June 20th 2010 San Francisco Chronicle"
San Francisco mourns the passing of Lee Herbst Gruhn, who died on June 4 at California Pacific Medical Center, One of San Francisco's most colorful personalities, she impacted the lives of thousands of people through her support of San Francisco arts and Culture. In 1970 the Avery Brundage Asian Arts Collection was in danger of leaving San Francisco due to a lack of funding. The City approached Mr. and Mrs. Herbst Gruhn for support. They donatged $350,000, then $2,000,000 in 2009 to the Asian Arts Foundation and M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. She supported the San Francisco Symphony and Opera. Her donations to the Merola Opera in the 1980s benefited aspiriing young opera singers. She was a board member of several arts councils. Her contributions were acknowledged by State Senate, County, and City proclamations. Before becoming an arts patron, Lee herself was an artist.
Born in Topeka, Kansas, Lee was one of five children -- all who excelled as artists or musicians. She geban singing in church and by age 13 was winning vocal contests throughout the midwest. At age 18 she was headlining Kansas City's jazz clubs. She first received national acclaim by winning "Best Female Vocalitst" at Chicago's Harvest Moon Festival hosted by Bob Hope. The show was broadcast coast-to-coast on CBS radio with the first prize booking on The Ed Sullivan Show after which she received a contract to tour the country with the top acts of her day. She performed on the same bills with Liberace, Ella Fitzgerald, Dakota Stanton, Johnny Mathis andLou Rawls. She after a few years settled in Hollywood receiviing top billing in jazz and supper clubs, and recording with the Nelson Riddle Band.
In 1966 Lee met her husband, San Francisco's own Adrian Herbst Gruhn when he was in Los Angeles on business. Being a passionate jazz fan his friends took him to see the beautiful jazz singer who was the talk of the town. Afterwards Adrian took her to dinner -- it was love at first sight. In 1967 they married and settled in Pacific Heights in San Francisco.
Lee was known for her pencil illustrations and did portraits of Senator Dianne Feinstein, Cyril Magnin, S. I. Hayakawa and Kurt Adler. Her most acclaimed drawing was of the Palace of Fine Arts, adorning a full wall in her home and was a project she finished in 1970, publicly unveiled by Mayor Alioto.
Lee was a prolific writer with 15 short stories and novels.
For 20 years ending in 2000, Lee opened her home every Halloween to local children. Dubbed "the Teddy Bear Lady" she gave away over 60,000 stuffed animals to generations of San Francisco ghosts and goblins.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
Walking down the street, we paused to admire another stately brick mansion. A merry-go-round horse draped with strands of pearls in the second-story window caught my attention.
Just then, an elderly woman, about 80 years old and no more than five feet tall, came down the steps.
"Is that your house up there?" I asked. "That's really something."
"It's my house," she said. "I'm Lee Herbst Gruhn."
I was dumbstruck. Think Herbst Theater. Think San Francisco society dame. I felt like we were meeting city royalty.
Giving us the once over, she then said, "Would you like to come inside for a glass of Champagne?"
Elbowing each other in disbelief, we followed Mrs. Gruhn up the steps and into a real Pacific Heights mansion.
The first thing I thought of was a mini Versailles. Mirrors and gold gilt trim were on every wall. Every square foot was filled with fine, if somewhat worn, old furniture.
There was a piano bar with waiting microphone stands, guitars and other musical equipment.
Photos of Lee from the 1950s, '60s and '70s showed the singer, artist and writer with long blond hair and a microphone in her hand. Turns out this had been quite a party house back in the day. Mr. Gruhn had passed away in the '80s, she said. Since then, she had redecorated the mansion using her unique sense of humor.
Thousands of stuffed animals filled the house. At the dining room table set for dinner, life-sized stuffed dogs sat in the chairs, each canine wearing sunglasses.
More photos featured Lee and her husband with San Francisco politicians, the Dalai Lama, Bob Hope, Cardinal So-and-so, etc. She name-dropped Dianne Feinstein and Danielle Steele. The queen had been here too, Lee told us. Queen of England, or queen of Castro Street, we weren't sure.
From room to room, Lee continued the grand tour. Her house was the stage and we were the audience. Here's the mirrored bathroom. Look at it, she commanded. Here's one of my 10 closets, Look inside! When we asked how or why about something, Lee would shout, "No questions!"
Lee also has a thing for Halloween, and many of the stuffed animals wore trick-or-treat masks. Like props from a horror film, life-size ghouls and monsters, also wearing sunglasses, cropped up in many rooms. A giant devil popped out at one corner. A black tree branch caught my hair as we went up one set of stairs. I began to think I was in a haunted house.
I saw a life-size giraffe and a real peacock, and a real stuffed lynx - and possibly a real stuffed moose. It's all a bit fuzzy now. In one salon called the zoo, we could barely pass between the canyons of stuffed animals, dolls and case after case of tchotchkes and doodads.
Lee showed us one room filled with stacks of her manuscripts. They were all handwritten in cursive. Her current novel is about a vampire, she said. Wouldn't it be faster to dictate her novels? No, she said, with a dismissive wave. "That's no fun."
On one entire wall of the grand staircase, Lee had drawn a magnificent mural of the Palace of Fine Arts. A plaque noted that the mural had been dedicated Oct. 6, 1970, by Mayor Joseph Alioto, with guests Cyril Magnin, S.I. Hayakawa and other San Francisco icons present.
"You did this?" we asked in disbelief.
"Yes!" she shouted. "I told you, I'm an artist!"
Up we went to the very top of the mansion, with knockout views of San Francisco from every angle. Metallica used to live next door, she said, but the boys in the band were very quiet. Lee insisted we take day-old cookies, wrapped in napkins torn in half. Next to a second piano with bar stools was another bar with at least 200 dusty glasses stacked and waiting for the next party. I started imagining San Francisco in the '70s - Herb Caen, Harvey Milk, the Zodiac …
After about an hour, it was time to go. We had to decline the Champagne, we said. We have kids to pick up at school.
San Francisco mourns the passing of Lee Herbst Gruhn, who died on June 4 at California Pacific Medical Center, One of San Francisco's most colorful personalities, she impacted the lives of thousands of people through her support of San Francisco arts and Culture. In 1970 the Avery Brundage Asian Arts Collection was in danger of leaving San Francisco due to a lack of funding. The City approached Mr. and Mrs. Herbst Gruhn for support. They donatged $350,000, then $2,000,000 in 2009 to the Asian Arts Foundation and M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. She supported the San Francisco Symphony and Opera. Her donations to the Merola Opera in the 1980s benefited aspiriing young opera singers. She was a board member of several arts councils. Her contributions were acknowledged by State Senate, County, and City proclamations. Before becoming an arts patron, Lee herself was an artist.
Born in Topeka, Kansas, Lee was one of five children -- all who excelled as artists or musicians. She geban singing in church and by age 13 was winning vocal contests throughout the midwest. At age 18 she was headlining Kansas City's jazz clubs. She first received national acclaim by winning "Best Female Vocalitst" at Chicago's Harvest Moon Festival hosted by Bob Hope. The show was broadcast coast-to-coast on CBS radio with the first prize booking on The Ed Sullivan Show after which she received a contract to tour the country with the top acts of her day. She performed on the same bills with Liberace, Ella Fitzgerald, Dakota Stanton, Johnny Mathis andLou Rawls. She after a few years settled in Hollywood receiviing top billing in jazz and supper clubs, and recording with the Nelson Riddle Band.
In 1966 Lee met her husband, San Francisco's own Adrian Herbst Gruhn when he was in Los Angeles on business. Being a passionate jazz fan his friends took him to see the beautiful jazz singer who was the talk of the town. Afterwards Adrian took her to dinner -- it was love at first sight. In 1967 they married and settled in Pacific Heights in San Francisco.
Lee was known for her pencil illustrations and did portraits of Senator Dianne Feinstein, Cyril Magnin, S. I. Hayakawa and Kurt Adler. Her most acclaimed drawing was of the Palace of Fine Arts, adorning a full wall in her home and was a project she finished in 1970, publicly unveiled by Mayor Alioto.
Lee was a prolific writer with 15 short stories and novels.
For 20 years ending in 2000, Lee opened her home every Halloween to local children. Dubbed "the Teddy Bear Lady" she gave away over 60,000 stuffed animals to generations of San Francisco ghosts and goblins.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
Walking down the street, we paused to admire another stately brick mansion. A merry-go-round horse draped with strands of pearls in the second-story window caught my attention.
Just then, an elderly woman, about 80 years old and no more than five feet tall, came down the steps.
"Is that your house up there?" I asked. "That's really something."
"It's my house," she said. "I'm Lee Herbst Gruhn."
I was dumbstruck. Think Herbst Theater. Think San Francisco society dame. I felt like we were meeting city royalty.
Giving us the once over, she then said, "Would you like to come inside for a glass of Champagne?"
Elbowing each other in disbelief, we followed Mrs. Gruhn up the steps and into a real Pacific Heights mansion.
The first thing I thought of was a mini Versailles. Mirrors and gold gilt trim were on every wall. Every square foot was filled with fine, if somewhat worn, old furniture.
There was a piano bar with waiting microphone stands, guitars and other musical equipment.
Photos of Lee from the 1950s, '60s and '70s showed the singer, artist and writer with long blond hair and a microphone in her hand. Turns out this had been quite a party house back in the day. Mr. Gruhn had passed away in the '80s, she said. Since then, she had redecorated the mansion using her unique sense of humor.
Thousands of stuffed animals filled the house. At the dining room table set for dinner, life-sized stuffed dogs sat in the chairs, each canine wearing sunglasses.
More photos featured Lee and her husband with San Francisco politicians, the Dalai Lama, Bob Hope, Cardinal So-and-so, etc. She name-dropped Dianne Feinstein and Danielle Steele. The queen had been here too, Lee told us. Queen of England, or queen of Castro Street, we weren't sure.
From room to room, Lee continued the grand tour. Her house was the stage and we were the audience. Here's the mirrored bathroom. Look at it, she commanded. Here's one of my 10 closets, Look inside! When we asked how or why about something, Lee would shout, "No questions!"
Lee also has a thing for Halloween, and many of the stuffed animals wore trick-or-treat masks. Like props from a horror film, life-size ghouls and monsters, also wearing sunglasses, cropped up in many rooms. A giant devil popped out at one corner. A black tree branch caught my hair as we went up one set of stairs. I began to think I was in a haunted house.
I saw a life-size giraffe and a real peacock, and a real stuffed lynx - and possibly a real stuffed moose. It's all a bit fuzzy now. In one salon called the zoo, we could barely pass between the canyons of stuffed animals, dolls and case after case of tchotchkes and doodads.
Lee showed us one room filled with stacks of her manuscripts. They were all handwritten in cursive. Her current novel is about a vampire, she said. Wouldn't it be faster to dictate her novels? No, she said, with a dismissive wave. "That's no fun."
On one entire wall of the grand staircase, Lee had drawn a magnificent mural of the Palace of Fine Arts. A plaque noted that the mural had been dedicated Oct. 6, 1970, by Mayor Joseph Alioto, with guests Cyril Magnin, S.I. Hayakawa and other San Francisco icons present.
"You did this?" we asked in disbelief.
"Yes!" she shouted. "I told you, I'm an artist!"
Up we went to the very top of the mansion, with knockout views of San Francisco from every angle. Metallica used to live next door, she said, but the boys in the band were very quiet. Lee insisted we take day-old cookies, wrapped in napkins torn in half. Next to a second piano with bar stools was another bar with at least 200 dusty glasses stacked and waiting for the next party. I started imagining San Francisco in the '70s - Herb Caen, Harvey Milk, the Zodiac …
After about an hour, it was time to go. We had to decline the Champagne, we said. We have kids to pick up at school.
June 20th 2010 San Francisco Chronicle"
San Francisco mourns the passing of Lee Herbst Gruhn, who died on June 4 at California Pacific Medical Center, One of San Francisco's most colorful personalities, she impacted the lives of thousands of people through her support of San Francisco arts and Culture. In 1970 the Avery Brundage Asian Arts Collection was in danger of leaving San Francisco due to a lack of funding. The City approached Mr. and Mrs. Herbst Gruhn for support. They donatged $350,000, then $2,000,000 in 2009 to the Asian Arts Foundation and M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. She supported the San Francisco Symphony and Opera. Her donations to the Merola Opera in the 1980s benefited aspiriing young opera singers. She was a board member of several arts councils. Her contributions were acknowledged by State Senate, County, and City proclamations. Before becoming an arts patron, Lee herself was an artist.
Born in Topeka, Kansas, Lee was one of five children -- all who excelled as artists or musicians. She geban singing in church and by age 13 was winning vocal contests throughout the midwest. At age 18 she was headlining Kansas City's jazz clubs. She first received national acclaim by winning "Best Female Vocalitst" at Chicago's Harvest Moon Festival hosted by Bob Hope. The show was broadcast coast-to-coast on CBS radio with the first prize booking on The Ed Sullivan Show after which she received a contract to tour the country with the top acts of her day. She performed on the same bills with Liberace, Ella Fitzgerald, Dakota Stanton, Johnny Mathis andLou Rawls. She after a few years settled in Hollywood receiviing top billing in jazz and supper clubs, and recording with the Nelson Riddle Band.
In 1966 Lee met her husband, San Francisco's own Adrian Herbst Gruhn when he was in Los Angeles on business. Being a passionate jazz fan his friends took him to see the beautiful jazz singer who was the talk of the town. Afterwards Adrian took her to dinner -- it was love at first sight. In 1967 they married and settled in Pacific Heights in San Francisco.
Lee was known for her pencil illustrations and did portraits of Senator Dianne Feinstein, Cyril Magnin, S. I. Hayakawa and Kurt Adler. Her most acclaimed drawing was of the Palace of Fine Arts, adorning a full wall in her home and was a project she finished in 1970, publicly unveiled by Mayor Alioto.
Lee was a prolific writer with 15 short stories and novels.
For 20 years ending in 2000, Lee opened her home every Halloween to local children. Dubbed "the Teddy Bear Lady" she gave away over 60,000 stuffed animals to generations of San Francisco ghosts and goblins.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
Walking down the street, we paused to admire another stately brick mansion. A merry-go-round horse draped with strands of pearls in the second-story window caught my attention.
Just then, an elderly woman, about 80 years old and no more than five feet tall, came down the steps.
"Is that your house up there?" I asked. "That's really something."
"It's my house," she said. "I'm Lee Herbst Gruhn."
I was dumbstruck. Think Herbst Theater. Think San Francisco society dame. I felt like we were meeting city royalty.
Giving us the once over, she then said, "Would you like to come inside for a glass of Champagne?"
Elbowing each other in disbelief, we followed Mrs. Gruhn up the steps and into a real Pacific Heights mansion.
The first thing I thought of was a mini Versailles. Mirrors and gold gilt trim were on every wall. Every square foot was filled with fine, if somewhat worn, old furniture.
There was a piano bar with waiting microphone stands, guitars and other musical equipment.
Photos of Lee from the 1950s, '60s and '70s showed the singer, artist and writer with long blond hair and a microphone in her hand. Turns out this had been quite a party house back in the day. Mr. Gruhn had passed away in the '80s, she said. Since then, she had redecorated the mansion using her unique sense of humor.
Thousands of stuffed animals filled the house. At the dining room table set for dinner, life-sized stuffed dogs sat in the chairs, each canine wearing sunglasses.
More photos featured Lee and her husband with San Francisco politicians, the Dalai Lama, Bob Hope, Cardinal So-and-so, etc. She name-dropped Dianne Feinstein and Danielle Steele. The queen had been here too, Lee told us. Queen of England, or queen of Castro Street, we weren't sure.
From room to room, Lee continued the grand tour. Her house was the stage and we were the audience. Here's the mirrored bathroom. Look at it, she commanded. Here's one of my 10 closets, Look inside! When we asked how or why about something, Lee would shout, "No questions!"
Lee also has a thing for Halloween, and many of the stuffed animals wore trick-or-treat masks. Like props from a horror film, life-size ghouls and monsters, also wearing sunglasses, cropped up in many rooms. A giant devil popped out at one corner. A black tree branch caught my hair as we went up one set of stairs. I began to think I was in a haunted house.
I saw a life-size giraffe and a real peacock, and a real stuffed lynx - and possibly a real stuffed moose. It's all a bit fuzzy now. In one salon called the zoo, we could barely pass between the canyons of stuffed animals, dolls and case after case of tchotchkes and doodads.
Lee showed us one room filled with stacks of her manuscripts. They were all handwritten in cursive. Her current novel is about a vampire, she said. Wouldn't it be faster to dictate her novels? No, she said, with a dismissive wave. "That's no fun."
On one entire wall of the grand staircase, Lee had drawn a magnificent mural of the Palace of Fine Arts. A plaque noted that the mural had been dedicated Oct. 6, 1970, by Mayor Joseph Alioto, with guests Cyril Magnin, S.I. Hayakawa and other San Francisco icons present.
"You did this?" we asked in disbelief.
"Yes!" she shouted. "I told you, I'm an artist!"
Up we went to the very top of the mansion, with knockout views of San Francisco from every angle. Metallica used to live next door, she said, but the boys in the band were very quiet. Lee insisted we take day-old cookies, wrapped in napkins torn in half. Next to a second piano with bar stools was another bar with at least 200 dusty glasses stacked and waiting for the next party. I started imagining San Francisco in the '70s - Herb Caen, Harvey Milk, the Zodiac …
After about an hour, it was time to go. We had to decline the Champagne, we said. We have kids to pick up at school.
San Francisco mourns the passing of Lee Herbst Gruhn, who died on June 4 at California Pacific Medical Center, One of San Francisco's most colorful personalities, she impacted the lives of thousands of people through her support of San Francisco arts and Culture. In 1970 the Avery Brundage Asian Arts Collection was in danger of leaving San Francisco due to a lack of funding. The City approached Mr. and Mrs. Herbst Gruhn for support. They donatged $350,000, then $2,000,000 in 2009 to the Asian Arts Foundation and M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. She supported the San Francisco Symphony and Opera. Her donations to the Merola Opera in the 1980s benefited aspiriing young opera singers. She was a board member of several arts councils. Her contributions were acknowledged by State Senate, County, and City proclamations. Before becoming an arts patron, Lee herself was an artist.
Born in Topeka, Kansas, Lee was one of five children -- all who excelled as artists or musicians. She geban singing in church and by age 13 was winning vocal contests throughout the midwest. At age 18 she was headlining Kansas City's jazz clubs. She first received national acclaim by winning "Best Female Vocalitst" at Chicago's Harvest Moon Festival hosted by Bob Hope. The show was broadcast coast-to-coast on CBS radio with the first prize booking on The Ed Sullivan Show after which she received a contract to tour the country with the top acts of her day. She performed on the same bills with Liberace, Ella Fitzgerald, Dakota Stanton, Johnny Mathis andLou Rawls. She after a few years settled in Hollywood receiviing top billing in jazz and supper clubs, and recording with the Nelson Riddle Band.
In 1966 Lee met her husband, San Francisco's own Adrian Herbst Gruhn when he was in Los Angeles on business. Being a passionate jazz fan his friends took him to see the beautiful jazz singer who was the talk of the town. Afterwards Adrian took her to dinner -- it was love at first sight. In 1967 they married and settled in Pacific Heights in San Francisco.
Lee was known for her pencil illustrations and did portraits of Senator Dianne Feinstein, Cyril Magnin, S. I. Hayakawa and Kurt Adler. Her most acclaimed drawing was of the Palace of Fine Arts, adorning a full wall in her home and was a project she finished in 1970, publicly unveiled by Mayor Alioto.
Lee was a prolific writer with 15 short stories and novels.
For 20 years ending in 2000, Lee opened her home every Halloween to local children. Dubbed "the Teddy Bear Lady" she gave away over 60,000 stuffed animals to generations of San Francisco ghosts and goblins.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
Walking down the street, we paused to admire another stately brick mansion. A merry-go-round horse draped with strands of pearls in the second-story window caught my attention.
Just then, an elderly woman, about 80 years old and no more than five feet tall, came down the steps.
"Is that your house up there?" I asked. "That's really something."
"It's my house," she said. "I'm Lee Herbst Gruhn."
I was dumbstruck. Think Herbst Theater. Think San Francisco society dame. I felt like we were meeting city royalty.
Giving us the once over, she then said, "Would you like to come inside for a glass of Champagne?"
Elbowing each other in disbelief, we followed Mrs. Gruhn up the steps and into a real Pacific Heights mansion.
The first thing I thought of was a mini Versailles. Mirrors and gold gilt trim were on every wall. Every square foot was filled with fine, if somewhat worn, old furniture.
There was a piano bar with waiting microphone stands, guitars and other musical equipment.
Photos of Lee from the 1950s, '60s and '70s showed the singer, artist and writer with long blond hair and a microphone in her hand. Turns out this had been quite a party house back in the day. Mr. Gruhn had passed away in the '80s, she said. Since then, she had redecorated the mansion using her unique sense of humor.
Thousands of stuffed animals filled the house. At the dining room table set for dinner, life-sized stuffed dogs sat in the chairs, each canine wearing sunglasses.
More photos featured Lee and her husband with San Francisco politicians, the Dalai Lama, Bob Hope, Cardinal So-and-so, etc. She name-dropped Dianne Feinstein and Danielle Steele. The queen had been here too, Lee told us. Queen of England, or queen of Castro Street, we weren't sure.
From room to room, Lee continued the grand tour. Her house was the stage and we were the audience. Here's the mirrored bathroom. Look at it, she commanded. Here's one of my 10 closets, Look inside! When we asked how or why about something, Lee would shout, "No questions!"
Lee also has a thing for Halloween, and many of the stuffed animals wore trick-or-treat masks. Like props from a horror film, life-size ghouls and monsters, also wearing sunglasses, cropped up in many rooms. A giant devil popped out at one corner. A black tree branch caught my hair as we went up one set of stairs. I began to think I was in a haunted house.
I saw a life-size giraffe and a real peacock, and a real stuffed lynx - and possibly a real stuffed moose. It's all a bit fuzzy now. In one salon called the zoo, we could barely pass between the canyons of stuffed animals, dolls and case after case of tchotchkes and doodads.
Lee showed us one room filled with stacks of her manuscripts. They were all handwritten in cursive. Her current novel is about a vampire, she said. Wouldn't it be faster to dictate her novels? No, she said, with a dismissive wave. "That's no fun."
On one entire wall of the grand staircase, Lee had drawn a magnificent mural of the Palace of Fine Arts. A plaque noted that the mural had been dedicated Oct. 6, 1970, by Mayor Joseph Alioto, with guests Cyril Magnin, S.I. Hayakawa and other San Francisco icons present.
"You did this?" we asked in disbelief.
"Yes!" she shouted. "I told you, I'm an artist!"
Up we went to the very top of the mansion, with knockout views of San Francisco from every angle. Metallica used to live next door, she said, but the boys in the band were very quiet. Lee insisted we take day-old cookies, wrapped in napkins torn in half. Next to a second piano with bar stools was another bar with at least 200 dusty glasses stacked and waiting for the next party. I started imagining San Francisco in the '70s - Herb Caen, Harvey Milk, the Zodiac …
After about an hour, it was time to go. We had to decline the Champagne, we said. We have kids to pick up at school.
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