The hills are alive... with the sound of buzz! 90210 is suddenly cool again.
Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills’ rooftop pool
Beverly Hills is baaack, baby! The construction on Santa Monica Blvd. is over; the Waldorf Astoria is up and booming (bonne chance getting a table on the roof); and even dope brands like Striiike, Alfred Coffee and vegan-lover fave Gratitude have staked out spots in this formerly fusty burg most noted for Rodeo Drive shopping sprees by the rich and not-always famous.
It’s ironic that this iconic symbol of the glitz and glamour of the entertainment biz suffered a prolonged fit of malaise. When silent-film king and queen Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford built their fairy-tale aerie, Pickfair, high above the flats of brand-new Beverly Hills 99 years ago (the movie crowd was not welcome in LA’s tony suburbs farther east), the city became an instant legend. In recent decades, however, the big-screen favorite devolved as the film stars moved out and newcomers took advantage of poor zoning laws to trick out or destroy the classic-cool homes that made BH one of the country’s premier residential districts. (Actress Pia Zadora and her then-husband, Israeli businessman Meshulam Riklis, tore down Pickfair in part because PZ thought it was haunted. Scary indeed.)
Rodeo Drive
Now, entertainment folk are pouring back into town. And not only to work or to pick up flashy baubles on Rodeo. A rash of hip new stores and restaurants have opened; Wallis Annenberg Center is bringing in big names for late-night culture vulturing; UTA just launched a world-class gallery designed by Chinese artist-starchitect Ai Weiwei (who says entertainment and art are mutually exclusive?); and Soho House rival Spring Place (members include Leo DiCaprio and Adrien Brody) is debuting this season across from Industry Insta-fave Waldorf Astoria.
Bam! If we could just get the movie stars out of their silly gated enclaves and back on the storied drives of 90210 (minus the tour buses), Bev Hills would really rule again. C’mon, Clooney, Pitt et al.... the silver-screen ghosts of Beverly Hills past are counting on you.
Photography by: POOL PHOTO BY JAN SCHUENKE COURTESY OF WALDORF ASTORIA BEVERLY HILLS; PALM TREE PHOTO BY MARCHELLO 74/GETTY IMAGES