Dibs

You know her as the megabestselling author of such books as Toxic Bachelors and Daddy, but Danielle Steel is also the brains behind a San Francisco art gallery, Steel Gallery, soon to be defunct. In 2003, Steel got the idea of opening a showplace for comtemporary artists who, as she told the San Francisco Chronicle, “are really struggling with something…. I haven’t done anything but write in so many years that it feels good to be out in the world again. My publisher is shuddering about this whole thing, but my agent has been very supportive.” She named the gallery after its most noticeable structural material, not after herself, and was angry when a local magazine, the first to report on the venue, called her a dilettante. She hung around the place but discouraged autograph-seekers: “I like to be here a lot, but if people come here just for that, then I won’t be here. I am horrendously shy.” Anyway, that was then. This is now. Steel Gallery is closing its doors this month.