To enter Beverly Hills is to venture into realms of hyper-wealth that very few people even dare dream about. Rich and famous faces by the score live in Beverly Hills, though most of them are hidden from the public gaze behind tall walls and elaborate security systems in the hills above the town, an area first settled in force by the movie idols of the 1920s. You’ll best feel the mon­eyed pulse of this unbelievably affluent community along Rodeo Drive, a prized shopping strip between Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevards, where locals emerge from their fortress homes long enough to patronize top-name designer stores: Cartier, Hermès and Gucci are just three with outlets here. Another top-notch shopping stop is the Rodeo Collection, 421 N Rodeo Drive, a shopping mall like no other, where the prerequisites of the jet-set lifestyle are displayed at dizzy­ing prices.