I wanna be just like a king
Take my picture by the pool
Cause I'm the next big thing
Beverly Hills... That's where I want to be!"
Beverly Hills is such an iconic place that just putting that in the title of a work is a selling point on its own. Just slap the words "Beverly Hills" in the title and make the city your setting, and you have half the work already made. The city is so famous in its own right, it's easy to forget that it's technically just a suburb of Los Angeles.
For many, the city has become synonymous with a collection of Rich People stereotypes: wealth, superficiality, frivolity, etc, so using the name helps make titles seem High Concept. There are richer and bitchier areas than Beverly Hills, but only Las Vegas rivals it as an icon of excess.
Beverly Hills became synonymous with Southern California glamour particularly in the 1920s and 1930s. Initially, after the city was incorporated in 1914, it started attracting affluent residents due to its exclusive homes and high-quality amenities. The real transformation began when the film industry started to boom in nearby Hollywood, leading many movie stars and entertainment executives to make Beverly Hills their home.
By the 1930s, Beverly Hills had cemented its reputation as a center of wealth and celebrity culture. This image was further popularized by the media and entertainment industries, which showcased the luxurious lifestyles and Big Fancy Houses of its residents, making Beverly Hills a nationally recognized symbol of Southern California glamour.
Watch out for the iconic shield-shaped welcome sign, which is pretty much guaranteed to appear in any work set there (as in the trope image).
Compare American Title.
Beverly Hills Examples:
- The Beverly Hills Diet, a (supposedly) non-fiction example
- Dinoverses Beverly Hills Brontosaurus doesn't take place in Beverly Hills, but the title character is from there.
- The Beverly Hillbillies
- Beverly Hills, 90210
- Beverly Hills Buntz, a spin-off of Hill Street Blues
- Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills
- The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
- Rich Kids of Beverly Hills
- On the rare times he actually wrestled, manager Bobby Heenan was billed as being from Beverly Hills.
- This is parodied with Beverly Hills Cthulhu
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