Twice Scold Tales: Victoria Patterson

With a revolving cast of lonely divorcées, alcoholic teens and the occasional transvestite, Drift, the debut collection of Newport Beach-based stories by expat Victoria Patterson, is not exactly the glossy publicity the city has come to expect—which might be why it’s flying off the shelves at Fashion Island’s Barnes & Noble.            

“I have a love/hate relationship with Newport,” says Patterson, a former waitress and a fierce social critic of the area’s carefully polished patina and “preferred people,” as one of her stories’ adulterating tennis moms puts it. If The O.C. had been this candid, it might’ve stayed on the air (on Showtime, perhaps—Patterson doesn’t shy away from sex, drugs and four-letter words).

Far less autobiographical than readers might believe, Drift’s mix of landmarks (the Five Crowns and the Quiet Woman get shout-outs) and inspired-by-reality allusions is sure to stir up blind-item speculation. Patterson, 39, lived in Mexico, Waco, and Puerto Rico before landing in O.C., in the Reagan ’80s. The CdM High grad coped with her culture shock by pledging to write about it someday. “I was extremely rebellious, and I knew I had to get it together so I could write it—that took a while,” she laughs. Now a UC Riverside writing professor living in South Pasadena with her two young sons, Patterson may have decamped the bay, but her material has remained local. Her agent is shopping her novel set in early ’90s Newport Beach and inspired by—what else?—The House of Mirth.

Patterson’s Hots 
Swimming in the ocean; Gustavo Arellano; El Toro Bravo; The Wire; the sound of a foghorn at night; kindness; Zuni stew at Alta Coffee; O.C.’s indie bookstores; the smell of smoke from the fire pits at Big Corona; the old Port Theater

Patterson’s Nots
Rudeness to servers; Dick Cheney; O.C. reality shows; global warming; bad tippers; McMansions; texting (especially LOL shortcuts); sofa critics who never create anything themselves; no health insurance