Marin

1950 · 75251 — Marin County: N.p. ca.1950-1975. Archive relating what was once considered one of the finest houses in Marin County built for celebrity lawyer Jake W. Ehrlich in 1951 to the design by Ehrlich's wife Marjorie Mercer. The hilltop home overlooking much of Marin County and the whole of the Bay Area was acquired by the legendary Rock & Roll promoter Bill Graham in 1976. He famously named it "Masada" after the citadel in Palestine where the Zealots held out against the Romans. The material is focused on the years of ownership by Ehrlich and the Ehrlich family.Among the Items: Large 35 x 45" folded with seam splits topographical map of the Erhlch Property1949; Smaller 9x11" survey map 1949; Survey map 18x30" 1953; Surveyor text report and map. No date but last date recorded is 1914; Folder with 1952 contractor letters Thirteen 8x10" professional photos of the house some duplicates; Album pages with 39 snapshots of the Ehrlich family on the property; 1991 local Marin newspaper article about the property shortly after Bill Graham's death; Miscellaneous photographs of Jake Ehrlich in San Francisco with associates. Manila envelope with numerous maps of the property.Known as "the Master" Ehrlich had a 50-year career as a defense and divorce attorney in San Francisco. He was an early example of a "celebrity lawyer" with a talent for publicity as well as legal expertise. He wrote a dozen books on such subjects as the law the Bible and his own life story. He was the model for television lawyer Sam Benedict portrayed by Edmond O'Brien in the early 1960s and Ehrlich was the series' technical adviser. In the 1950s Ehrlich had coached actor Raymond Burr when Burr was preparing to play trial attorney and sleuth Perry Mason on television. His celebrity clients include actors writers night club entertainers directors musicians sports figures industrialists madames murderers bigamists and petty crooks. Included in his client list were; Alexander Pantages for statutory rape Gene Krupa for cannabis Billie Holiday for heroin Errol Flynn and James Mason for divorce Howard Hughes for the movie The Outlaw and Gertrude Morris for murdering her husband in 1952. He also defended rapist Caryl Chessman and stripper Sally Rand. In 1957 he was lead attorney for Lawrence Ferlinghetti proprietor of City Lights Books along with L. Speiser and Al Bendich defending the sale of Allen Ginsberg's book Howl and Other Poems in the obscenity trial. he residence Ehrlich designed with a sliding glass roof at the top of Camino Alto Road in Marin County in Northern California was later owned by rock promoter Bill Graham.Bill Graham was a German-American impresario and rock concert promoter from the 1960s until his death in 1991 in a helicopter crash. He is beloved for the new age of music bought about by the concerts he billed at his Fillmore Auditorium. I am willing to go on record that when the house was purchased by the doyen of rock concerts Billy Graham that the decor changed dramatically.abaa-ny-2022 N.p. unknown