Book excerpt: A comprehensive, sumptuously illustrated history of the legendary city and its houses, parks, and gardens, from its founding to today. Beverly Hills: The First 100 Years celebrates this city on the advent of its centennial. Famous for its movie stars and beautiful homes, its lush gardens and glorious weather, Beverly Hills has lived in our collective imagination as a paradise. This volume is an illustrated history of the city with a focus on the homes, gardens, parks, clubs, estates, and civic structures built to serve and house its storied residents. Exhaustively researched, Beverly Hills: The First 100 Years is a first-of-its-kind feast of glamorous images and exclusive stories culled from, among other sources, the author’s unmatched personal collection and includes, as well, an abundance of new photography commissioned especially for the book. A photographic tour de force and a compelling, unprecedented document, Beverly Hills: The First 100 Years offers us, as never before, the history of this great city.