Lifestyles of the Rich and Mum : Survey: Rolling Hills ranks as the wealthiest city in the state, to the chagrin of publicity-shy residents.

When Rolling Hills Councilwoman Ginny Leeuwenburgh learned that her city’s residents had been ranked the richest in the state, she reacted the same way she had in past years.

She cringed.

“Oh, god, we hate that,” Leeuwenburgh said. “We love to have Indian Wells be No. 1 because our city doesn’t like the publicity. We’re delighted if Indian Wells can beat us by two cents.”

Despite the best wishes of Rolling Hills residents, the Riverside County resort city of Indian Wells came in third in a survey that ranked the wealthiest and the fastest-growing cities in California.

According to figures from the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, a private economic research group in Palo Alto, Rolling Hills, a small, gated community on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, was California’s wealthiest with a per-capita annual income of $65,113. Hidden Hills, a gated community in the western San Fernando Valley, was second at $54,941, while Indian Wells was third at $54,332.

The figures are derived from 1987 data, the latest available.

Aviva Bernstein, spokeswoman for the center, said the survey also determined that Palmdale was the fastest-growing incorporated community in the state, based on such criteria as the increase in households, taxable retail sales, residential building permits and assessed property values. In all, 20 of the state’s 25 fastest-growing cities were in Southern California, she said.

Rolling Hills, where the average selling price of a home last year was just under $2 million, was founded in 1936 as a dude ranch. Today, all streets are privately owned and maintained with homeowner dues.

Although public controversies are few and far between, one recently centered on banning mountain bicycle riders from the city’s 24 miles of winding equestrian trails because they spooked horses. The community’s big event is the annual Portuguese Bend National Horse Show, which draws top-notch riders from throughout the country.

In Rolling Hills, where the average home lot is about two acres and is surrounded by deep canyons and twisting equestrian trails, the publicity generated by the center’s study is not welcomed by all. Much like Greta Garbo, some residents said, they would prefer to be left alone with their privacy intact.

“I’d just as soon no one know about it,” said Mimi Hartwig, who has lived in the city for more than 30 years.

“Everybody wants to have the same thing, and that is a great deal of privacy,” said Councilwoman Gordana Swanson. “There is nothing showy about our way of living here.”

Indeed, some residents said life in Rolling Hills, which is about three square miles in size and has 2,200 residents, is purposefully low-key and quiet. And strict laws enforced by the city’s community association dictate decorum.

For example, anyone who wants to build a flashy mega-mansion to outshine the neighbors’ houses might as well forget it. The association will allow construction of only one-story, ranch-style homes. And they must be painted white.

“I love it and I don’t have to defend it,” Hartwig said.

Julia Roberts, 24, who grew up in the city and now works as an administrative secretary at City Hall, praised the city for its peace and quiet and as a great place to ride horses. “You tend to get really spoiled,” she said.

Roberts said she was surprised that Rolling Hills residents were ranked first in per-capita income. She said she would have guessed that Beverly Hills, which came in 10th with $36,690, would have topped the list.

Then again, she added, maybe not.

“People in Beverly Hills, they just take out a lot of loans.”