Interview with Navalette Tabor Bailey and Jataun Valentine
By Rex
Butters
Beachhead: How long have you
been with the historical
society?
Navalette Tabor Bailey: Oh,
about twenty years, I guess. I know it’s been a long time.
Beachhead: What does the historical society
do?
Bailey: They try to restore and
protect the original Venice. You know, they put up these monstrosities now, just
ruin the architecture all together. Upside down houses, and everything.
Jataun Valentine: They look like
bunkers.
Bailey: Until recently,
Venice was just small cottages. It wasn’t designed to be a city, more of a
resort. That’s what Abbot Kinney had in mind.
Valentine: One of the things the
Venice Historical Society has been doing, they have all this history and
artifacts and it’s costing them a fortune to keep it, because they
don’t have a building of their own. That’s their goal, to have a
building where they can show all of this history and things that they’ve
been keeping, that people have given them.
Bailey: Especially photos, you have to
keep them under certain conditions. When they built the library, they should
have had a portion of it so we could store things. We’re trying to
purchase one of those big red trolley cars, but we can’t find one. Put it
right behind the library.
Beachhead:
Did you get down on the old
pier?
Bailey: I lived on the pier.
That’s why I don’t care about Disneyland. I’ve had it all my
life. Mr. Reese was the town decorator. He decorated the ballroom and the pier.
He had a crew of men who cleaned the pier. He was in charge of everything, the
plunge, where to get your towels, all that kind of stuff. Everybody knew our
family, so we could go on the rides for free. We’d leave early in the
morning and be gone all day long. My father was a Tabor, he was a cousin of
Arthur Reese. And, his brother was a chauffeur for Abbot Kinney. He willed him
his house. It was sold recently, the grand kids sold it. It’s sad. It was
a beautiful old place. About 20 of the grandkids got married
there.
It was sort of like a meeting
place. It was large and our family was large, we would utilize the house so
often for social events. We couldn’t go anyplace, we couldn’t go to
any dances, because they didn’t allow us in the ballroom. We had this big
house, we could do anything we wanted to do. My uncle was very good about
letting us use it.
Beachhead: Where
was it?
Bailey: 6th & Santa Clara.
It’s still there.
Valentine: We
went through it not long ago. They were very nice. One thing I thought was
interesting was that wall made of hide.
Bailey: Leather walls all the way
around. Full hides each panel, beautiful.
Beachhead: Did you ever think it would
get so expensive around here?
Bailey:
No, I couldn’t imagine it. These flats they built all over Venice after
the war, they were selling those for $10,000. I thought that was exorbitant. I
wouldn’t buy one. Now they sell for a million dollars.
Valentine: There were a lot of empty
lots around, now you don’t see any empty
ones.
Bailey: We had that fear of
losing, because my parents lost everything in the depression. But, they
weren’t the only ones. It made you leery of conditions and you
didn’t take advantage of things like you should. Well, we’re still
here, anyway.
Beachhead: Did you find
work during the depression?
Bailey: We
didn’t have a lot of opportunities. We had to make the best of what we
had. When I got out of high school I went to work in Malibu Colony, I was
working for a family up there. A dollar a day, thirty dollars a month, sometimes
16 hour days. I graduated from high school during the depression, 1933. I was
the first black woman to graduate from Venice High School. I didn’t want
to be a burden on my family, because they were struggling, so I got myself a
job. I was taking care of two little girls, doing the hardest work. But one good
thing, I had a car and a chauffeur’s license. I drove the kids to school.
I was independent that way, on my day off they let me take the car, which is the
only good thing I got out of it. I guess that’s why I stayed for that
little money. I dressed myself, I wasn’t a burden on my family. I stayed
with them about four years I guess. The woman’s family owned a lot of
property in La Canada. Her family put her on a budget. They’d only give
her so much money a month, because she was a spendthrift. She was kind of
spoiled. One day, she must have lost it. I had one day off, on Thursday. I heard
her on the telephone inviting a lot of people over. It was the 4th of July, it
came on a Thursday, my day off. I’d made plans, I heard her, I said,
“You better call the employment agency in Santa Monica, see if you can get
someone out here to help you, because you know I’m not going to be
here.”
She hauled off, and POW!
She hit me in the face and knocked me on my butt. I sat on the floor for a
minute because I was stunned. I shook my head, and she was stunned too, because
I didn’t get up right away. I got up slowly to get my bearings, because I
was groggy. See, she didn’t know I could fight. My cousins were all
amateur boxers and they used to teach me how to, 1-2-3 punch. So when I came up,
I came with a hay bale. I hit her, POWEE! And I threw her up against a door, all
this was in the little bathroom. It got too much for her in the bathroom, and
she ran into her bedroom, and I was right behind her. She turned around and
kicked at me, so I just grabbed her foot and threw her on her back. Then I
straddled her, and I was whaling on her.
Her husband came in, he pulled me off
of her, and she said, “She hits like a mule!” She didn’t know
what I would do. I was taught to fight, I didn’t fight like a woman,
scratching. I was really throwing some punches. She ended up with a wet towel on
her face begging me to stay. I hated to leave the kids, I was attached to them.
But, I called home and had them come pick me up. I got another job, paid just as
much.
Beachhead: You’ve been
here since 1915. If you were granted the wish, what would you like to see happen
in Venice in the next hundred
years?
Bailey: I’d like it to
remain like it used to be, a mecca of excitement. The railroad would bring car
after car, people would get off in droves. Now it’s cars. They should
never have gotten rid of the railroad.
Valentine: Those were the days, too,
when we didn’t have to have bars on the windows, didn’t have to lock
the door. That made a big
difference.
Bailey: Everybody had
passkeys. One key could open any door, so why lock them?
Valentine: It was fun when kids could
be kids and stay out. Our parents didn’t worry about us, we didn’t
have the kidnapping. As long as we got home before dark. Everybody knew
everybody, too. It was a community. If you did something wrong, by the time you
got home, your parents knew about it. Neighbors could discipline you, and the
parents were glad they did it.
Bailey:
They had a curfew. There was a big whistle that blew right where Bank of America
is. But, you’ve got to give way to progress. I know it never will return
like it was.
Posted: Thu - March 1, 2007 at 05:00 PM