The 5.7 square miles of Beverly Hills enclose a domain reminiscent of the fabled small principalities of Europe. Wedged between the tiny West Side Los Angeles communities of Bel-Air, Brentwood, Century City, and Westwood, Beverly Hills is, in many ways, a world of its own. You could easily spend $10,000 a day here without being noticed. Many come to Beverly Hills to shop the stores of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard, not so much for the bargains as for the experience.

Among the locals is a favored saying: "There's so much going on in Beverly Hills at any one time that it needs two Santa Monica Boulevards." Indeed, Big Santa Monica Boulevard and Little Santa Monica Boulevard are two perfect starting points to get the feel of the place. The former is a main artery, giving you access to the residential and traffic sense of the city; the latter is a cook's tour of smart shops, quirky restaurants, and hip clothing outlets.

Just as the English can nail your social point of origin by the way you speak, locals identify you by where you live in relation to Sunset Boulevard (north or south of it). North means one of the more spacious mansions, while south means a comfy older house, a posh condo, or a roomy apartment. As you drive through the residential streets on either side of the east/west-running Sunset Boulevard, you're bound to intersect one of the three great canyons that add to Beverly Hills' character—Coldwater, Benedict, and Franklin. These canyons bring the moisture and year-round variety of ground covering that typify the southern California flora. The canyons also point to a physical heart of the city where Sunset and Beverly boulevards converge. Follow Coldwater north to get a timeless sense of why so many people are drawn to make their homes in the steep, sometimes slippery, rock-and-sandstone foothills.

Beverly Hills High School on Moreno Drive has its own oil well; the splendidly stocked Beverly Hills Library on North Rexford Drive is a great spot for frequent literary events and for spotting movie and television stars.