Beverly Hills Post Office

Beverly Hills Post Office (BHPO) is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, that lies directly north of the city of Beverly Hills. Because the United States Postal Service post office in Beverly Hills serves the neighborhood, residents have a Beverly Hills mailing address with zip code 90210. While the Beverly Hills connection makes BHPO—about one-third the size of the city—attractive, land is available in larger sizes, and with lower prices, better views, and more seclusion, than in Beverly Hills itself.[1]

The BHPO area itself contains a number of neighborhoods, including Benedict Canyon and Coldwater Canyon.[2]

The Los Angeles Times wrote in 2004, "When Beverly Hills was incorporated in 1914, the northern border was roughly a mile north of Sunset Boulevard, with the exception of Trousdale Estates. The remaining section stretching north to Mulholland Drive was left as part of the hills of Los Angeles, where it remained anonymous for decades".[3] In the 1920s, the federal government decided to have the Beverly Hills post office serve the area now known as BHPO, which was then a rural area, much of it part of Doheny Ranch. By the 1940s people bought BHPO homes because they were less expensive than in Beverly Hills, despite higher property taxes.[1] In 1963, the area was included within the 90210 ZIP Code, which also covers the northern part of Beverly Hills.[3] 1978 California Proposition 13 equalized property taxes, making BHPO more attractive.[1]

The ZIP Code 90210 is still handled by the Beverly Hills Main Post Office. The original Beverly Hills Main Post Office from 1934 to the 1990s still sits at 469 North Crescent Drive in the Beverly Hills Civic Center, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.[4][5] In 1990, 325 North Maple Street was rebuilt as the new Beverly Hills Main Post Office; the old Main on Crescent Drive was closed in 1999 when the building was sold back to the City of Beverly Hills.[4][5] Beverly Hills has other Post Offices in other ZIP Codes as well.

BHPO residents do not have access to Beverly Hills Police Department, Beverly Hills Fire Department or any Beverly Hills city services.[1] As citizens of the city of Los Angeles, they receive Los Angeles city services and vote in Los Angeles elections. This can cause problems with emergency response. For example, when actress Demi Moore needed an ambulance in January 2012, Beverly Hills and Los Angeles 9-1-1 operators used over two minutes to determine jurisdiction for her home.[6]

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