@Lustig Andrei,
Sally Stanford (the sister of the woman I call my hundred year old aunt knew her)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Stanford
Sally Stanford (May 5, 1903–February 1, 1982) was a madam, restaurateur, and the mayor of Sausalito, California.
Born Mabel Janice Busby, in Baker, Oregon (Baker County), in 1903, she came to San Francisco in 1924. Stanford eventually came to run one of San Francisco's well known and elegant bordellos at 1144 Pine Street, near Jones Street, on the south slope of Nob Hill, in a house built by Stanford White (demolished in 1961 to build condominiums). She was the madam of this house of ill repute from 1940 to 1949, when it was raided by Edmund G. Brown, Sr., then the District Attorney of San Francisco, his fame from this raid led to his 1950 election as Attorney General of California.[1]
It was said by Herb Caen, writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, that "the United Nations was founded at Sally Stanford's whorehouse," because at the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco, in June 1945, many of the delegates were customers of Sally Stanford and a large part of the actual negotiations took place in the living room of her cathouse.[2]
In 1950, she opened the Valhalla restaurant in Sausalito, California. She ran six times for Sausalito City Council and finally won in 1972, was vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, a Little League sponsor and in 1976, was re-elected with a majority that made her mayor at age 72.
In 1985 the City of Sausalito commissioned a drinking fountain to be made in honor of Sally and her dog Leland. Local potter Eric Norstad constructed a multiple person drinking fountain with a basin inscribed with the words "Have a drink on Sally". The runoff poured to a long knee length basin that read "Have a drink on Leland" for the dogs visiting the site. The drinking fountain sits permanently at the Sausalito Ferry Building.
Stanford died of a heart attack at age 78, in Marin General Hospital, on February 1, 1982.
Sally Stanford adopted the name Stanford as one of many pseudonyms for Mabel Busby. According to her autobiography, Lady of the House, she saw a newspaper headline about Stanford University winning a football game and adopted the surname.[citation needed]
