Eatery Where Nicole Simpson Had Last Meal Is Auctioned

LOS ANGELES - The Mezzaluna restaurant is the latest victim of publicity in the O.J. Simpson case.

The once-popular Italian eatery, where Nicole Brown Simpson ate her last meal, served its last pizza two weeks ago and auctioned off its contents yesterday.

About 50 bidders, far outnumbered by camera crews and reporters, showed up at the wedge-shaped Brentwood brasserie, where the Mezzaluna menu fetched $40 and the framed T-shirt went for $200.

"It's my daughter's 26th birthday today, and she wanted something from Mezzaluna," said music teacher Barbara Harris. "We are members of the community and we've followed this since the day of the murders. This is a fitting way to say it's the end."

Owner Karim Souki didn't attend the auction. His attorney, Bert Rogal, said business began to fall off after the June 12, 1994, slayings of Simpson and Mezzaluna waiter Ron Goldman. Regular customers were replaced by busloads of tourists who came once and never returned.

"People would be eating lunch and there would be three buses lined up outside," Rogal said. "Who wants to eat with 9,000 people staring at you?"

Prices at the auction never reached outlandish proportions. In fact, the auctioneers, who sought a starting bid of $1,000 for a huge Italian earthenware planter, settled for $275.

Another Brentwood auction is sure to draw publicity soon. O.J. Simpson's estate goes on the block July 14 with an asking price of $2.4 million. Simpson was acquitted in a criminal trial, but found liable in a civil trial and ordered to pay $33.5 million to the families of his ex-wife and Goldman.