Bellagio is a resort town on Italy’s Lake Como, but Minnewa Shoemaker Bell (1877-1977), the Kansas-born wife of Bel-Air founder Alphonzo Bell, may have also chosen Bellagio – and perhaps Bel-Air itself – as a riff on the family name. Minnewa, who married Alphonzo in 1902, gave many of Bel-Air’s streets European appellations. Or so it’s said. She was reportedly inspired by the family’s Mediterranean vacation in 1923, where they celebrated their newfound oil wealth while Bel-Air was being developed.
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