Perry Mason is perhaps the best known legal attorney on the planet today, but few know he was created in Ventura by lawyer, Erle Stanley Gardner. This special tour will focus on his fifteen years in Ventura, the cases he tried and the people he influenced and how the city and events influenced his many mystery novels of Perry Mason. He would go on to write over 150 books, 86 of them about his popular Perry Mason character. It was in Ventura that won his best cases and made a mark as a formidable lawyer known for breaking down witnesses on the stand, a skill he transferred over to his fictional Perry Mason.
Richard Senate who will lead the tour is a long time Ventura Historian, managing both the Olivas Adobe Historic Park and the Albinger Archaeological Museum in Ventura. Mr. Senate wrote a biography of Gardner titled Erle Stanley Gardner’s Ventura: the birthplace of Perry Mason. This tour will focus on Gardner’s Ventura Years and how he came to write his first books.
March 23, 1-3pm The tour starts at the steps of City Hall, 501 Poli Street at 1 pm.
For tickets call the Recreation Department at 805-658-4726
For questions on Mr. Gardner and this tour e-mail Richard Senate; [email protected].
On March 30th, Mr. Senate will offer a unique walking tour and talk about a horror film made in Ventura in 1961. The brain child of B-Picture director William Castle it was a film loosely based on Hitchcock’s Psycho. It was filmed in downtown Ventura and Solvang. A rather grim film of madness and murder–it turned out rather good. The tour will discuss the movie, and show some clips that depict Ventura as it was in the 1960s. After the talk a short walking tour will be offered to view locations used in the movie. Tour starts at the Bank of Books on 748 E. Main Street in Downtown Ventura. Tickets are a modest $6 per person. Talk starts at 7 pm. For an interview or questions e-mail Mr. Senate at [email protected].
