Mock Tour continued

Melvin Belli / attorney

I have a personal experience with Melvin Belli, the late San Francisco celebrated attorney reportedly to have won over $600M in judgments for his clients (and nationally famous as JFK's assassin's (Lee Harvey Oswald) murderer's (Jack Ruby) defense attorney in the 'Trial of the Century'). In the 1960s, he hired me as an administrative assistant but even before I left my other job he asked me to his apartment for some 'night' work and to travel with him to Denver to 'investigate' a case. Pretty big red flag that I would be choosing a lifestyle not meant for me, so I never did work for the flamboyant attorney. Later, happily, I became a "Billy" girl and not a "Belli" girl! In the late 70s to early 90s, Belli lived in this 1920's Tudor Revival 11,000 sq ft mansion on Broadway, with leaded glass windows and elaborate moldings, a 3000 bottle wine cellar, a ‘ballroom-sized’ living room, a four-car garage, elevator, lush gardens and a heated swimming pool. 


The mansions along Broadway sit atop Pacific Heights with cascading levels at the 'back' (really at the 'front' with magnificent views) not seen from the street. There's an unknown quote about the SF hills that goes, “When you get tired of walking around in San Francisco, you can always lean against it.”