Beverly Hills’ Golden Triangle Gets Ready for a Nip, a Tuck and a Polish : Street and traffic improvements will enhance what is already a booming shopping area.

Beverly Hills’ downtown is being prepared for a slight make-over--a nip and tuck that officials say will enhance what is one of the most lucrative shopping areas in the country.

The improvements will provide the 20-block retail core with an eclectic mix of the best attributes of the small-town atmosphere of Larchmont Village, the vibrancy of the Sunset Strip and splendor of New York’s Madison Avenue, proponents say.

The development plans, now being reviewed by residents and merchants associations, call for a street-by-street upgrade that fine-tunes building codes and makes street, traffic and pedestrian improvements. Sleepy Canon Drive will be the first street to be revamped. Plans for the street, scheduled to go before the City Council early next year, call for a more pedestrian-friendly area and diagonal street parking.

The changes come when most retail experts agree the city is thriving. In the last six months, the city’s so-called “golden triangle” has come alive with new stores and restaurants and a spate of well-known art galleries.

“The triangle is doing very well, but that is just the time you can’t sit back and relax,” said Beverly Hills Mayor Allan Alexander. “You have to move to the outer limit and make it better. It’s a vision thing.”

The blueprint calls for giving several streets their own individual character: providing a Main Street U.S.A. atmosphere for underused Canon Drive; making busy Beverly Drive the thoroughfare of national mass-marketers such as Victoria’s Secret, and expanding Rodeo Drive’s cosmopolitan mix of exclusive international retailers.

“The smart towns are enhancing themselves--the dumb ones aren’t,” said Stefanos Polyzoides, lead consultant to the city’s urban design plans.

In Beverly Hills, upgrades include widening the sidewalks, improving aging street lighting, and adding trees. Merchants along Little Santa Monica Boulevard hope to include a name change with their improvements, referring to their street’s name as demeaning. Changing the name to Burton Way would give the roadway the same name throughout the city, and revamp the street’s image as well.

Other plans for the triangle include adding more cultural pursuits in shopping-rich Beverly Hills. Under construction is the Museum of Television and Radio on Beverly Drive, and a deal is being finalized for a joint theater and visitors center in the historic post office on Crescent Drive.

Oddly enough, the proposed enhancements come amid rapid retail and economic growth in the triangle.

Rodeo Drive is almost 100% leased and Beverly Drive has more new stores than ever. Along Wilshire Boulevard, Saks Fifth Avenue finished an expansion, Planet Hollywood opened and a Nike super-store is on its way. Art galleries have suddenly bloomed--in one week PaceWildenstein and Gagosian Gallery opened in the triangle, and Sotheby’s unveiled its expansion.

But if the area is booming, why make any changes?

Alexander points to the experience of a Southern California neighbor.

“Palm Springs took an elitist approach; they said, ‘Don’t make any changes--we’re Palm Springs.’ So businesses went to Palm Desert and flourished there. Thirty years ago, Palm Desert did not even exist--now it has the cachet, hotels and shops,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Getting a Make- Over

Beverly Hills’ plans to make itself more attractive to shoppers include these upcoming projects.