# What's the Beverly Hills of your city/town/shire? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 7, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318 "2009-04-07T23:01:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/41 "2009-04-08T18:37:48Z")
For my area, Dallas, there’s the [New Money in Southlake](http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/106273/America%27s-Most-Affluent-Neighborhoods), and the [Home of the Powerful and Wealthy in Preston Hollow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Hollow,_Dallas,_Texas). Preston Hollow has the most notable residents and the ultra-wealthy, Southlake has the highest median household income of any small city in the US, with pretty much every household being in the top 5% income-wise. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/42 "2009-04-08T18:54:06Z")
I’m guessing around the twin cities the richest area would be somewhere like Minnetonka Beach. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/43 "2009-04-08T19:20:38Z")
In Milwaukee it’s River Hills and Fox Point, but really anything right along Lake Michigan is prime real estate. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/44 "2009-04-08T19:39:34Z")
In Cincinnati, it’s Indian Hill, with the adjoining town of Montgomery second. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/45 "2009-04-08T19:45:03Z")
In my area (eastern Wisconsin, a ways north of Milwaukee), I’m in it. Beachfront property on Lake Michigan is the most desirable real estate for miles around. My front yard is rolling dunes, clean sand, and blue water. Fortunately my family owned the land since the 1800’s. Inheriting it was far easier on the pocketbook than buying it. ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/46 "2009-04-08T20:36:01Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > For Orlando, the Winter Park area by Rollins College has to be one of the richest. There are others I’m sure, but I’m not really too familiar. And let’s not forget Bay Hill and Windemere. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/47 "2009-04-08T20:57:04Z")
San Marino, I think. My siblings live in Brookline, MA which I think is one of the nicer parts of Boston to raise a family in. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/48 "2009-04-08T20:58:19Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > My siblings live in Brookline, MA which I think is one of the nicer parts of Boston to raise a family in. The back roads have some rather amazing houses. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/49 "2009-04-08T21:03:32Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > The back roads have some rather amazing houses. They bought a 140 year old wreck in Coolidge Corner for an embarrasingly low price. The family had owned it for 80+ years so they were eager to get rid of it and retire to New Hampshire. It is very beautiful but I don’t envy them the restoration process. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/50 "2009-04-08T21:21:10Z")
For Austin, there’s West Lake Hills, which is a city in it’s own right, nestled into the SW side of town. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/51 "2009-04-09T00:32:36Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > One semi-hilarious aspect of the “tony neighborhood” thing is that some of these places have names that acquired sleazy connotations elsewhere in the country. > > For example “Five Points” was one of the legendarily awful slums in Manhattan, about which [Charles Dickens said](http://r2.gsa.gov/fivept/wifp.htm): > > \*"“This is the place: these narrow ways diverging to the right and left, and reeking every where with dirt and filth. Such lives as are led here, bear the same fruit here as elsewhere. The coarse and bloated faces at the doors have counterparts at home and all the wide world over. Debauchery has made the very houses prematurely old. See how the rotten beams are tumbling down, and how the patched and broken windows seem to scowl dimly, like eyes that have been hurt in drunken frays. Many of these pigs live here. Do they ever wonder why their masters walk upright in lieu of going on all-fours? and why they talk instead of grunting?” \* > > Oh yeah, Five Points is where I wanna be. 😃 Interesting, I didn’t know that. 🙂 FWIW, Atlanta also has two neighborhoods with the same name, Five Points and Little Five Points. And yes, in Athens, Five Points is where you wanna be. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/52 "2009-04-09T00:42:19Z")
Well, for Hoboken NJ, the “Beverly Hills” would be the Hudson Tea condos overlooking Manhattan. But for the greater NYC metro area? I suppose the Upper West or East sides by Central Park. You could also include suburbs like Greenwich, CT or parts of NJ and Long Island. Lot of fucking money around. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/53 "2009-04-09T00:49:31Z")
In Phoenix, I’d say [Paradise Valley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Valley,_Arizona). ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/54 "2009-04-09T02:47:28Z")
Lots to choose from on Long Island, but I happen to live next to [Sands Point](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sands_Point), otherwise known as East Egg in _The Great Gatsby_. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/55 "2009-04-09T03:32:19Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > In my area (eastern Wisconsin, a ways north of Milwaukee), I’m in it. Beachfront property on Lake Michigan is the most desirable real estate for miles around. My front yard is rolling dunes, clean sand, and blue water. > > Fortunately my family owned the land since the 1800’s. Inheriting it was far easier on the pocketbook than buying it. Similar story- my grandpa bought a beach house (built some time prior to 1900) on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, CA, back in the 1940’s for about $4500. My parents live in it now, and also still own “the big house” in Newport where I grew up. Newport Beach, CA is pretty much the Beverly Hills of just about anywhere! 😉 If we were to sell the beach house now, as is (no garage, old roof, built on posts rather than a full foundation, extremely limited street parking, small but with three bedrooms, 3 full baths and an attic, less than 1900 SF), we would easily get $2 million for it, so that the buyer could bulldoze it and build a Big Ugly on the lot. Never gonna happen as long as my brother and I draw breath. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/56 "2009-04-09T06:21:52Z")
**TruCelt** was right about Northern Virginia (Washington, DC-area suburbs) - **Great Falls** and **McLean** are definitely the ritzy areas. Take these homes (or I should say mansions) for example (links go to [Zillow.com](http://Zillow.com) real estate site): [$2.8M](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/314-River-Bend-Rd-Great-Falls-VA-22066/51700846_zpid/) [$3.5M](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/482-River-Bend-Rd-Great-Falls-VA-22066/51701068_zpid/) [$3.9M](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9106-Dara-Ln-Great-Falls-VA-22066/68906442_zpid/) [$6.5M](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7712-Georgetown-Pike-Mc-Lean-VA-22102/51726097_zpid/) [$6.5M](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/627-Innsbruck-Ave-Great-Falls-VA-22066/51701067_zpid/) [$6.5M](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/814-Leigh-Mill-Rd-Great-Falls-VA-22066/51712010_zpid/) [$9.5M](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/10250-Akhtamar-Dr-Great-Falls-VA-22066/51700661_zpid/) In Maryland, it’s the suburb of **Potomac** : [$4M](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9904-Potomac-Manors-Dr-Rockville-MD-20854/37268550_zpid/) [$5.5M](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9808-Bentcross-Dr-Potomac-MD-20854/37267653_zpid/) [$5.8M](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11018-S-Glen-Rd-Potomac-MD-20854/58244555_zpid/) I always wonder who lives in these huge mansions, and why do they need so much space?? ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/57 "2009-04-09T15:50:09Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Good points. I was in that section of Cambridge last Friday. I thought it would be nice to live in one of those apartments once I’ve finished building my vast financial empire. The really good places are hiding behind 4-foot brick walls and/or dense two-hundred-year-old vegetation. Walk just a block off Brattle Sreet in the direction of Concord Ave and it’s shocking how quiet and peaceful the neighborhood suddenly becomes. It feels so secret and remote, even though it’s between two very busy streets. It’s like a curtain comes down between you and the noise of all the life streaming by on Brattle and Concord. Take a peek at some of the houses off Brattle behind the Longfellow house. I want one so badly but I don’t have any spare millions. What I love about them is that many them are not very big, just old and very old-money looking. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/58 "2009-04-09T19:56:57Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > Interesting, I didn’t know that. 🙂 FWIW, Atlanta also has two neighborhoods with the same name, Five Points and Little Five Points. The area around Little Five seems to be one of those “depending on the street number and the street it may be a beautifully renovated 80 year old craftsman bungalow or a crackhouse”. Is that the case? ---
**Author:** ![imfloating](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bc79bd/32.png) [@imfloating](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imfloating)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/59 "2009-04-09T20:34:00Z")
Sorry, I misread it. I thought you said Beverly Sills. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318/60 "2009-04-09T21:12:00Z")
In my hometown of Cape Town, South Africa I would say the ritzy suburban neighborhoods are Bishopscourt and Constantia. Much of it is forested and in the foothills of the mountain, so it is very private and picturesque. If you are more urban in nature then a trendy apartment on the coast in Clifton or Camps Bay would be more suitable. Here in Sacramento I am not really sure. East Sacramento looks quite nice. I’m not sure about the surrounding suburbs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-beverly-hills-of-your-city-town-shire/492318.md?page=4)