The tour begins at
Beverly Hills Visitors Bureau, located within the Chamber of Commerce
building at 239 S. Beverly Drive. Please plan to spend at least two
hours completing the entire tour. For your convenience, two hour free
parking is available at select city structures.
1 Walk
north on Beverly Drive to the corner of Charleville Blvd. and Beverly
Drive. You are surrounded by the FOUR CORNERS, which are separate blocks
built and owned for many years by the screen actress Corrine Griffith,
the first person in the United States to own four city blocks.
2 Continue north on Beverly
Drive until you cross Wilshire Blvd. At the northeast corner is ISRAEL
DISCOUNT BANK, 206 N. Beverly Drive. Built in 1925 as the Beverly
Theater by architect L.A. Smith, this Moorish-style building features an
onion-shaped dome. Many world film premieres were shown here during the
1920's-40's.
3
Take a left on Wilshire Blvd., heading west. At the intersection of
Rodeo Drive is 2 RODEO, one of the most expensive retail centers ever
built. Ascend the Spanish Steps to Via Rodeo, a cobblestone pedestrian
street, and continue north to Rodeo Drive and Dayton Way. Via Rodeo is
the City's first street built since Beverly Hills' incorporation in
1914.
4 Walk north on Rodeo Drive to
ANDERTON COURT, 322 N. Rodeo Drive, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in
1953. This Art Deco building has received little publicity because it is
considered to be one of Wright's lesser and zanier creations with its
zig-zagged ramp and pointed spire.
5 One block north and across
the street is the RODEO COLLECTION, 421 N. Rodeo Drive, built in 1981 by
Daryoush Mahboubi Fardi architect Oliver Vidal created the center, which
houses some of the world's most famous designer shops in a futuristic
marble setting.
6 Continue north to Little
Santa Monica Blvd. On the northwest corner is the ARTISTS AND WRITERS
BUILDING, 9501 Santa Monica Blvd. Built in 1924 by architect Roy S.
Price of Gable and Wyant, this four-story Spanish Colonial has provided
office space for hundreds of artists and writers, a tradition that
continues.
7 Take
a right on Little Santa Monica Blvd., and head east for three blocks.
Across from the Jetson-like gas station on the southeast corner of
Crescent Drive is the Georgian-style, three-building complex of Global
Crossing. Designed by architect Paul Williams, these elegant structures
surround a plaza with an original Florentine Fountain and Greek columns.
8 Continue north on Crescent
Drive to BEVERLY HILLS CITY HALL, built in 1932 in the Spanish
Renaissance tradition by architect William J. Gage. The low, classical
base symbolizes government surmounted by a tower that signifies commerce,
a style frequently employed in government buildings between 1913 and
1939. The original building was restored and additions made in 1990. The
Civic Center complex is also home to the Public Library and the Police
and Fire Departments.
9 Directly to the west is the
BEVERLY HILLS POST OFFICE. Built in 1933, this Italian Renaissance
design features signature terra cotta and brick, and the interior
includes vaulted ceilings covered in mosaic and murals.
10 Across Santa Monica Blvd.
to the north is one of the City's most beautiful parks, BEVERLY GARDENS.
Built in 1911, this 14-block stretch of gardens is planted with various
species of trees, shrubs and flowers. The central park has the remains
of a large lily pond, now filled with plants for safety reasons. At one
time, a large sign spelling out "Beverly Hills" arched over
the pond. The park is situated directly across from what was once the
Pacific Electric Station, called "Morocco Junction."
11 Continue west along Santa
Monica Blvd. to a bronze statue situated in the park bordered by Canon
and Crescent Drives. Created by Henri Alfred Marie Jacquemart, the
statue, "HUNTER AND HOUNDS," was purchased by banker W.D.
Longyear as a memorial to his son, who was killed in World War I near
the Chateau Thierry in France, where the same statue originally stood.
Longyear found the statue, saw the holes from the shelling during the
war, and arranged with the French Government to ship it to Beverly Hills.
It was placed on the front lawn of his Beverly Drive estate in 1925, and
for many years memorial ceremonies were held each Armistice Day. When
the Longyears moved from Beverly Hills, they donated the statue to the
City to be placed in the park.
12 One block north of Santa
Monica Blvd. on Rodeo Drive is the O'NEILL HOUSE, 507 N. Rodeo Drive,
one of the best examples of Gaudi-esque Art Nouveau architecture in the
Los Angeles area. Its guest house was built between 1978 and 1983, and
the main house was built in 1986 by architect Don Ramos. Six tile
craftsmen created extensive mosaic tile work, and each signed their work
by spelling their name in tile.
13 Further north on Rodeo
Drive, the median strip is the remains of "DINKY," a small
train that connected Santa Monica and Sunset Boulevards and The Beverly
Hills Hotel in 1914. When the trolley tracks were removed in the early
1920's, the median became a bridle path until horses were banned within
the City in 1930.
14 Continue west on Santa
Monica Blvd. to Camden Drive to encounter one of the largest collections
of cacti in the world. THE CACTUS GARDEN occupies the entire block
between Camden and Bedford Drives.
15 Continue west on Santa
Monica Blvd. to Wilshire Blvd. THE ELECTRIC FOUNTAIN at the corner was
built in 1930 for $1,000, an amount procured by Elizabeth Frazier Lloyd,
mother of Harold Lloyd, under the auspices of the Beverly Hills Women's
Club. The statue atop the fountain s ymbolizes an Indian rain prayer,
and the frieze of figures circling its base represents the story of
early California history.
16 Across the street, at the
northwest corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica Blvds. is Merv Griffin's
Beverly HILTON Hotel, home to the annual Golden Globe Awards. Prior to
the hotel's construction in 1953, it was the site of Beverly Hills
Nursery, which supplied most of the plants and landscaping for the early
homes of the City.
17 Head east on Wilshire Blvd.
to Little Santa Monica Blvd. to one of the most exciting new buildings
in the City, Creative Artists Agency at 9830 Wilshire Blvd., which was
built in 1989 by renown architect I.M. Pei. With one of the City's most
impressive entrances, Pei has created a masterpiece of marble and glass.
A gigantic original Lichtenstein artwork is the centerpiece of the
lobby.
18 Continue east on Wilshire
Blvd. for a stroll down "Department Store Row," including
Barneys New York, Façonnable, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue. The
Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel, 9500 Wilshire Blvd., originally opened in
1928. The Italian Renaissance and Beaux Arts structure was designed by
the architectural firm Walker & Eisen under the guidance of
developer Walter G. McCarty. A second wing was added in 1970 by famed
hotelier Hernando Courtright. The hotel's charming private, cobblestone
street El Camino Real, connects the two wings and features the lanterns
of the Edinburgh Castle.
This concludes the walking tour.
  
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