Beverly Hills started to become what it is today back around 1919 when Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks made their way here. It was here that they built the Pickfair mansion. Many other stars followed suite, building their trendy mansions in the area, such as John Barrymore, Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, Will Rogers, Rudolph Valentino, Buster Keaton, and King Vidor.
Time sped through the “roaring 20’s” in Beverly Hills. The southern area of Beverly Hills was known for the enormous, wooden race track that was designed with banks. The racetrack was a really big deal back then, comparable to today’s Indy 500, and drew the attention of America. The races here were broadcast over the radio and were popular among the American population. Amazingly, this speedway was even used for aviation sometimes.
Come 1923, there was a proposal to annex Beverly Hills to the City of Los Angeles. This didn’t sit well with Will Rogers, who ended up becoming the first mayor of Beverly Hills. He and other well-known people who had come to call Beverly Hills home made their voice heard and drove the other locals to vote against this proposal that would have stopped Beverly Hills in its tracks. The proposal was made because supposedly they believed that annexing Beverly Hills to L.A. would give an infinite supply of clean water to grow. Those who believed the annexation would be good stooped to absurd campaign strategies. They put water smelling of sulfur on all the Beverly Hills doorsteps warning to drink with caution because it had “laxative qualities”. Needless to say, the annexation wasn’t successful.
This is likely the first you see in history of politics and show business joining together. Rogers, as mentioned, became the first honorary mayor of Beverly Hills. He later was part of the Beverly Hills development by helping with the City Hall that was built in 1932 and the U.S. Post Office in 1934. From there, Beverly Hills only continued to grow into the high-class city has become today.