I lived in Beverly Hills (or BH to the locals) for 30 years. I came to LA with my family when my brother Jim was sick and needed support during the last year and a half of his life. We moved to Beverly Hills because we needed a good school district for our kids. Who knew what unlikely lessons I would learn from living here?

1) Everyone in Beverly Hills hesitates when people outside BH ask them where they live. Most – including my family and me – hem and haw and say, “LA.” Most answer only when people press, “Where in LA?” Why, you ask? Aren’t you proud of where you live? The answer is bias. Most people have a stereotypical view of Beverly Hills residents, mainly that everybody is rich and snotty. People get a look in their eye when you say, “I live in Beverly Hills,” and it’s not a particularly friendly look.

2) Not everybody in BH is rich. Many are well off, of course, and some are rich – usually the “above Sunset Boulevard” set, but there are also a fair number of average citizens in Beverly Hills. The people who do “well enough.” Some people even have several generations of family living together in one apartment, primarily so their kids can attend the school district.

3) One of my biggest misconceptions when moving to BH was that people were so rich that they didn’t have “real” problems. Imagine my embarrassment when a Beverly Hills housewife and mother of one of my daughter’s friends sat in my living room and told me about her child with severe birth trauma and her father, who lived far away and was dying. I felt so ashamed that I had pre-judged her as someone who couldn’t possibly understand how “the rest of us” feel.

4) Beverly Hills 90210 is not an accurate reflection of Beverly Hills, especially BHUSD. When we first moved here, I expected to see the non-actor equivalents of the 90210 show on the schoolyard in Beverly Hills. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that BHUSD has a very large contingent of Persian Jews and that in the elementary school my kids attended, 26 nations were represented. My children were in the distinct minority as Christians, and I would soon need to educate myself on Jewish traditions.

5) Iranians here call themselves Persians and have a poignant history. Don’t mind me, but I hadn’t studied Iranian history much before moving to BH. I have had the opportunity to get to know many Persian Jewish families over time. Many of my students are Persians. I have heard poignant stories from my students about their parents’ and grandparents’ escape from Iran when the Shah was overthrown and their arrival in the United States with traumatic memories and sadness over leaving their beloved homeland. I have had the opportunity to learn much about this lovely and lively culture.

6) Jews come in as many varieties as Christians. Probably most people already knew this, but coming from a little Texas town where there was only one Jew, and he was only half and a practicing Unitarian, well…to say I was underexposed is an understatement. Most of the Jews I know are Reform, but not all. It’s been educational to learn about this rich religious tradition and to get to know people ranging from Jew “ish” to Orthodox.

7) You can see celebrities at restaurants and grocery stores here. Not always, but often enough. I have seen over the years a whole range of well-known people: Arnold driving down our street in his Hummer, Ben Stiller jogging down our street, Katie Holmes (a while back) walking in West Hollywood, Rod Stewart at Coffee Bean, Keanu Reeves waiting outside a movie theater, Jane Fonda in the elevator in the parking garage of that same theater (ArcLight Hollywood), David Arquette in an auto accident near our house, Lindsey Lohan emerging from the high-rise across the street from our house, Dave Navarro at a local bakery, Christina Ricci sitting at the next table at a restaurant, Jeff Goldblum grabbing take-out from a restaurant where we were having breakfast, K.D. Lang at Whole Foods. More, I’m sure, but those are the ones that quickly come to mind. That’s always a little fun. The whole “celebrity sighting” thing. Half the fun of living in LA.

8) People in Beverly Hills are just like people everywhere else. I spent a lot of time in Beverly Hills volunteering with PTA. I coordinated the parenting workshops for the BHUSD for over ten years – my gift to the district for educating my children so well – which meant one workshop in each of the five schools every year. I met with the core people in each of these schools many times, and I realized that the same type of people in every town and city across the U.S. (and the world) join together to help children. They are down-to-earth, generous with their time, and civic-minded. Never mind if they arrive in a ten-year-old Toyota or a brand new Bentley, they are cut from the same cloth.

9) Beverly Hills has no discount stores. Damn. I had to drive 45 minutes to get to the nearest Costco. And don’t think I didn’t see half of Beverly Hills there. They were there.

10) People in Beverly Hills (and LA) dress down, not up. People are dressed up more in North Dallas than on Rodeo Drive, for the most part. “California casual” means you can walk into Gucci in your shorts and flip-flops, and salespeople never know if you’re rich. That is a gift for someone who is not driven by fashion. Not to say fashion is not here. It is everywhere. That same woman sitting in her sweats at the restaurant for breakfast might be wearing Prada tonight. The difference is she will be dressed up to go somewhere, not just heading down to the local bakery for a croissant.

11) People are pretty in LA. It’s true. Go to the local mall or Runyon Canyon for a hike and be astounded by the number of beautiful people. It is not surprising that many “beauties” move here hoping to have a television or movie career and stay long after that dream fades. Still, it makes people-watching extra pleasant.

12) I love LA and I love California, but I also enjoy going back and visiting my home state of Texas. I am grateful I have had the chance to be explosed to both places. I have grown and widen my perspective as a result.