The Adventures Of Bette Porter And Sissee Gardner After Yale (Part 7, Chapter 1)
PART SEVEN: VENICE, CALIFORNIA

Chapter 1

They say the funkiest “town” in the USA is the Mission District in San Francisco. Number two funky is New Orleans and third on that list is Venice, California.

Bette told me that she found Venice by asking a reputable artist where the most unique place to live was in Southern California. He told her if she wanted something that is unconventional, bizarre, eclectic, politically independent and even irreverent, plus has a lot of freedom in the bedroom, she should check out Venice, on the coast.

She did and absolutely fell in love with it.

Venice was actually designed to be a resort town culturally reminiscent of that city in Italy, complete with canals, gondolas, and Venetian-styled architecture. That’s how they created it in the early 1900’s and it made many changes through the years. Piers were erected on the beach and then dismantled as time went on. There were dance halls, a nautical theme park and other tourist attractions that rose and fell.

The area was home to beatniks and artists in the 60’s. Then came an influx of hippies and flower children where peace, love and pot abounded in the 70’s. A decade later real estate prices skyrocketed and affluent homes owners replaced the Bohemian’s modest dwellings with upscale neighborhoods.

Bette was happy to find a two storied home in just such an area. She had easy access to Los Angeles freeways that took her quickly to Edward Hunter’s Gallery in Beverly Hills.

I moved in after our Tijuana trip, even though it was hard for me to give up my much loved Newport Beach house. I did sublease it to Alli and April who were delighted with it.

Bette’s house was absolutely fascinating. She lived in a quiet cul de sac that ended at one of the six canals. It was a primero location inasmuch as one could look out on the lazy river of water from nearly any angle of the interior.

The home had an upper balcony under which was a large patio that faced one canal on a corner. That canal ran by another one like a T intersection. Both were ornamented by palm trees and festooned in vines of ivy and sweet pea. The banks were grassy with small row boats moored on rustic posts, half in the water. There was a sense of peace here, particularly when the entire scene reflected in the placid waterways.