Erle Stanley Gardner
Mystery Festival
at the
Olivas Adobe

The City of Ventura held its first annual Erle Stanley Gardner Mystery Festival on September 21 through 24, 2006. Gardner, Ventura attorney in the first half of the twentieth century and creator of Perry Mason, was celebrated for his contributions to Ventura justice and to the literary world.

The Olivas Adobe participated in the Festival on Sunday, September 24 with a classic car show, an exhibit about Max Fleischmann--a contemporary of Gardner--and the last private owner of the Olivas Adobe, with episodes of the Perry Mason TV series, and a lecture about Gardner by Richard Senate, one of Gardner's biographers. At the end of Senate's talk, he signed his book, "Erle Stanley Gardner's Ventura, Birthplace of Perry Mason."

The classic car show was fun	This could have been a party at Max Fleischmann's house in the 1930s
Fred Renich shows off his 1940 Graham	All of the cars drove home that day with many admiring fingerprints on them
The Adobe docents provided a "Cantina" for those that were hungry or thirsty	Laura Bach guided visitors through the Fleischmann display in the exhibit hall
Laura Gueler's 1920s dress matches the car	Al Pench and Doña Aiken browse the auto display
Joanne Abing prepares to conduct an interpretive tour of the Olivas Adobe	The visitors seem to be enjoying the tour
Richard Senate wows his audience with his talk about Erle Stanley Gardner	He has their full attention as he makes a point
Richard Senate signs his book for a visitor	Does Richard look a bit like Ernest Hemingway here?