If there was anyone who would know the whereabouts of Mackie Alarie and whether or not he had created the book object on her studio table, it was Judith Hoffberg. Many meetings and artist book exhibitions had happened since Caydance went to Venice Beach at Judith's invitation -- bringing with her for display at ARTWORKS one of her own books in which watercolor drawings of picnics on beaches were accompanied by handwritten narratives, the whole created on a large sheet of transparent ricepaper and draped on a library newspaper rack -- as if it was artists' news of luminous beach days.

It was the first time that Caydance had been to Venice Beach. And it was not only the display of artists books at ARTWORKS and the morning coffee and conversations with Judith that remained in her mind. It was also the Venice Beach culture. Women in Northern California did not wear bikinis as they rode bicycles around town. They did not wear bikinis in the supermarket. Men in Northern California did not walk around with bare chests exposed by open black linen shirts. They did not pump iron for beach audiences The sidewalks of Berkeley were not a thoroughfare for roller skating. Skateboards were not always welcome in the Northern California beach environment. Caydance bought a bikini, rented a bicycle. Told no one how she spent her afternoons that weekend.