Beverly Hills’ post office opened in 1911, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns · #75 of 847 in California. What drives it
8 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 8 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1896 on, and the census since 1920.
From Beverly Hills’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Beverly Hills began
When was Beverly Hills founded?
1911
The Beverly Hills post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Beverly (1907), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 674 in 19202020 census: 32,701115 years
How historic is Beverly Hills?
B+
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Beverly Hills post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Beverly Hills’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Beverly Hills is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #75 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Beverly Hills’ overall grade.
Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Beverly Hills’ 5.4 sits above most of its state (88% of California towns have fewer) while its 17 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share (±2.7 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Beverly Hills’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Beverly Hills. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1896Santa Monica sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Beverly Hills.
Famous people
36 famous people were born in Beverly Hills
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Gaspar de Portolá arrived in the area that would later become Beverly Hills on August 3, 1769, traveling along native trails which followed the present-day route of Wilshire Boulevard. The area was settled by Californio ranchera María Rita Quinteros de Valdez and her husband in 1828. They called their 4,500 acres (18 km2) of property the Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas. In 1854, she sold the ranch to Benjamin Davis Wilson (1811–1878) and Henry Hancock (1822–1883). By the 1880s, the ranch had been subdivided into parcels of 75 acres (0.30 km2) and was being rapidly bought up by Anglos from Los Angeles and the East coast.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Beverly Hills post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Beverly Hills rank for history?
Beverly Hills is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #75 of 847 in California. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Beverly Hills?
8 listings: 7 buildings and 1 historic district, the Doheny Estate/Greystone, with 8 contributing buildings. 17 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Beverly Hills?
29% of Beverly Hills’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1958.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
![Construction plans for 1/4 mile board track to be built at Beverly Hills, Calif. for Los Angeles Speedway Assn.] [Rear …](https://images.townratings.com/story/1377/3d1b552cf0a638bc5fb5-s.jpg)
1919![Construction plans for 1/4 mile board track to be built at Beverly Hills, Calif. for Los Angeles Speedway Assn.] [Rear …](https://images.townratings.com/story/1377/d0e0123bcc6809b2c06f-s.jpg)
1919
