by Richard Senate
Years ago, when I was managing the Olivas Adobe historic site, one wintry afternoon. The house was open but we had few people visiting that day. Besides that I was working on the budget and very busy because I had put off this important paperwork and now the deadline was staring me in the face. I was too busy to greet visitors that day.
I had a middle-aged man come to the office (now the gift shop) and knock on the door. He had on photographers vest and a big camera. He asked if he could take a few pictures. He had a long legged, very blond model with him. As many people come to take pictures here, I told him it was okay and went back to work with the adding machine and forms. Hours passed and I was almost time to lock up. I planned to close the adobe and hunker down to finish the paperwork for an hour or so before going home.
It was about 3:40 I recall now, and when I walked out of the adobe I saw the photographer taking a picture at the fountain of his model, who was now very nude sitting on the fountain! I went back into the office wondering what to do. In about ten minutes I saw the photographer in his VW with a now fully clothed model, pull away. I left the adobe, locked up but when I checked the donation box I discovered two twenty dollar bills! Years later I was at the swap meet in Ventura and found a black and white photograph, in a wooden frame, depicting that same model, nude, in the bathtub we have in the kitchen. It was clearly the Olivas Adobe. I had to laugh. I pass on this story to warn people that when someone wants to take pictures, best to keep an eye on them. These pictures may well be floating around in swap meets today.
