Around May 15, 1970, A Paige Young appearance at the Pasadena Art Museum was recorded by LA gossip columnist Marvene Jones and her photographer.

The occasion was a gala for the new Andy Warhol exhibit.

Warhol himself makes an appearance, obviously a big deal.

From the Los Angeles Evening Citizen 5/16/1970

More on Paige’s date Bill Gardner.

William Louis Gardner

United States

William Louis Gardner was born in Minnesota and finished school there. He
joined the US Air Force and worked at the Pentagon in the Target Library of the world. Went on to the Pasadena Playhouse to learn television and movie making. He got a job with actress Marion Davies at her home. There He met a movie agent and started a career in Hollywood. William Louis Gardner has worked in Hollywood as the agent, personal secretary, PR advisor and manager for for Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Jill St.John, Bobby Van and director, John Huston. William Gardner is the author of two books, “Confessions of a Hollywood Agent,” and “The Games End.”

From Bill Gardner’s website.

According to the article, Paige Young and Andy Warhol discuss a role for Paige in an upcoming Andy Warhol film.

Marvene Jones also says that Mr. and Mrs. DeWain Valentine made up a foursome that evening with Paige and Bill Gardner. Valentine had an exhibit of his large size cast polyester resin pieces at the Pasadena Art Museum, right along with the Warhol exhibit which focused on Warhol’s use of repetitive images.

DeWain Valentine was a rapidly rising artist in the 1960s Venice art scene.

Valentine was a major player in the new “Light and Space” art movement, along with artists Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Helen Pashgian, James Turrell, John McCracken, Fred Eversley, Doug Wheeler and more.

Many of these artists lived in Venice Beach due to the cheap rent.

A brief Background of the Los Angeles Art scene:

Before the Light and Space artists emerged, the Cool School or Ferus Gallery artists, had already established themselves beginning in the early 1950s. Many of them lived in Venice Beach, a dilapidated beach town past its’ former glory, dotted with oil rigs, trash in the once beautiful canals. The rent was dirt cheap. Nobody in “respectable” society would want to live there and it was considered dangerous.

The Ferus Group, includes: Ed Keinholz, Wally Berman, Billy Al Bengston, Ed Ruscha, Robert Irwin, Ed Moses, Craig Kauffman, and the curators and owners of the Ferus Gallery who helped bring them to renown, Walter Hopps and Irving Blum.

These artists loved the freedom to explore and experiment, and “do their own thing,” with art; they lived and worked far away from the competitive New York City art scene and its’ snobbish critics.

Alongside this art scene happening in Venice Beach in the 1950s and early 1960s, the “Beatnik Scene” was flourishing.

LA’s Venice Beach, San Francisco’s North Beach and Greenwich Village in NYC., created a new pop-cultural icon:

The beret wearing, cigarette smoking, coffee drinking, poetry spouting, bongo playing, establishment thwarting: Beatnik.

The Ferus Gallery gang famously interacted with Andy Warhol during his well documented stay in Los Angeles in the early 1960s. Warhol drove with actor Taylor Mead, assistant Gerard Malanga and painter Wynn Chamberlain from NYC to LA. This was for Warhol’s 2nd showing ever and 1st appearance at Ferus.

In fact, it was Warhol’s first trip to LA.

The Ferus ‘Studs’ the new generation of artists, young abstract painters, ceramicists and assemblage makers who had been flying under the wire now were the featured artists at the Ferus Gallery.The Gallery was ripe for the adventurous artists who would set the new bar in contemporary styles. The Ferus Gallery had belief in the performance of their work and was one of the first galleries to support it.

Ferusgallery.com

For much more detail on this art movement which established the Los Angeles art scene as one on par with New York City or even Europe, see the documentary “The Cool School,” available on Netflix.

The Light and Space movement emerged from the Cool School in the mid-1960s.

DeWain Valentine, originally from Ft. Collins, Colorado, developed a type of polyester resin material that allowed him to make large scale pieces like the one shown below. Previously the material would crack when making a piece this size: approx: 17 1/4x 17/4 x 7/8.

Richard Sample

told me that after he moved to a studio-home in Venice (late 1960s) he invited Paige to move in with him.

I think it was Richard’s father, artist and western jewelry maker Charlie Sample, who was able to get Richard the studio space in Venice Beach.

I asked Richard the location and he said he could not remember it, but that it was close to the ocean and his artist neighbors and friends were DeWain Valentine and Larry Bell. (See Chapter: Interview with Richard Sample)

Paige refers to her “new Venice art studio” in several interviews with Playboy magazine and US newspapers in 1969 and 1970. (See chapter: Most Public Year 1969)

Richard Sample and Paige Young joined the community of Venice artists, but were “not working with the new materials,” to quote Paige in a 1969 interview. She was referring to her neighbors and friends, Valentine, Bell and Irwin, not named.

I have found the location of this Venice studio: 62-68 Market St.

Research and interviews show that Robert Irwin lived across the street from Valentine. This was not mentioned by Richard Sample. At one point I asked him if he “knew Ed Ruscha or Robert Irwin” and some others. He did not recognize those names, he was definitive about Bell and Valentine.

Richard Sample’s niece Ellen Sample remembers visiting her uncle and grandfather Charles Sample at the art studio/home in Venice. Charles also had a retail storefront in addition to his studio.

Ellen, a child at the time, remembers hearing a lot about the man named “Valentine.”

Richard and Ellen both recalled being able to see the beach from the studio. 62-68 Market St., a block from the ocean, is a large structure and was divided amongst many artists who rented their own studio according to Ellie. This is why the address lists a range of numbers.

Richard Sample is listed with an address of 63 Market St. Venice, in a newspaper marriage announcement, 1968.

Ellen texted me a story: her Uncle Richard sublet the Venice studio to Paige at one point.

Ellen recalls “tensions” about Paige with Ellen’s aunts. These women were the wives of Charles Sample and his sons.

Ellen said her own mother was not bothered by Paige living at the studio, but that her mother did “go with her sister-in-laws to see what was going on at the studio. ” Ellen says the most tense time was when Paige’s Playboy issue was current and shortly after.

Richard Sample told me he was forced to ask Paige to leave the Venice studio because she never paid him rent. (See chapter Richard Sample interview)

I asked Ellen if it was possible that Richard felt pressured to ask Paige to leave due to the tension.

Ellen said she thought it was possible.

DeWain Valentine has spoken about this Venice studio in several art magazine interviews; the influence it had on his art and on the art of his many fellow famous artists. This includes Larry Bell and Robert Irwin, particularly the years of the 1960s and early 70s.

DeWain Valentine lived in and eventually purchased the 62 -65 Market St. building.

Several records with his signature and name can be seen in public building archives from LA County, now available online. Copy of one seen below.

61-65 is the address listed here.

DeWayne Valentine spent many years living and creating art in Hawaii.

Valentine passed away on February 2, 2022.

From the Documentary “The Cool School.” Market St, where Valentine, Bell and Irwin had studios. And Richard Sample and Paige Young lived briefly.