What does it cost to live in an iconic neighborhood?

Beverly Hills, Calif.

Median sale price: $1.45 million

What makes it special: Glitz and glamour go hand-in-hand in this Southern California community. In 1919, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford led the flood of movie stars who built mansions here. Hundreds of stars call this area home today.

Stretch limousines, Mercedes-Benzes and Ferraris are common on the streets. Rodeo Drive is world-famous for high-end shopping and people-watching. Beverly Hills has been featured prominently in TV shows and movies — think of "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Beverly Hills Cop" and "Beverly Hills, 90210."

For sale: Join the famous 90210 ZIP code for $7.49 million with a seven-bedroom, nine-bath home now on the market.

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French Quarter, New Orleans

Median sale price: $129,000

What makes it special: In the early 20^th century, Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton honed a style of music, later known as jazz, in bars and strip joints here. Louis Armstrong, King Oliver and others followed.

Preservation Hall opened its doors here in 1961, giving struggling musicians a chance to perform when New Orleans jazz was in decline. Literary figures such as William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and Lillian Hellman lived here, too. The architecture is a mix of Spanish, French, Creole and American styles.

Today, the neighborhood has attracted tech tycoons and movie stars, including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

For sale: Chartres Street, with its nightclubs and historic architecture, is three blocks from a two-bedroom, two-bath home listed for $599,900.

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Greenwich Village, New York

Median sale price: $1.7 million

What makes it special: It was a bohemian capital and artists mecca in the 19th to mid-20th centuries, attracting poets, musicians, painters and writers — as well as radicals and beatniks. Among those who called this lower Manhattan neighborhood home were literary icons Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, playwright Eugene O'Neill and musician Bob Dylan.

Greenwich Village has been a hotbed for jazz, and it gave birth to the folk revolution of the 1950s and '60s. Soaring rental costs and home prices have now shut out aspiring artists.

For sale: A one-bedroom, one-bath apartment two blocks from the center of the village is listed for $749,000.

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Old and Historic District, Charleston, S.C.

Median sale price: $600,000

What makes it special:  Charleston has deep Southern roots. The Civil War began here in 1861, when Confederate troops fired on federal soldiers at the Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.

Today, cannons are still pointed at Fort Sumter from Battery Park in this district, home to roughly 3,000 historic buildings. Its architecture dates to the late 17^th century, allowing Charleston to retain its Old South feel. Church steeples dot the low skyline, which has been preserved by height restrictions. The city also has survived wars, fires, earthquakes and hurricanes.

Residents are known for their charm. "We're very gracious hosts and love inviting people into our houses," says John LaVerne, a guide with Bulldog Tours, which shuffles tourists through the area year-round.

For sale: Join this historic Southern community by purchasing this three-bedroom, three-bath home, for sale for $649,000.

Slide show:  Make a neighborhood love connection

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Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco

Median sale price: $837,000

What makes it special: The intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets was the hippie movement's epicenter in the mid-1960s. The San Francisco neighborhood was a magnet for tie-dye-clad youth seeking love and peace, epitomized by the 1967 "Summer of Love."

Much has changed. Today, Internet cafés, trendy restaurants and chic boutiques abound in what has become a vibrant commercial hub. The San Francisco Chronicle describes the area's two districts as distinctly different: The Upper Haight is "the more moneyed shopping zone"; the Lower Haight is a "more diverse neighborhood with a grittier feel." 

For sale: A three-unit Edwardian building, less than a block from the famous intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets, is for sale for $1.3 million.  

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South Beach, Miami Beach, Fla.

Median sale price: $250,000

What makes it special: This tourist-packed, Art Deco playground has morphed over the decades. The Miami Beach neighborhood was a resort hot spot in the mid-20^th century, as retirees from the Northeast flocked here for sand and sun. In the 1960s, television shows such as "The Dick Clark Show," "The Ed Sullivan Show" and the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants were filmed here.

By the late 1970s and '80s, high crime forced residents indoors. The hit show "Miami Vice" in the mid- to late 1980s helped bring about a revival. Today, South Beach is known for brightly colored hotels, chic boutiques, upscale fashion and tony restaurants. 

For sale: Enjoy the sand and sun with this four-bedroom, three-bath home, for sale for $650,000.

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North side of Oak Park, Ill.

Median sale price: $294,000

What makes it special: "Oak Park is an outdoor museum of architectural history," said Adam Ross, spokesman for the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, in the Chicago Tribune. The Chicago suburb features about 25 Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings, making it the world's largest collection of Wright structures. The legendary architect, known for his distinctive Prairie School architecture, built his own home here in 1889. Other Prairie School architects were behind many homes here, too. In addition, luminaries such as writer Ernest Hemingway, actor Bob Newhart and Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs called Oak Park home.

Residents can expect tourists — on guided tours and otherwise — year-round.

House for sale there now: Buy into this architecturally significant neighborhood with a four-bedroom, three-bath home listed for $570,000.

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Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

Median sale price: $344,000

What makes it special: Washington's largest residential historic district takes its name from the hill that French artist and engineer Pierre L'Enfant chose as the site for the U.S. Capitol. The neighborhood has grown from a small boarding-house community for members of Congress to an upscale area where the streets are lined with diverse row houses.

The area closest to the Capitol contains the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the House and Senate office buildings. Politics is never far away; politicians often rub shoulders with residents in neighborhood restaurants.

For sale: This four-bedroom, three-bath home is just steps away from the Capitol and is listed for $1.2 million.

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Waikiki, Honolulu

Median sale price: $275,250

Sun, surf and sand define Waikiki, on the southern shore of Honolulu. Hawaiian royalty once used the area as a playground. Its beaches, cloud-free skies and world-class hotels have since attracted visitors and celebrities from around the globe. Several scenes of Elvis Presley's 1961 film "Blue Hawaii" were shot on and around Waikiki Beach.

In addition to surfing or working on a tan, visitors here can dine at fine restaurants or party at hot nightspots.

For sale: A three-bedroom, three-bath home only a few blocks from the beach and the Honolulu Zoo is listed for $858,000.

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Las Vegas Strip

Median sale price: $162,100

Some of the world’s largest casinos and hotels are along this four-mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard. The Strip has become world-famous for its glitz, slot machines, showgirls and high-stakes gambling. What is it like to live there?

"It's convenient, especially if you like to gamble," says Jennifer Martin of Martin International Realty, located on the Strip. "You can walk to restaurants, casinos and shows."

Plenty of grocery stores are nearby, including Whole Foods.

You'll have to live in a high-rise condo to be on or near the Strip. But Martin says prices are “at or near the bottom." Her firm recently sold a one-bedroom condo within a block of the Strip for less than $90,000.

Martin says homeowners include casino workers and executives, as well as those who have second or investment homes in the area.

For sale: Like the bright lights? Steps from the northern end of the Strip is a four-bedroom, six-bath condo for sale for $7.99 million.

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