I’m so glad that someone thought to take photos of the canals of Venice when they were at their idyllic height. The canal we’re seeing here is now Main Street but oh, how wonderful it looked! With that bridge, the park bench, the row boat – this 1922 photo is almost like a scene from a movie, isn’t it?
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My parents purchased the house in which I grew up at 208 North Monroe Street in Newbern, Dyer County, Tennessee from the estate of Catherine Dickinson “Katie” Mooring Porter, the widow of Henry Clay Porter, Newbern banker and tobacco trader in October 1936 when I was three years old. Katie Porter took an extended trip to the Venice area of Santa Monica in 1920. You can see her in the 1920 Census of Venice atl 39 Rose Avenue, an apartment building. I have always been fascinated by this woman. I entered a family tree in ancestry.com entitled “The Family of Catherine Dickinson Mooring.” Katie must have been fascinated by the growing notoriety of the Venice area where the stars of the “flicks” were building beach houses.
Katie did not have anything one me, “Little Charlie,” or my father, “Big Charlie.” When I was very young, my father would have a foot race up Monroe Street to the Palace Theater on Main Street where his father and my paternal grandfather, Theopholis Hartford Harris (Theo for short) had a grocery store at the turn of the twentieth century. My father began his love of the “flicks” when nickolodians were frequent in Newben before the silents. I knew about Pickfair almost before I knew about the White House
And, oh, by the way, Big Charlie always let me win the foot race for I was 6-7 yeas old.
39 Rose Avenue is between Speedway and Pacific Avenue in Venice today. There is an apartment building there today, but it is unclear if it is the same building located at 39 Rose Avenue in the 1920 Census where Katie Porter enjoyed an extended visit from Newbern, Tennessee. Sadly she died in the Baptist Hospit
al in Memphis in March 1928 after entering the hospital in November 1927. She was a bit portly and had a heart condition aggravated by lying in bed too long. She left the hospital $5,000.00 in her will, but she left me a house full of fascinating memories about which I reminisce to this very day.
If anyone is interested and belongs to ancestry.com, look for the family tree, “The Family of Catherine Dickinson Mooring.”
If you Google or vpike.com 39 Rose Avenue, Venice, CA, you will see that 39 Rose Avenue is only a block and a half inland from the beach and a little less than a block from Ocean Walk. So Katie Porter chose wisely for her home away from home in Venice. Exciting and heady stuff in 1920, I’d say.
Golly gee, it never occurred to me until I viewed the canals, but was Katie Porter bothered by mosquitoes in 1920? Probably not if the canal water was flowing or moving. Ya reckon’ ? And did they have mosquito repellant in 1920 or just citronella candles?
I’ve always thought that the mosquitos were probably more likely a problem than not. Those buggers will always find a way to annoy us!
Was all that Katie Porter had in 1920 citronella? Probably. But citronella candles always worked in my patio at Georgetown on Hillsboro Road 1979-1992.
The 1920 Census of Venice, CA from Katie Porter’ profile in “The Family of Catherine Dickinson Mooring” on ancetry.com,
Name: Katie M Porter
Age: 47
Birth Year: abt 1873
Birthplace: Tennessee
Home in 1920: Venice, Los Angeles, California
Street: Rose Ave
Residence Date: 1920
Race: White
Gender: Female
Relation to Head of House: Head
Marital Status: Widowed
Father’s Birthplace: North Carolina
Mother’s Birthplace: Kentucky
Able to Speak English: Yes
Occupation: None
Home Owned or Rented: Rent
Able to Read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Katie M Porter 47
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What kind of bathing suit did portly Katie wear when she was on the beach in Venice in 1920?