loader from loading.io

The Strange Career of the Original Beverly Hillbilles

California Upended

Release Date: 12/23/2023

In 1930, Los Angeles went wild for hillbillies. Tens of thousands of the city's residents believed that musical hillbillies had lived undetected in the Santa Monica Mountains. When the Beverly Hillbillies finally rode into town, they caused a sensation. While the authenticity of the group and their backstory was suspect, their popularity nonetheless captured a moment in LA's history when white migrants flooded the city, longed for home, and accepted the Hillbillies as their own kin. Why anyone fell for it, and what it means, is the episode’s subject.