Imagine a World Without Beverly Hills

You might shrug and think: What difference would it have made if Beverly Hills had been annexed to Los Angeles in 1923? In terms of popular culture, actually, quite a lot.

Beverly Hills is shorthand for a general over-the-top-ness that is a mash-up of movie stars, celebrities, wealth, fame, fashion, and beauty—both natural and surgically enhanced. And in terms of entertainment content, Beverly Hills looms large in the imaginations of everyone who has ever seen a movie or TV show whose titular location has included the name of the storied city. No Beverly Hills, No Beverly Hillbillies; Beverly Hills Cop, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Troop Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills 90210 and its spin-off, 90210, Clueless, Pretty Woman, Beverly Hills Chihuahua (1, 2, and 3), and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Who would have watched, for example, The Woodland Hillbillies, Irwindale Cop, Down and Out in Vernon, Troop Lawndale, El Segundo Chihuahua or The Real Housewives of Signal Hill? Didn’t think so.