Saturday 10/16/09

Cindy told me this morning that I was spending far too much time looking at the same sales and the same stuff in our neighborhood. Looking back I found Cindy to be correct in recent months neighbors on nearby streets have almost come to expect me showing up with camera in hand. At one sale the seller remarked the “ I thought I guy that photographed yard sales was just a local legend” when I arrived with camera in hand to documented her clutter. Regardless I have taken a certain pride in saying that I seldom venture more than three miles from my home. So this morning I tried to avoid spending all my time really close to home and venture to the edge of the three-mile limit.













Page Ave.- Candler Park “Yard Sale”
(3 blocks from home)
This was not a great sale and it did convince me to get outside the immediate neighborhood. Much of the contents here were clay works created by one of the sellers. There were also some household items and kitchenwares. One of the few remarkable items were several pairs of striped prison pants used as props in “Media goes to Jail” This is the second week in a row I have encountered used movie props for sale. While its good to see more film work in this city perhaps the industry is down on its luck if the props are put on sale shortly after the films release.
I considered the pants for a Halloween costumes but decided against it since there were no matching prison shirts and it has been getting cold lately. The seller also had some ancient Egyptian clothing but this was even scantier and we already have pharaoh-wear.
I bought nothing.






Medea or at least someone in a movie with Medea wore these.





















Wavery Way – Inman Park “Yard Sale”
(1.5 miles from home)

This was the site of several sales I have been to in the past three years and some of the same stuff I had encountered in the past showed up again. The sale was being held for some charity I’ve forgotten the name of. It consisted of a driveway lined with tables of old clutter along with goods scattered on the pavement.
Feeling a sense of déjà vu (again) about this stuff I did not send a lot of time her but did come across a copy of Helen Gurley Brown’s LP “Lessons in Love”. The recording is a document of a forgotten era of sexuality with cuts entitled “How to behave at home when you’re misbehaving away from home” and “Getting the most from your secretary”
I’m not sure if the Cosmo editor sings or if it is a spoken word album.







Boulevard – Old 4th Ward “Yard Sales”
(3.5. mile from home)
In the parking lot of a small resale shop near Atlanta Medical Center several tables were set up in the form of a small flea market. I normally avoid these types of sales but decided to drop in anyway. One seller gave me a cup of hot cocoa so I felt obliged to stay awhile and peruse the merchandise. At one table a woman had a large sign for an elementary school. She told me it was a prop for a movie. More props I thought this is getting to be a regular thing. I also enjoyed the trailer full of jumbled goods stacked in the parking lot in the shadow of downtown sky scrapers.
I bought nothing.






Another movie prop.

















Argonne Ave. Midtown “Epic Yard Sale”
(4 mile from home)

The hyperbola of this sale put me in a good frame of mind. I was several neighborhoods removed from Lake Claire and four miles made things seem different. The sale was not that big just a moderate amount of stuff meticulously arranged in a small front yard. Among an array of neatly lined up kitchenwares I encountered a box of very dangerous looking martial arts weapons. The seller said that people kept giving him these things. I had the seller pose with some sharp objects.
Also at the sale was a small vibrating brown paper bag entitled “Thing in a Bag” they gave me a demonstration of it’s movement across a table while I visited.
I bought nothing.









The seller said people kept giving him books like this.























The vibrating thing in a bag.



















Greenwood Ave. – Searsview “Loft Sale”
(3.5 miles from home)
This was a sale in the parking lot of a converted commercial building now being sold as upscale lofts. When I began taking pictures of the accumulated clutter (most of which was new stuff) one shopper started posing with her dog trying to get her pet to lick her face in the photo. Other sellers had dogs as well but they were not posing. Among the clutter golf clubs, tote bags, carpets throw pillows and candles.
I bought nothing.








More dogs at loft sale.


















It's about me. Item lying on the pavement on Greenwood Ave.

















Greenwood Ave. – Virginia Highlands “Yard Sale” (3 miles from home)
This as a lot of older and dirtier stuff that appeared to be pulled out of a damp basement. While I appreciated the jumble of clutter here I’ve seen too much dampness in the last few weeks.
I bought nothing.














St. Charles – Virginia Highlands “Moving Sale”
(3 miles from home)
This home may be the last unrestored home in the neighborhood. The seller was very nice but was pressuring me a bit too much to by the rolls of photo backdrop paper he had for sale. All the stuff in his yard was old - old furniture, an old bicycle, old books, old Tupperware, old TV. While I liked the sale as a bit of a throwback to old Virginia Highlands I also found it a bit depressing. Worth nothing was the sign on the back of the old pickup truck for the sale was converted from a sign for a tap dance studio. Sadly there were no tap shoes to be found here.
I bought nothing.