loop connecting the Golden Triangle, the Civic Center, and the major hotels: the most specific and the most useful free transport in the city, available Monday through Saturday from 11am to 6pm. The trolley stops at all major commercial streets and hotels.
  2. Parking at the City-Operated Lots — Beverly Hills operates its own municipal parking lots throughout the Golden Triangle at below-market rates (free for the first 90 minutes at most lots): the Civic Center lot, the Reeves Drive lots, and the Santa Monica Boulevard lots provide the most practical and the most affordable parking in the commercial district.
  3. The Beverly Hills Farmers’ Market — The Sunday morning farmers’ market at the intersection of Canon and Dayton Way: the most concentrated California produce market in the area, with the local citrus, avocados, strawberries (in season March to June), and artisan cheeses available direct from the farm. The most specifically Los Angeles domestic food experience.
  4. Coffee at Alfred Coffee, Melrose Place — The Los Angeles coffee chain’s Melrose Place flagship, in the most photogenic courtyard in West Hollywood: the coffee — the finest espresso programme in the Beverly Hills area — and the outdoor seating in the floral Melrose Place arcade make it the most photographed morning café in the neighbourhood.
  5. Shopping the Melrose Place Fashion District — The two blocks of Melrose Place in West Hollywood between Melrose Avenue and La Cienega: the finest concentration of independent luxury fashion boutiques in the Westside — Isabel Marant, Zimmermann, Chloé, Christian Louboutin, Maison Margiela, and The Row — in a garden-courtyard setting that is the finest outdoor shopping environment in Los Angeles.

The View from the Top

  1. The Rooftop at the 1 Hotel West Hollywood — The rooftop pool and bar at the sustainability-focused hotel on Sunset Boulevard: the finest sustainably operated hotel experience in West Hollywood, with the rooftop giving the most complete west-facing view of the Los Angeles Basin from the Strip level. The evening pool session with the sunset behind the Santa Monica Mountains is the finest hotel twilight experience in the neighbourhood.
  2. Dinner at the Perino’s Memorial Site, Wilshire Boulevard — A thoughtful act: Perino’s Restaurant at 4101 Wilshire Boulevard was the most celebrated restaurant in Los Angeles from 1932 to 1980, where every major political figure, film star, and industry titan of the golden age of Los Angeles dined. The site is now the Perino’s building; the Perino’s interior no longer exists. Standing in front of it and reading the history is the most specifically melancholy heritage experience in Beverly Hills.
  3. The Sycamore Trail, Franklin Canyon Park at Dawn — The 2-mile Sycamore Trail through the sycamore woodland below the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir: the finest early morning walk in the Beverly Hills area, with the specific quality of California woodland light through the sycamore canopy at 6am, the red-tailed hawks overhead, and the complete absence of the city’s sound. The most convincingly wild 30-minute walk accessible from a Beverly Hills hotel.
  4. Sunset from the Greystone Mansion West Terrace — The view from the West Terrace of Greystone Mansion at 6pm in October, when the Pacific is visible through the haze 30 miles to the southwest and the Century City towers catch the last direct light before the sun sets: the finest free sunset viewpoint in Beverly Hills, available to anyone willing to walk up the garden path from the parking area. Free; the most underutilised heritage site in the city.
  5. The Beverly Hills Hotel at Midnight — The Pink Palace at the end of the evening: the Polo Lounge bar still open, the bougainvillea lit from below in pink and white, the scent of the tropical gardens through the open corridor doors, and the specific quality of the Beverly Hills night air — warm, jasmine-scented, almost entirely quiet except for the distant sound of traffic on Sunset Boulevard. The city, at this hour, is entirely itself: glamorous, beautiful, improbable, and without apology.
  6. The Beverly Hills Morning Walk at 6am — On your last morning, set the alarm for 5:45 and walk Beverly Drive north from Wilshire to Santa Monica before the city wakes. The sprinklers are running on Carmelita. The jacaranda is dropping its purple flowers onto the sidewalk. The Beverly Hills Hotel is lit at the end of the palm-lined boulevard ahead of you. A dog walker passes with a borzoi. A Bentley idles outside a Georgian Colonial with the Sunday Times in the driveway. The Beverly Hills morning is quieter and more beautiful than any version of it available to anyone who arrives after 9am. It belongs, at this hour, to the people who live here — and to anyone willing to get up early enough to borrow it.

Quick Reference

Best free experiencesGreystone Mansion gardens · Beverly Gardens Park · Franklin Canyon Park · Trousdale Estates drive · Beverly Hills Art Show
Best for film historyGreystone Mansion (100+ productions) · The Beverly Hills Hotel bungalows · Chateau Marmont · Spadena House
Best for foodPolo Lounge brunch · Spago · Nate ‘n Al’s breakfast · Il Pastaio lunch · CUT dinner
Best for artFrederick Weisman Foundation · Gagosian Gallery · Academy Museum · Getty Center
Best for natureFranklin Canyon Park · Coldwater Canyon Park · Beverly Gardens Rose Garden · Greystone gardens
Best for architectureTrousdale Estates mid-century · Doheny Road 1920s estates · Greystone Tudor Gothic · Beverly Hills City Hall Spanish Colonial
Best valueFree trolley · Municipal parking lots · Beverly Hills Farmers’ Market · Beverly Gardens Park free Wi-Fi zone
Best celebrity culturePolo Lounge · Craig’s · The Chateau Marmont · Celebrity homes tours
Best day tripsGetty Center (15 min) · LACMA (10 min) · Hotel Bel-Air (5 min) · Annenberg Photography (5 min)
Best for InstagramSpadena House · The Beverly Hills Hotel pink wall · Virginia Robinson Gardens · Greystone fountain

Beverly Hills does not require effort. It simply requires presence: the willingness to look past the boutiques to the Moreton Bay fig behind them, the willingness to drive up to Greystone at 10am and find the finest gardens in the city entirely empty, the willingness to take the 6am walk on Carmelita Avenue before the city knows you’re there. The most beautiful version of Beverly Hills is always the quietest one.

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