About Vera

Vera's White Sands Restaurant sat on a bluff overlooking our John's Creek anchorage last week. I wanted to comment about Vera and her restaurant but I wanted to find a particular photo of her first. In this photo, taken about 8 years ago in her restaurant, Vera is seated in a wicker chair that she probably brought back from some far flung destination in one of her many world wide trips. Behind her is a portrait of her as she posed with her jewels and adornments. For the photo, she dressed down in a saffron gown, riddled with diamonds. She wore only meager number of necklaces and rings. A headband reminds us that she was of Native American descent.

We had the pleasure of meeting Vera a few times at her restaurant. She had been married to an optometrist who worked for the Hollywood crowd. He was know as "the optometrist to the stars". His wealth allowed him to dabble in real estate and in the 50s, he purchased 800 acres of land where Vera decided to open a sandwich shop to pass the time while her husband flew about the country meeting celebrities and making real estate deals.

Vera loved the glamorous life and soon decided to convert her place into a fabulous yacht club. She had the restaurant built with a patio that came to a point at the junction of the two creeks that bordered her property so that patrons would have the feel of dining on a ship. She decorated the interior with a Tiki flare. The bar was covered with a grass roof and bamboo seemed to be a structural part of every corner of the building. She placed Easter Island’ looking carvings and statues everywhere. Then, to bring elegance into the mix, she placed a baby grand piano by the bar where her friends who were patrons and guests of the club would gather to dance and sing the songs from the American songbook.. Some years later, her husband passed away and the membership declined. Vera opened her yacht club to the public.

Mandy loved Vera for her grace and style. I recall an afternoon when Mandy ordered a ‘Vera Martini’ and sat drinking with Vera at the bar. Vera’s signature martini was similar to any gin martini except that her martini was served in a jumbo martini glass. She always had a milk chaser nearby. Sometimes, Vera wore a jeweled crown while she drank. She was affectionately known as the ‘Queen of the Chesapeake’ and therefore needed the crown.

After Vera died a couple years ago, a new owner took over and is slowly changing the demeanor of the club into a party place for the younger patrons. The docks have been rebuilt and elegant motor yachts have been replaced with muscle boats. The beach, where couples once lusted under the moonlight, is now covered with beach volleyball nets. And the bamboo is almost all gone. The baby grand and the stone carvings have been hauled away. But Mandy and I feel lucky to have met Vera and seen her in her element. And even though the years of Sinatra and Martin were long gone by the time we visited the White Sands, we feel lucky to have been swept back in time, listening to a tuxedoed pianist play the songs that Vera loved as she sat by the piano reminiscing.