Product Description

Way before Rodeo Drive and the pink palace of the Beverly Hills Hotel were built, way before the namesake hillbillies, its zip code, and Eddie Murphy's detective techniques reaffirmed its place in popular culture, and way before its 1,001 mansions, Beverly Hills was comprised of wild canyons and ranchlands. Burton Green, one of the three original land developers of the Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas, named this place of severe terrain after Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, a 19th-century spa. Since its establishment in 1907, Beverly Hills, California, has been a crossroads for the great movers and shakers of the entertainment industry as well as the tycoons, world leaders, and flotsam and jetsam magnetized by the limelight. The vintage photographs in this provocative volume illustrate Beverly Hills' early transition from cow pastures to Hollywood's extremely illustrious bedroom community.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #734940 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-21
• Released on: 2005-11-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

About the Author
Author Marc Wanamaker owns Bison Archives, one of Southern California's largest repositories of vintage photographs, from which he selected these rare and evocative images. A consultant on more than 100 documentaries and the author of Hollywood: Now and Then and other books, Wanamaker is a founding board member of the Beverly Hills Historical Society.

Customer Reviews

Great Historical Photographs
This wonderful book provides many great black-and-white photographs of Beverly Hills, California. Unfortunately, none are in color. The first photographs date from 1900 and the last depict Beverly Hills just before 1940. There are many photos of Hollywood stars and their homes, including Pickfair, Falcon's Lair, and the Frances Marion estate There's also an entire chapter devoted to Greystone, the magnificent mansion built by Ned Doheny. I would have preferred the book have an index and more maps, but you'll find this a treasure trove of great images and well-written descriptions.

a rough and ready past
These are not your stereotypical images of Beverly Hills. Instead, the photos often show a Wild West-type ambiance that one might think better suited to Fargo or Dodge. Rather than to what is now a global catchphrase for affluence, ensconced within a megalopolis.

Which is part of the point of Wanamaker's story. He shows that there was a time when Beverly Hills and indeed Los Angeles was just a small town. Rather rough and seedy on occasion. With colourful characters, sometimes spouting grandiose development plans. The irony, of course, is that today's Beverly Hills surely exceeds all those often failed dreams.

Great Trip Into Old Beverly Hills
A great book. Excellent photos and provides a wonderful overview of Beverly Hills in text and photos.