American Studies

Thesis

From Cornfields to Cadillacs: The Evolution of Beverly Hills

David Swatt’s senior thesis presents a cultural history of one of the world’s most famed cities. Among central questions examined concerns how land values between Santa Monica Boulevard and Benedict Canyon gained seemingly instantaneous value. David suggests that a spike in land values can be attributed to the development of the Beverly Hills Hotel and Pickfair. Also addressed is whether the City’s premier amenities followed the wealth or existed prior to the infiltration of society’s elite. David argues that such amenities followed the wealth, and that their purposes was to reinforce the dominant narrative and valuable myth of Beverly Hills as a sanctuary to reside, vacation, and shop. In comparing past and present-day Beverly Hills David counters the historian Walter Wagner’s suggestion that Beverly Hills is a shadow of its former self, contending that its glamorous celebrity residences and exorbitant home prices demonstrate its improvement. The epilogue uses Lake Forest, Illinois and Great Neck, New York as a comparative lens by which to argue that the trend of premium developments existed throughout America and also to suggest how these communities contributed to a unique narrative of residential elitism.