Spreckels Mansion

Despite her classy name, Alma de Bretteville was born into an impoverished farming family in what was then a wasteland, the city’s Sunset District, in 1881. Tired of being dirt poor, at the age of fourteen she set out on her own, her good looks and height — she was six feet tall — making her an ideal subject for artists in need of a model. As such, her claim to fame is the statue atop the column in the center of Union Square, for which she posed bearing a wreath and trident. But her real aim in life was to be a wealthy woman, and the sugar daddy she snagged was literally that — Adolph Spreckels, heir to the family fortune made in cane sugar and the Park Commissioner at the time. One of her first projects was construction of a cozy home for the couple, a white limestone mansion containing fifty-​five rooms, including a Louis XVI ballroom. Fortunately, she wasn’t self-​centered enough to stop there — she and her husband donated the Palace of the Legion of Honor, with its spectacular Rodin collection, in 1924. Her philanthropy extended to victims of the 1906 quake and relief efforts in both World Wars. In 1957, she allowed Hollywood to invade her home and use it as the setting for Frank Sinatra’s nightclub in the film version of Broadway’s ‘Pal Joey.’ She passed away in 1968, and eventually the house fell into the hands of Danielle Steele of trashy romance novel fame, who has written more books, birthed more children, has more rooms, and owns more cars than your average author. A number of years ago, it was my misfortune to be trapped with her and half her brood in the First Class cabin of a 747 headed to San Francisco from New York. The brats had commandeered the space as their personal playground, their nanny had lost all control, and Steele — oblivious to it all — calmly sat there checking the galleys for her next saga. You can put the lady in the Spreckels mansion, but that doesn’t mean she’ll have any class.