Meeting Venus : Her dating service works on a blend of pictures, questionnaire and intuition. At least two pairings have resulted in weddings.

Venus Marie Louviere is a practiced observer of the human condition, a blend of realist and romantic. Armed with a scrapbook of photos and keen intuition, she plays a role that some say is gaining favor in a fragmented society: matchmaker.

At Perfect Match dating service, Louviere keeps the profiles of hundreds of single people whose destinies might not otherwise cross were it not for her. Carefully, she pores over her files to discover affinities between couples. No computer is engaged, no video taped. The client relies on the matchmaker’s expertise and a quick check of the scrapbook, if desired.

A year ago, Louviere began her service with only a telephone listing and a briefcase. When prospects phoned, she interviewed them in coffee shops and signed women up at no charge.

“It was, you know, tricky,” Louviere says of the company’s beginnings. Clients, after all, were being asked to invest in an inventory that did not exist. She found those with distinctive needs reluctant to join.

“People who are into metaphysical things, or vegetarians--they think they are never going to find anyone,” she says. “When I started, I didn’t (have any of those people enrolled), but now I have basically everything.”

Louviere speaks from a mid-Ventura office opened last summer. Enrollment has hit 500, she says, and is expanding through referrals and ads in singles newsletters.

“Sometimes people think negatively of dating services. People think you have hookers or something. I’m a member of the Chamber of Commerce!” she says, gesturing to a plaque on the wall.

The plaque is the least sentimental decoration in evidence. Around it are a woven heart holding flowers and numerous photographs--”matched” clients in heart-shaped frames, models in romantic embraces and a forlorn James Dean. Dominating the back wall is a poster of a couple dressing in a bedroom.

Isn’t it suggestive?

Perfect Match’s founder glances at the scene’s artful pair. “It’s the ‘90s,” she says. “What do you think--you know, sex is involved.”

The telephone rings, as it will throughout the afternoon. A conversation with a potential client ensues.

“What area do you live in? And how old are you, may I ask? That’s a good age; we have a lot of ladies in your age group. Are you looking for casual or steady dating? What we do is we have you come into the office so we can meet you. My name is Venus . . . yes, my real name. I know you don’t believe it, but it’s true.”

The proprietary “we” Louviere hopes will soon be factual. She has run the business alone for most of its existence, but hopes to hire someone to help. The trouble is, her clients become attached to her.

“I remember everything that happens with each date,” she says.

Louviere, 31 and single, has a long history of working with people. She grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, the oldest of four children and the only one with a fanciful name. She has been an au pair in Beverly Hills, a bartender in West Los Angeles and a rock music magazine distributor in Ojai.

She also worked for a large video dating service in the Los Angeles area, where she found she had an ability to draw people out and learn their needs.

“My mom would be happy if I had married a plumber,” she says. “I have always been the one that would try anything new. I’m a lone wolf when it comes down to it.”

She is proud of her success, and particularly proud of her rates compared to larger dating services. Perfect Match costs $175 for three months and $325 for eight months.

The fees guarantee two “reasonable” introductions a month and often produce more. At the service where she formerly worked, Louviere says members could invite up to 20 people to view their videotape, which sometimes resulted in no interchange at all.

“With me, at least you get to meet the person and give it your best shot,” she says.

Louviere is again interrupted by a call from a member wanting to know if there is an introduction for her. Louviere has a profile ready.

”. . . He’s 49 years old,” she relates. “He has a little longer hair in the back; he’s a spiritual guy; that’s what I liked about him. He’s a widower.”

She reads from the client’s self-description: “I am open, warm, loving; I am involved with metaphysics. . . .”

The caller decides to come in and view the photograph before exchanging phone numbers.

There are two factors in the art of matching clients, Louviere says. One is the questionnaire, designed to uncover ideological barriers to romance. (Should marijuana remain illegal? Does our society need organized religion?) It includes a section on self-appraisal and a wish list for an ideal companion. For good measure, it asks the client’s sun sign--but it’s only there because some members ask, Louviere says. She doesn’t compute it.

The other part of the equation is the matchmaker’s expertise. Sometimes Louviere departs from the specifications members want.

“I have been doing this a long time, “ she says. “I try to expand their horizons a little bit. There’s something nice in everyone.”

At least two of her matches have resulted in weddings, she says, and many others have produced steady couples. She realizes that not everyone will find true love through her service, but says it often gives people the self-confidence to build a social life.

She has already screened her clients and turned down anyone she thinks she can’t help. “You can basically tell if someone’s a maniac,” she says.

Members range in age from 18 to 69, with a distinct bell curve at the approach of middle age. Louviere knows that there are lots of prospects 60 and over out there, but says they are too old-fashioned to try the service.

There is no question in Louviere’s mind that her service answers a need among the masses of unattached. She gets calls from all over Southern California and is therefore thinking of expansion--possibly to the Santa Clarita Valley and perhaps San Diego.

“Everybody’s lonely. It doesn’t matter if they are rich, if they have the best job in the world. They spend all their time on their career, and their personal life is empty.”

The phone rings.