Vanessa WoodFor a change I get to makes two announcements.
In the Fall 2024 issue of The California Genealogical Society journal, The California Nugget, is my article about an American institution—the Boarding House. My mother left a written account of her migration to California during the Great Depression.
She wrote about staying in Mrs. Kate Moore’s boarding house at 3981 Wade Street in Venice, California. It must have been a noteworthy experience for the family because my grandmother saved a photograph of the house and a business card for fifty years.
My article focuses on the landlords and the history of the house.
For the past two years I’ve researched the known residents of Mrs. Moore’s. It’s so intriguing when a group of people from different backgrounds come together under one roof. On February 1 the book, a collection of short genealogical stories of the residents, is available on Amazon.
BOARD IN VENICE: Stories of The House, The Landlords, and The Boarders at 3981 Wade Street in Venice, California
Available on Amazon
The book Board in Venice. It is a collection of the stories of the boarders, including the article originally published in The California Nugget. The stories in the boarding house are of house, the landlord and the lives that brought them to the boarding house.
Many of the boarders were women. Some boarders stayed for short periods, while one boarder stay lasted decades. They came from various backgrounds. Their circumstances often reflected chapters in American history–children of the Civil War, migrants during the Great Depression, European immigrants, and the buildup and hardships of World War II. Many of those who entered the boarding house had faced adversity and found new lives in California.
I enjoyed researching and learning about the women and men who stayed at the boarding house and I hope you’ll enjoy their stories.
FEATURED IMAGE: “Street Scene, Venice, Cal.,” postcard, ca. 1910 (author’s collection).
