Elizabeth Adams (madam)

Originally from Manila, with Filipino, German and Spanish ancestry, Adams said she arrived in San Francisco at the age of 17 in 1951. She had married twice by the early 1970s and by then had been divorced and widowed once. By her own account, after periods as a florist and owner of an antiques shop, she switched to becoming a madam around 1971 after buying a book from a visiting English madam for $5,000, although half of the individuals listed turned out to be deceased. Adams operated a prostitution ring in Beverly Hills for more than 20 years. Under the pseudonym Alex Fleming (one of several), she sent young women to hotels in the district and on cruises charging $300 for two hours and up to $2,000 for a whole day, including for periods accompanying men to Europe and on cruises in the Caribbean. Adams assisted Sydney Biddle Barrows, the so-called 'Mayflower madam' of Manhattan, informing Barrows of suitable clients to add to her list. ==Convictions and later life==

Court records indicate Adams was arrested on four occasions between 1972 and 1983, on charges of pimping and pandering, and convicted of pandering in 1974 and 1982. She later claimed Heidi Fleiss, for whom she had originally been a mentor, had stolen her list of clients. Madam 90210: My Life as Madam to the Rich and Famous, written by Adams in collaboration with William Stadiem, was published in 1993. Adams died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, (reputedly) at the age of 60, after open heart surgery and the ending of life support. Her son, Scott, also of Los Angeles, survived her. ==In popular culture==

Adams was the inspiration behind the character Madam Nadja played by actress Tracey Ullman in the comedy series Tracey Takes On... ==Notes==