A three-quarter mile stretch of high-end retail stores from Santa Monica to Wilshire Boulevard, Rodeo Drive boasts world-renowned stores such as Cartier, Chanel, Gucci, and Van Cleef & Arpels and was once described by novelist Judith Krantz as “the most staggering display of luxury in the Western world.”
Many tourists come just to watch movie stars walking out of stores wearing mink coats, idling their Maseratis at stop lights, or stopping in to rent million-dollar necklaces for the Oscars.
“Please tell me the royals are not going straight to Rodeo Drive,” says public relations agent Bonnie Brown. “Although it’s probably where they’d be the most comfortable. I’d like to see some hoity-toity shopkeeper there try to turn them away because they don’t have an appointment.”
