Beverly Hills' French Sibling

I was on assignment for a Danish newspaper yesterday in Solvang, the Danish-inspired village in the Santa Ynez valley of California. His Royal Highness, the Prince Consort of Denmark (or Prince Henrik as he is simply known) was visiting the former Danish “colony” not only to celebrate his own birthday, but also to recognize that the town of Solvang is 100 years old this year. I was covering the event, my first (and probably last) gig, as a royal reporter.

Some local school kids had made a banner touting Solvang’s sister city in Denmark, which is the northern, industrial town of Aalborg. It reminded me of the fact that one of the European cities I’ve visited the most is actually the sister city of the place I live now.

Do you know which city in Europe is Beverly Hills’ sister city?

It’s Cannes in the south of France.

I first learned of this on one of my many visits to Cannes a few years back. Driving into Cannes from the Cote d’Azur airport in Nice, I noticed for the first time a sign sitting right at the city limits, acknowledging the link to Beverly Hills. Not long after, I had moved to Beverly Hills, and walking around town, I found similar signs on the streets, often hiding behind the classic Beverly Hills city limits sign. Being a sister city basically means that local schools visit each other and cultural events are exchanged regularly. It’s a great system.

One could argue, though, that it’s hard to find the reasons why Cannes and Beverly Hills should be siblings.

Cannes is a seaport town, home to beautiful marinas and the spectacular beach promenade, the Croisette. Beverly Hills is landlocked.

Cannes is a huge hub for huge conventions and trade shows—the music, TV and film industries meet here annually, as do real estate and travel retail industries. Beverly Hills not so much.

Besides the tourist-y seaside restaurants, Cannes has a whole row of hidden, authentic French food gems hidden on the Rue Suquet, a cobblestone street so narrow, it’s not even visible on Google Maps’ Street View. We have chain restaurant row on La Cienega—or the fauxthentic Via Rodeo. Not quite the same.

But then again, there are also a lot of things the two cities have in common.

First of all, the glitz and the glamour.

Along the Croisette, as well as on Rue D’Antibes, stores selling luxury goods from fashion megabrands rival the wallet-gutting that takes place on Rodeo Drive.

In Cannes, the streets are lined with Ferraris, Bentleys, Maseratis and Lamborghinis—just like in Beverly Hills.

Even though it’s concentrated to a couple of times a year, celebrities come out and shine, just as we sometimes see them around the streets here in the BH.

The Croisette is filled with luxury hotels, old and new: the Carlton, the Martinez, the Splendid. We have the , the and the .

And finally, in Cannes, just like here, there are luxury mansions on beautiful hillsides with great views, home to insanely rich people and the many glamorous social functions they put on.

Hmm. Maybe the two towns aren’t so dissimilar after all?