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by
Courtney
Caldwell What
comes to mind when you think of Beverly Hills, California? Swimming pools, movie
stars, black gold…and hotels so expensive it's laughable. Beverly
Hills is about mansions, manicured lawns and mega millions. It's all that and
more. It is not considered a playground for the rich and famous like Las Vegas,
but rather home to the rich and famous…this is where they settle down
and live. Expensive homes line long winding roads and hillsides are flanked with
towering palm trees. And of course there are houses so large it's unimaginable
to the average American what it must be like to live in one. Tourists,
easily distinguished from the locals by their baggy Bermudas, plaid shirts and
straw hats, cameras dangling from their necks, crowd the small town streets snapping
shots of everything that moves. They saunter into stores in awe, their mouths
agape like a child at Disneyland, but only to look and touch because that's all
they can do. Most items cost more than their plane tickets to California. And
that's just the side street shops. Rodeo Drive is saved for last, one of the most
expensive avenues in the world just to walk, never mind shop. A Starbucks coffee
in Beverly Hills costs $10.00, the same one on which you spend $2.50 just two
towns away. It's all about location and it's all relative. Even
the Beverly Hills police station dominates a city block, standing more like another
towering mansion with its perfectly coifed landscape. Sightseers arrive by the
busload to take a gaggle of photos…yes, even of the police station. You may
have caught a glimpse of it on the big screen -- think Beverly Hills Cop.
That's about as close as most of us will ever get.
Adjacent
to Rodeo is one of California's most historical and expensive hotels, the Beverly
Wilshire, and just minutes down the road is the Beverly Hills Hilton known for
not only its central location to Hollywood and Malibu but also famed for its many
televised Hollywood awards shows and celebrations. And last there's the Beverly
Hills Hotel on Sunset, neatly nestled at the end of a long sinewy driveway and
shadowed by so much foliage it's invisible from the boulevard. This opulent pink
landmark, dotted with private bungalows and swimming pools, is where many of the
stars and wealthy gather. Some have yearlong arrangements even if they live in
California. Must be tough. (CONTINUE...)
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