Yard Sale Addict

Closing Time

2010-05-23T13:12:00.001-07:00

When I began this site in 2004 I had no idea where it would go and how it would be received. I began out of a desire to create. I wanted to write on a regular basis and I wanted to justify my weekly compulsive visits to yard sales. A few months after I began this project simply as a creative writing exercise I began adding photographs. I then started getting feedback and some press for my efforts. Soon my work in this genre helped boost my career as a visual artist. Perhaps my highpoint came early with an exhibition at an established local gallery where I staged a yard sale as a conceptual interactive installation. I remarked after the opening of this well received event, by quoting a line from the film Ed Wood in reference to Plan Nine from Outer Space “This is the one they will remember me for”.
Five years and several other exhibitions later I continue my work. But as each year passed year I wondered where this would go and when it would end. Last year after watching “Julie and Julia” I pondered the turnabout of one woman’s life by starting a blog that led to some notoriety, a book deal, a feature film and finally a change in life as she went on to start a career as an author. I had hoped something like this might happen to me. My intentions was to get a publishing contract for my work. I was told by several literary agents last summer that this was not a good time for publisher and they did not know how to pitch a book on yard sales. I also looked at the success of other sites that have arisen in the past five years giving financial success to their creators. The site featuring the horrid pictures of ugly ill-dressed people at WalMart caught my attention. It appeared if I wanted financial success it I was doing the wrong thing. But I have had success in other ways. I didn’t make any real money from my efforts. I didn’t become famous but perhaps I did become noted. But most of all this may have saved me and kept me busy, it gave me something to focus upon and something creative to do. Each Saturday morning became an adventure not knowing what wonderful things I might document in the yards of clutter. It kept me writing and it kept me taking photographs. My continued efforts established me as an artist. It opened some doors and led my life into a better direction. But all things must end. I’ve known this for some time. My writing was getting stale I was doing fewer and fewer entries. The satisfaction level of what I was creating was declining. A good artist knows when to end a series. Maybe I’ve seen it all maybe there are no more stories for I have to tell. But the other factor is that after five years I want to move on. I do not want to be remembered as the old guy who takes pictures at yard sales. I want this to be a line of my obituary not the entirety of it.
Yesterday while at an estate sale near my home I wondered about the basement of and found a box that must have had three dozen or more pliers in it. I’ve often wondered how does this happen? Accumulation sneaks up on us as we proceed through life. We must remain aware and focused on change and be ready to leave things behind. I don’t want this site with its multitude of words and images to be like that box of pliers. I want to move on.

Will it all end? Not really, I plan to continue some other web presence in some form and on some topic I have not decided upon at this time. I have considered a site about yard sales where the readers furnish the most of photographs and the text. I will be continuing to have a presence on Facebook which seems to be the last refuge of a lazy creative types. There I may not have full freedom and control but will have access to a large following. Currently I have two groups open to all users “Yard Sale Addict” where I plan to continue posting a photo every week and “Sign of the Week” where I and anyone else who desires may posts images of interesting signs. You can also befriend me on Facebook and follow what ever I’m up to. You can also gift people with images on "Yard Sale Junk" made from my photographs.
I will continue to seek to exhibit some of the thousands of photographs created for this series. This week one of them is included in a noted juried show in Decatur. Perhaps if I give an artist talk I can say that I used to publish a web site about what people were getting rid of in their lives.
Divestment can often be a blessing if done at the right time. This is the right time for me and Yard Sale Addict.

I would like to thank all the writers that have written about this site, all the galleries who have showcased my work from this series and all the friends I have made through this endeavor and especially everyone who has had a yard sale, garage sale or estate sale that I have visited and documented over the last five years. Pleas visit all the related links on this site but most of all get out and go to yard sales.

Tom Zarrilli
May 22, 2010

3/27/10 What happened to the good yard sales?

2010-04-01T17:59:00.001-07:00

The winter cold has spread into spring. Thru February and into this month I have waited for the full yard sale season to bloom. I have waiting for multitude of signs to begin appearing on utility poles at intersections but the cold or the rain seem to hinder this. This morning I wander out with Cindy saying that her commentary will add to my observations and that maybe I can find something new to wear. But Cindy simply makes an observation about what she's been seeing lately ”It’s just the same junk from China you see everywhere what happened to the good stuff?” Maybe the years I’ve spent observing the debris of American civilization are reaching their nadir. Maybe the weather just needs to get a little bit warmer.

Oakdale Ave – Druid Hill “Yard Sale”

It had to be in the 30’s when we exit the car to inspect the goods arrayed in the back yard and garage of this Druid Hills home. Cindy zips up her parka so her face is barely visible while I keep my hands in my pockets as I inspect the home furnishing placed around the driveway. An oversized sofa, a painting of a palm tree, some lamps, chairs. It’s all big home furnishings I want small stuff, I want clothing I want something that will at least make a good photograph. We buy nothing and move on.

Harvard Dr. – Druid Hills “ Yard Sale”

We made one more stop in Druid Hills at a small sale where a selection of goods were displayed in the front yard of a brick one story home. The seller admitted it was too cold to have a sale as she watched us peruse her merchandise. Here we found baskets, slightly out of date electronics, a collection of rubber stamps including one for approving mortgages from Fannie Mae and some rope. In a free box was the usual collection of non-matching Tupperware lids and bottoms. Cindy bought a basket to use for Easter.

Childerlee Ln. Woodland Hills “House and Yard Sale”

This was a large sale inside a 1970’s tri-level home. There were three things that stood out in this home liquidation the sadness, the smell and the disorder. This sale was an example of family life interrupted. Toys and children’s clothes were the majority of stuff here. Where were the children why didn’t the need their clothes or toys anymore? The disorder was widespread, except for a few tables in the garage nearly everything was on the floor. Most of this was clothing that had been excessively picked over. An attempt had been made at order by creating printed oval signs that described the unruly piles. “Curling irons (Test before buying we think works but sold as is)” or “Art work individually priced – We have no history of the artist (was left by previous tenant – Ink on plastic is NOT on most of the art pieces. We will be glad to take out of plastic for inspection.” My favorite was hung above a pile of plush toys “We are sooooo lonely, please adopt us” this sign set the tone for the entire sale.
We bought nothing. Cindy complained about the smell and said the sale saddened her.

Artwork with unknown history.

Sign for lonely toys.

Disorder on the floor.

Briarcliff Rd. “Moving Sale”

The reach this moving sale one had to climb some steep stairs to reach a small apartment on the second floor of building. The stairs landing and the open breezeway to the apartment were crammed with sculptures of gargoyles, hardware, a large Buddha, plastic bins, a school desk, rocks and gardening implements. The inside of the tiny apartment was stuffed with electronics, scrap booking supplies, jewelry, paper items and computer accessories. A fine looking calico cat lounged amid the clutter. I poked and perused the paper products thinking of some project I could do to justify their purchase. But the last time I purchased paper I didn’t even bring it in from the car for three weeks and some of got damaged by the rain when I opened my trunk.
I bought a package of photo printing paper for two dollars. Cindy bought nothing but stated that the man must be breaking up with someone who‘s does not like his clutter.

Clutter outside the apartment.

Cat inside the apartment.

Briar Mill Rd. “Yard Sale”

Heading towards a neighborhood sale in Sagamore Hills we stopped at the sale in the driveway on a ranch home on a cul de sac. The owners spoke in an accent I was unfamiliar with and everything assembled in the driveway and garage was over priced. When we got there a teenager was complaining about the price of some clothing they were refusing to lower their asking price. Most of the stuff here was unremarkable aside from two strange pieces of artwork shown below.

What is this man doing?

Why does this waif have a knife?

Sagamore Hills “Neighborhood Sale”

Here we found about 20 sales many on which we only slowed down the car to look at. Neighborhood sales seldom feature interesting materials and it’s the activity of the neighbors that I find noteworthy. I failed to find this here. Maybe it’s too early in the spring or maybe Cindy is right, yard sales aren’t what they used to be.

2/22/10 Wandering through the homes of strangers…

2010-02-27T09:56:00.000-08:00

This was the first weekend of the year that was not wet and miserable. While morning temperatures were still in the 30’s, clear skies made more sellers haul out their stuff and put it on display in their yards or on their porches. In the five sales I went to today only one dared to be outside as everything else keep their clutter was in the comfort of a heated building. In these clutter filled homes of a strangers I wandered about.

Kirkwood – La France St. “Garage Sale”

This was the only sale that was not inside unless you count the portion of the garage that some of the goods were displayed in. It was not a great sale and not even photo worthy. Here a young woman was selling her condo and some of is contents to move out of he city to the wonderland of Kennesaw. Nearly all the stuff here was the usual things you see when new in-town housing dwellers have a sale, new looking clothing, the usual kitchen items, the usual, decor items and some bed clothes. Under the display of bedclothes I noticed a down comforter spread out on the narrow expanse of grass in front of the condo. This winter has been exceptionally cold for Atlanta and my old down comforter is no longer comforting as all the feathers seem to have migrated to one end. So I bought the comforter for five dollars.

Bernadette Dr. – Woodland Hills “Moving Sale”

I did not know what to expect when I pulled down the winding driveway to this 60’s style modern home that looks like it belonged in an older suburban area. Inside I found a middle-aged couple poking around what might be a living room. Here above two large windows was a banner made of tape that read “Happy Birthday”. I then met the seller, a young woman with a small child. She told me most of the stuff for sale was upstairs and that this was her studio where she had recently had a birthday party for her son. This explained the lack of furnishings and the large painting of a tree on an easel in the middle of the room. Taking her advice I headed up a spiral staircase with a metal railing covered in plastic faux flowers. Up stairs I was on my own, I was alone encountering the home of a stranger. A few things were arranged for sale but most things were like someone was just living there from the disheveled bed to the bathroom sink counter cluttered with a collection of personal care items. The kitchen was not different as a meal had been recently prepared and the dishes and utensils were not put away. I started feeling like was not supposed to be here. I had not sinister plans like a burglar but felt more like someone who sleep walks on Ambien and wanders into their neighbor’s homes. After taking a few photos and nosing around in things a bit I headed back down the flowery staircase. I then told the seller about my work as an artist but tried not to call myself a voyuer as she had no idea what I might have gone through upstairs. She told me she had decorated the stairway when she had gotten tired of the winter weather in a move to make the home more Spring like. She told me she did painting and illustration work but was having to move to a smaller space. When I mentioned how open she was with her private space she told me someone had gone to the bathroom and took here toothbrush off the holder and tried to buy it. That made me feel like less of an intruder. I bought nothing.

Floral decor on spiral staircase.

Scene from a private residence.

Barry St. - Decatur “Moving Sale”

This home was an old frame bungalow located in the southern part of downtown Decatur. When I first arrived I thought the only stuff for sale was the clutter piled in the driveway and some old stuff in the garage. But the seller told me there was more inside. In the warmth of the home a haft dozen people were poking thought some stuff that had been put on display but most of the stuff was just a lot of personal belongings packed into boxes or piled up in the living room. It was very hard trying to tell what was not for sale. It seems that the couple having the sale were selling off as much as possible to go hike the entire length of the Pacific Coast Trail. This seemed like a good plan to me but they needed to put more organization into selling their belongings. Not that I have ever been a fan of well-organized yard sales. I think this may be one of those sales that continue for several weeks getting more organized as they go. But once again I found myself in the home of a stranger peering not only at what they were getting rid of but what they have not decided to get rid of and stuff they were currently using like a lot of stuff in the kitchen because they also appeared in the process of cooking a meal. As for the contents outside there was a lot of motorcycle accessories, in the garage was more cycle stuff and a several old televisions. Inside were there was the most confusion. In the dinning room a table was covered with kitchen wares, pet supplies, bits of electronics, an unopened bottle of cheap white wine, plastic cups and various hardware items. The living room was crowded with boxes of electronic devices, old magazines, old books and other stuff some of which appeared to never have been used. All this was mixed in with a variety of stuff that looked like it was supposed to be in the living room. In the back of the house they had more plastic cups, a big box of jellybeans and a leather sofa and chair for sale, which they were asking a very high price by my yard sale standards. I did see a map of the Pacific coast trail I don’t know if they planned to sell it.
I bought nothing.

Avery St. Decatur “Estate Sale”

This sale was in an older not so well kept looking house near Agnes Scott College. I had visited the site on Friday after work and poke through some of the stuff sitting out in the driveway but never saw a sign to go into the home and never saw anyone in charge of the sale. Today the stuff was still in the driveway but people were coming out of the home so I enter another strangers home. The inside of the small house was moderately chaotic. I presumed the man who was selling this stuff still lived here but there was not room to do anything. The living room was packed with the most stuff, trays of golf ball, lots of books, tackle boxes containing a mixture of fishing stuff and art supplies, an old waffle maker, some scattered clothes, tools, sports paraphernalia and a bunch of bottles that looked like wine but weren’t. In addition to selling off a lot of stuff the seller was also trying to recruit people into a multi level marketing scheme to sell some sort of concentrated acai berry concoction that was in the wine bottles. While I was there he offered every shopper a taste of the thick dark fruity beverage. After they drank it he would then repeatedly ask is the drinker felt better. “You should feel better already,” he kept saying. I drank some but after I swallowed the syrupy drink I wished I was back at that sale a few weeks ago that was offering coffee and Kahlua to visitors. None who sample the drink offered to get involved in his MLM marketing business.
In the back of the home in what could have been a bedroom except that here was no bed were more piles of clutter. Here was a large selection of baseball bats, more golf balls, boxes of old bottles(not containing his concoction) and a stack of aging televisions.
I bought nothing but told the man that I did feel better.
Multitude of golf balls for sale.

Laredo Dr. – Scottdale “Moving Sale”

My final stop of the morning was inside but it was not a home but the studios of a graphics business that was moving. I had actually come here to check out their paper supply to use for some art project that I need to conceive and get started on. They did have stacks and stacks of paper. I bought a good supply of 11 x17 some foam core and some other paper. I know this all sounds boring but I do need things from time to time and fancy papers are not cheap in the art supply stores. I bought a large stack for five bucks. I’d include a photo but the paper just looks like blank paper only fancier.

Saturday 2/13/10 Snow!

2010-02-16T03:29:00.000-08:00

No yard sales around here today as snow has covered this city in a thick blanket of white. Maybe next week....

Two Homes 2/5/10

2010-02-10T16:14:00.001-08:00

This Friday I was supposed to be in Charlottesville, Virginia to attend the opening of The Center of the Study of the End of Things a cultural symposium where am exhibiting my new work, which consists of plants sprouting from books. Unfortunately a massive blizzard prevented me from even attempting to head north but the books are sprouting and the show did go on with my work regardless the artic weather. So Instead of trudging through waist high snow I took in two estate sales in far balmier Atlanta.

Madison St. - Oakhurst “Massive Estate Sale”

I don’t think of Oakhurst as a place where estate sales feature the accumulations of octogenarians who spent far too many years acquiring ball jars. So when I arrived at this two story newer home my expectations for exploring the residence of an aging hoarder were low. I knew from the start this could well be one of those so-called estate sales. My suspicions were confirmed as soon as I walked past the sales desk and viewed the tidily arranged materials set out on the first floor like some display at a well-appointed home wares boutique. I was not the only one with such higher expectations as no less that three other shoppers remarked as I wandered about, “Did anyone actually live here”. For those who read my comments on a regular basis know that “living here” is one of the foundations for my continual weekend explorations of clutter. The lack of evidence of someone having lived here was the pristine books individually and expertly priced based on current market value arranged on meal bookcases, the well arranged stacks of unopened kitchen appliances, bedclothes in their original packages and dozens of virgin candles seemingly arrayed not by a homeowner but a professional seller. Only when I went to the one room upstairs did I find evidence of life. Here in a bedroom was a closet packed with men’s clothing some of which appeared worn and most of which was he same size. On the nightstand was a guide for Metrosexuals and a map of New York City. So perhaps a man lived here (if you could call this living), a man who accumulated stuff but never touched it. On my way down to the basement I heard one of the estate sellers tell a customer “he worked for many years at William Sonoma”. Perhaps this was the home of a man who wanted his home to be Williams Sonoma. Perhaps he wanted to be William Sonoma. He wanted style, simplicity clean lines and lots of candles.
Basements do not lie. When I went down I determined this was someone’s home but even in the clutter of the basement there was still so much order. One section of the lower level was overflowing with all manner of Halloween décor. Boxes of plastic bones, a giant rat, a variety of skulls, masks, strobe lights for pumpkins, masks, lights, lights that looked like masks, all manner of faux pumpkins, more skulls and an original painting of three dogs dressed as witches stirring a caldron. But sadly it was difficult to tell if the décor had ever been used. Perhaps the owner had had dreams of putting this stuff in his yard in a grand gesture but never got around to it. On the other hand he may have used the stuff then painstakingly cleaned it all meticulously when he took it all down in November.
One thing that he did seem to have a true love for and did display was a collection of humanoid dog figures and artwork. I first notice this in the stairway where four framed portraits of dogs dressed as 18th century gentlemen were boldly displayed. Other artifacts included a wiener dog dressed as a cook serving wieners, a footstool of some sort shaped like a fat dog, a pair of large metal hounds and a welcome sign with a lifelike plaster dogs head on it.
Other unusual items about the home-included two five foot high metallic candle like things with a giant wick and two large bowls of faux bakery products. The sellers told me these were sold. I bought nothing.

Giant rat greeting visitors in the basement.

Giant candles puzzling visitors in the living room.

Childerlee Way – “Estate Sale”

There was no question regarding the authenticity of this event. The brick ranch home just off Briarcliff Road was truly the home of someone who had accumulated clutter for many decades. At the entrance I encountered a man with a box overflowing with wind chimes in his arms. At the sight of redundant whimsical items I knew this sale would be a delight. Inside I immediately headed to the basement and was not disappointed at what I found. Below the house were two rooms crammed with the disorderly accumulation of a life well spent. Books, travel literature, magazines, letters, holiday décor, clown figurines, old plumbing fixtures, sewing patterns, staplers, pool cues and souvenir dinner bells were heaped together in no discernable order throughout this subterranean domain. The confusion had been amplified by the hands and fingers of the dozens of shoppers who had already perused this delightful jumble. Some of the highlights I discovered here included a package of letters sent to the estate owner over 40 years ago by her fiancé in the service, some rolls of oversized faux 100 dollar bills, a tourist brochure about visiting a place called Hell, a magazine called Salesman’s Digest, a Putt Putt World magazine, a book entitled “The Greatest Thing in the World” and a copy of “Gods Psychiatry”.

A sign on the back door of the basement indicated that outside there was a trailer and a dirt basement. Sadly the trailer was just an old boat trailer covered with old plastic sheeting. But the dirt basement held further delights. I entered it under the deck where some old claw foot bathtubs and a section of seating from the Olympic stadium sat gathering filth in the mud and rain. Inside I found a continuation of the hoarded debris. While not as expansive as the finished basement the dug out dirt floor cellar held an even more confused jumble of clutter. Here was a overcrowded tool bench packed with hand tools, power tools, unmarked containers of solvents and paints and topped with a toy rifle. In another area was a large plastic decoy owl resting upon a pile of old golf balls. Old books were scattered about “Kids Say the Darnest thing”, “Learn to Speak” “Central American roundabout” and “Cozy Little Farm” among the titles. There was almost too much to take in, a decaying child’s hobby horse, an old set of golf clubs, bicycle parts, license plates, a shelving unit crammed with sports trophies and a large bale of cotton.

The rooms upstairs seemed well kept by comparison regardless of the clutter packed into every corner. Here I found closets packed with women’s clothing, an endless array of small ceramics and a large old framed photograph of a bride in her wedding dress. The kitchen had the usual old kitchenwares plus some fun cookbooks such as “Cooking with Nuts”. Just outside the kitchen was a life- size realistic ceramic dog who sat motionless while a large tabby wandered about the room rubbing against shoppers. One crammed area I took to be another room turned out to be a carport packed with furniture and more clutter. It was so packed that only the cold air let me know I wan no longer inside the house.
This sale restored my fair in great estate sales. I later regretted not buying the bale of cotton, something I could tell people you find at lots of southern estate sales.

Bathtubs at the entrance to dirt basement.

Book found in basement.

Owl and golf balls.

The bale of cotton I wish I had purchased.

Hot chocolate or Kahlua 1/16/10

2010-01-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

I did not expect anyone except crazed people in the exurban sprawl to be hosting yard sales today but I did find two events within the limits of tolerable driving distance. The weather was still cold with temperatures in the low forties. To bring out buyers one this day one sale offered hot chocolate the other coffee and Kahlua.

Rosalia Ave. – Grant Park “Yard Sale”

I Should have gone to the other sale first since they did not have the coffee ready when I arrived and did not want to appear as a wondering yard sale derelict by demanding a shot of straight Kailua. This was a small sale in the yard and porch of a frame bungalow just off Boulevard in Grant Park. There was not a lot of stuff here and I was not sure if they even wanted to put everything outside when I arrived. On the porch were some books, a few articles of women’s clothing, some small glass vases and an unopened box containing a bicycle tire. In the yard was an ironing board with a few more items of clothing displayed upon it and some shoes beneath it. I did not wait around for the coffee to brew and bought nothing.

Gayle St. Medlock “Yard Sale”

This sale in the carport of an older ranch home was a much larger event. Here in the driveway and in the shelter or the carport was arranged a collection of clothing and household items. Assembled on a bookcase was a woman’s collection of pig figures. Most were plush but there were some small porcine porcelains as well. In addition to pigs it appeared the sellers loved shoes as well seeming hundreds of pairs of footwear were lined up along the edge of the carport. I’m not sure how long it takes to accumulate this many shoes but it was apparent that the sellers had not gotten rid of many shoes in quite some time. On one of the many tables inside the carport was an assortment of board games and puzzles among them were Sex and the City, Scattergories, Battle of the Sexes, a children’s mystery game and a jigsaw puzzle of an angelfish. The seller also had a large collection of recorders. I asked her if she had a recorder band. She told me that at one time she was taking lessons and kept losing them. It appeared she finally found them and was now divesting them. Other stuff here included a CD set on Securities Regulation, some old Easter Décor, a VHS tape on Bun and Thigh sculpting and a set of metal attachments for shoes that made it easier to walk on ice.
I bought an old dictionary to use for an upcoming installation in Virginia where I will have plants sprouting from books. I paid a dollar for it. I did have a cup of their hot chocolate. Sad to say it was barely warm and nearly tasteless. I wish I had stayed around for the Kailua.

A large and colorful selection of shoes in Medlock.

Collected porcine items.

A Year ends a new one begins....

2010-01-14T03:33:00.000-08:00

I’ve taken a bit of a vacation from this site for good reason. First I deserve a vacation. I’ll been writing this for five years so I should get some time off. But more importantly over the last few weeks we have had holidays and dreadful weather.

The real last sale of the year.

While driving thru Kirkwood in mid December I came upon this sale off of Howard Ave. A huge sign painted on a sheet hung from a pole directed buyers to go all the way to a lot behind some sort of old brick building. Temperatures were in the 30’s and I figured that this truly would be the last sale of the year so Cindy and I proceeded down the dirt driveway and parked near a large peace sign create from Christmas lights that was strung across some bushes.
Around some hedges we found an assortment of old stuff put out for sale. The centerpiece of this event was the seller’s collection of vacuum cleaners. I have no idea why he had so many but he appeared proud of them. He also had a massive six-foot high steel cornered road case that could double for a coffin if someone wanted to be buried vertically. Other stuff included some old furniture, a lamp in the shape of Spiderman’s head, a selection of high-heeled women’s boots, a very obsolete video projector, an aquarium and some exercise equipment. Cindy attempted to by a small table but the seller decided he did not want to sell it so we bought nothing.

Dreadful winter weather began as in mid December so we headed off to Florida. Escaping the cold we spent our time walking the beach and enjoying the climate. We encountered an alligator and it’s hatchlings in Jonathan Dickenson State Park we also saw a bald eagle. I was hoping to see the eagle eat one of the gator babies. But the nature scenes here did not reach the Discovery channel levels. I by chance did encounter a yard sale on a Wednesday afternoon just two days before Christmas. The sale was not noteworthy in the least but it was remarkable to be able to walk to a sale on a weekday afternoon right before a major holiday. I bought nothing but did thank the sellers for having a sale.

The sale before Christmas.

Back in Atlanta the intense cold weather continued and culminated with a brief snowstorm this week. Craigslist did show some crazed folk in the far suburbs, even the more ice covered ones having sales but in my part of town no posters went up and no junk went into the snow covered lawns. But there probably were determined early birds cruising around looking for something being sold.
The closest thing I encountered was these two ancient TV put out on the street and topped with snow in front of a shuttered house on my street.

With this post Yard Sale Addict can now be said to span decades.
Happy New Year to all my readers and lovers of yard sales everywhere.

The last sales of 2009? 12/5/09

2009-12-15T13:05:00.000-08:00

The end of the year is often a somber time in the realm of yard sales. The weather turns cold and dreary, the days grow short and the approaching holidays distract sellers from their goals of ridding their homes of clutter.
Today I found a bit more in than I expected. But the end does appear in sight.

Cambridge Ave. Oakhurst “Yard Sales”

It was in the low 40’s maybe even colder in the shade when I came upon this sale in the southern Decatur Oakhurst community. The seller clad in a hooded jacket knew he was pushing the limits as he shivered on his porch while awaiting buyers for the gathered belongings in his driveway. He admitted that he should have done the sale earlier in the season but decided to go ahead with it anyway. But he told me the he had experienced a fair amount of business before he was ready to open.
Among the stuff for sale was a collection of penguin items that appeared well suited for the cold climate. There was a box full of plush penguins, a penguin game, some sort of child’s penguin costume (even thought it appeared no children lived in this home) a game called the Penguin Shuffle that billed itself as the ”motorized waddle walkin’ slippery slide game“ a party penguins punch bowl set and some smaller ceramic novelty flightless birds.
Other stuff put out in the driveway included a large painting of a red pepper, old computer accessories, lamps, an unopened box set of “Queer as Folk”, a Kate Bush DVD, an electric pumpkin carving tool, some baskets and a plush spider monkey.
I bought nothing.

Box of plush penguins.

Across the street on the porch of a brick bungalow was another sale. This one featuring the belongings of someone what at one time had a store or antique flea market booth. Everything here was quaint and antique like and nothing appeared to have been used by the actual owners of the house. While I am not attracted to such sales unless they feature really bizarre stuff such as large taxidermy sharks and artificial limbs this sale at least had pleasant well thought out arrangements. Most of the fodder here was the usual old toys, dolls, prints and décor items. But a large lamp made from a large Kahlua bottle did attract my attention. Liquor bottle lamps are a subject that requires more study on my part as I have often wondered what thinking goes into determining if an empty booze bottle is lamp worthy.

Big Kahlua lamp

Howard St. - Kirkwood “Yard Sale”

This large sale in front of a large two manor house is more or less a perennial sale. My justification for calling it that is that the sign is reused about every six months and a lot of the same goods are put out in the yard. I considered just driving past but I noticed a sled under the sign. Since there were warnings of possible snow flurries (just flurries not accumulation) I had to give the seller credit for using the sled to attract business. This time the seller appeared to have a lot more camo clothing than in past sales. Repeated items included two stoves placed in the middle of the lawn. I took a photo then thanked the seller for his nice display and bought nothing.

Knox St. Grant Park “Moving Sale”

This sale was sensibly inside a small house located on a dead end street. The real estate sign in the yard said ”I am larger than I look” I was not sure if this referred to the selling agent or the home. But it may have been the later since the home did appear larger once I ventured past the miniscule living room. At the time I arrived the estate was nearly depleted and a few Latino families were walking off with what little remained of the home’s furnishing. I did find a framed drawing a disturbed young girl in a back room. Other than this there was not much left to buy and I bought nothing.

Art found in nearly empty house.

Hobart Dr. Grant Park “Moving Sale”

My final stop of the day was inside a tiny house on the south end of Grant Park. The sale was instigated by the economy as the seller was being forced to move, as her landlord was moving back into this property due to the downturn in the real estate market. The host of the sale was an artist who creates robot like sculptures from found objects. She desperately needed to weed her collection of old hardware and mechanical devices to move into a smaller space. She had already cleared a considerable amount of her assemblage ingredients by the time I arrived. But the small living room still contained a large collection of old audio-visual devices including dated slide and film projectors, old speakers and various mechanical items rescued from scrap heaps. One stand out† item in the home was a life-sized model of a human spine. More run of the mill items needed to be gotten rid of included books, Cds and some outdated computer hardware.
I bought nothing but sympathized with the spatial issues of creating art from discarded materials.

A yard sale with backbone.

One more yard sale...My own! 11/20/09

2009-12-06T07:38:00.000-08:00

For too many years of my life I’ve gone to yard sales. In the past five years I’ve documented week by week my experiences at sales in this web site. But for all my infatuation with other people’s stuff I disdain having yard sales of my own stuff. There are many reasons for this the primary principle being that if I am hosting a sale I can’t go to whatever other sales are happening. There is also the factor that I don’t know if I am making good decisions about what I am getting rid of. But after weeks of consideration I decided to gather my unwanted and unneeded belongings and place them in my yard for all to see and hope to end the day with some cash and lots more room in my home. Clutter has been accumulating at my home. Like most Americans it is inevitable. Even thought my byword has been “I bought nothing” things have been creeping in and slowly taking away what free space I have in my home. I also wanted to apply my long over due “two year policy”. The rule states, if I have not used something in two years then it’s time to get rid of it. Thus anything packed away, stored under the bed, stuffed into a closet or rotting away in my storage shed must be divested. In truth there was a lot of stuff that was far over the two-year limit.
Accumulation happens insidiously. It creeps up on you month after month. The clothing I put on sale had been in the back of my closet taking up room. The bulk of it was shirts I had bought over the years at yard sales as well as thrift stores. Some were too large, others too small, some hung poorly others appeared perennially wrinkled. Over the past few years getting dressed I would grab one of these shirts out of the closet put it on, look at myself then recall why I did not like it. I would then place the item back on its hanger where it remained ill fitting and wrinkled for months to come. Hard goods in my home had a different staying power. Until the recent deluge and monsoon like raining season began I had kept a closet full of electronics that ran from a small audio mixer to assorted old camera gear in a small closet. The increase in moisture resulted in a wild outbreak of mildew that threatened the life and value of these objects. For the past two months a dresser in our spare bedroom was covered in these items as I sought a refuge from the mold attack. I considered that most of the stuff was most profitable if sold on EBay but I never got around to posting an ad. So the mixer, some camera gear, a guitar tuner and various other gadgets went into the sale pile.
A bit different was the collection of commemorative plates I had stashed away in a high kitchen cabinet. I had a difficult time determining if there was any value associated with the commemorative plates. Perusing pages of EBay sales I had no grasp if my plate for Christus Gardens had any worth or if there was a market for it. (If the Gatlinburg roadside religious site goes out of business perhaps the value will increase). Other plates in my collection celebrate Pocahontas, Iowa and The Durham North Carolina Centennial. These among a dozen others I would lovingly display them on a table on my front porch, as they were items of rare beauty. I had a few oddities a machete in a hand tooled leather case from panama that we inherited from Cindy’s father, a painting of zombies and cockroaches (I had purchased this for my yard sales show at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center a few years ago) and the Mary Mag Powrs magnetic doll house. I had purchased this about a year ago with the intention of creating some artwork from it. I also had a lot of the usual fodder I see divested every week a redundant inkjet printer, tennis rackets, a cassette deck, cassette tapes, CDs and books.

The largest and most space consuming item I needed to get rid off was a collection of blow mold Christmas figures. I have not displayed the set in over two years and they were beginning to become decrepit while in storage. Worse among them was an old plastic Santa that squirrel had built a nest inside of while it was stored in the rafters of the backyard shed. I was once proud of this display and at one time they were pictured in Creative Loafing in an article on bad Xmas décor. But our front yard landscaping had changed and we could no longer properly exhibit them. In addition I no longer cared to provide such elegant housing for tree rodents.
I spent most of the week sorting the clutter. Friday evening I priced and sorted and placed stuff by the door and some on my screen in porch.
I had been discussing my sale plans on Facebook for over a week. I did not place a Craiglists ad until early Saturday morning and around 7:30 I sent Cindy out to place 4 or 5 posters on utility poles around the neighborhood.
I had the good pretty much assembled in my front yard and on my porch by 7:30. The signs and warned early birds to stay away as the sale was to open at 9 A.M. While I was ready I still wanted time to contemplate the sale take photos and relax.
The first early bird showed up a few minutes before eight. He was a crazed looking bearded man driving a SUV (but aren’t they all). When he approached I told him we open at eight. He stared at me with a crazed look and said “don’t you want to sell these things”. I replied, “yes after nine please come back them” He stood his ground and gave me a hateful look. I told him to leave. Cindy then went inside, as the tension appeared to escalate. Get off my property I demanded. He turned and left for his vehicle, but then he began cruising around the block giving me threatening looks as he passed. He continued doing this for fifteen minutes when he did not show up again I presumed he was tearing down our signs.
We did open a little before nine and a healthy stream of far more sane appearing individuals descending upon the sale. My first sale was to a reseller who purchased the machete, an animal cage and a few other items. I spoke with him about his business. He told me he made a fair income from reselling but admitted the business was getting harder with less good stuff appearing and more competition at sales. He primarily sold thru online ads but only sold locally. He experienced some bad experiences dealing with shipping and payment from remote customers. While he bought all manner of odds and ends his main interest was military memorabilia and jewelry. He did find on old brass emblem from a sergeant’s hat in a box of cheap jewelry I had.

The event turned into a more social affair by mid morning when friends arrived. I had wished I had gone the extra effort and prepared Irish Coffees for those visiting since I am such a fan and supporter of sales featuring alcoholic beverages. But in my haste to set up I had forgotten the evening before to purchase the proper ingredients.
The social aspects for me were the most redeeming portions of the sale. I also found it was harder to document a sale while I was also hosting it. I was somewhat disappointed in the quality of work I shot by days end. Perhaps I was expecting more. I made a little less than I expected but made enough to cover the cost of flying to West Palm Beach for the holidays. (Ground cost not included). I did not sell the nativity set on Saturday but someone did call and purchased it on Sunday. The remaining stuff went to the street and to Value Village.
I fell cleansed and redeemed to have gotten rid of this stuff. As I write weeks later I have no regrets. But I did keep the commemorative plates they are back hiding in a high kitchen cabinet. I may display them one day.

Wisemen that no longer fit in front yard.

Properly labeled old electronic device.

Machete and baby Jesus lovingly displayed.

Happy buyer of Xmas decor.

Buyers documenting the sale of Cindy Zarrilli artwork.

New owner of Baby Jesus.

Searching for a tree 11/7/09

2009-11-17T03:30:00.001-08:00

This morning I talked Cindy into coming along with me on my neighborhood junket of yard sales. I needed to fine some materials to make a Christmas Tree from recycled materials (a fancy word for discarded crap) for the Forever Green, GreenArt Eco-Tree show at Whitespace Gallery next month. Cindy had already fashioned a holiday creation out of old bamboo blinds and a reed footstool. I figured this morning was my last good chance to find something.

Our fist stop was a sale on McLendon Ave. a few blocks from our home. Like nearly every sale within the neighborhood I had been to a sale here before. The small yard was covered in a variety of clutter ranging from a pet cage to women’s clothing to an unopened package of gummy bacon. Hung in a tree was a Fender Stratocaster and one of those plastic guitars used in a popular video games were next to it was a toy pistol and a wig. I figured I could not find enough toy pistols to fashion an entire Xmas display so we bought nothing.

Heading towards Decatur we stopped at a sale on Harold Byrd Avethat advertised in Craigslist that everything was free. It was kinda spooky when we got there for in the front driveway there appeared to be an abandoned garage sale. No one was in sight but the sale had a certain orderliness to it that made it seem as thought the sellers had just suddenly vanished. In the driveway was a recliner, some fireworks, an empty box that had once contained books, an orange pylon, a school desk, a beer stein and a guide for parents.
I considered taking the fireworks but Cindy felt they might be tampered with.
I took a Pentel silver marker. Maybe I could draw a tree.
We briefly stopped by a very boring estate sale on Scott Blvd. I had been to a sale here last year and it was equally boring. How boring was the sale? All I can remember was seeing s a hot water bottle and a bible. We bought nothing.
We spent some time looking for sales in East Lake and Oakhurst. After driving around looking for an estate sale in East Lake we came to this small brick home that stank of mildew. Only two rooms were open and the mostly contained dresses owned by an elderly woman and a lot of ceramic geese and swans. I felt the air in the home to be dangerous to my health and left without so much as taking one photo of a ceramic swan.
A sale in front of a large frame bungalow in Oakhurst was more promising. I purchased an umbrella thinking if I found about six more I could fashion some sort of tree from them. I was most impressed that the seller still had ample amounts of Halloween décor in her yard.
Our journey continued into Virginia Highland and Morningside where we encountered a house with this massive dummy that was part of some sort of laser tag game in front of it. The dummy was wearing a witch hat. I considered adding branches to the dummy but that was too over the top even for me. A sale in nearby morning side had a lot of very overpriced décor items none of which I could afford to turn into art. But they did have a lovely pair of golden slippers sitting atop a brass table. Under different circumstances that alone could have been an installation.
Our final stop was a house in Candler Park near little five points that I have been to at least three times in the past. The seller has come to recognize me as soon as I exit the car with camera in hand. There was really not much new here since the last sale aside from a wonderful painting of a horse. But as luck would have it I found a box full of sample floor tiles, each with a little hole in them. Cindy then insisted I by this wooden trellis which when inverted created the shape of a pine tree. I bought both took them home and fashioned the creation seen here. The show opens at Whitespace on December 3rd.

Golden slippers on a bronze table.

Equine portrait in Candler Park.

The finished tree adorned with floor tile samples.

Saturday 10/16/09

2009-10-27T03:25:00.001-07:00

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.

A few small sales and one man’s domain…. 10/3/09

2009-10-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

There was not a lot going on this morning and for reason I cannot recall at this time I was not in any way organized to encounter whatever treasures and surprises might await me. My first stop was several small totally unmemorable sales on Elmira St. Where I encountered boxing gloves, old VHS tapes (aren’t they all old at this time) a child’s rendering of Electricity on canvas, some old televisions and a sump pump. Considering that only two weeks ago the city was flooding I consider the sump pump the most notable find of the batch. Considering this its remarkable I recall anything.

In Decatur on Melrose Pl. there was a far more interesting sale where a man was selling off a number of movie props including faux whiskey bottles and some old ugly luggage from the film “We Are Marshall”. I don’t know who would want to own old ugly 70’s style baggage from a film depicting the plane crash of a sports team, perhaps fans of aircraft disasters? He also had signs and stickers from some other film that would allow anyone to turn your car into a Washington DC cab. On a table was a collection of miniature furniture. To the best of my knowledge it was not used in a remake of The Incredible Shrinking Man.
I bought some miniature floor coverings for some unknown reason and another buyer gave me some card stock she had purchased. I will use it for making new library cards.

After driving around through light rain and failing to find several advertised sales I came across a self-claimed estate sale in Morningside. The sale was a dreadful collection of stuff not even worth photographing in the garage of a new infill house. But I did notice that their sale sign had been retrofitted from an old John McCain campaign sign.

Vedado Way – Midtown “Collectors Estate Sale”
When I approached this house I anticipated that it would be one of those homes filled with antiques run by an antique gallery owner wanabee. Inside it appeared to be what I had suspected but something seemed to be off. The walls covered in far too many painting and the shelves and mantels bedecked in a countless assortment of objects d’art seem to be part of a home that was lived in. After perusing the home I spoke to an older, near toothless gentleman seated on the front porch. He told me that this was indeed a house that had been lived in and that the massive collection inside was that of a Dr. Smith (no relation to the Dr. Smith of Lost in Space fame) a bon vivant who loved buying things. Upon a second tour of the domicile I noticed that the late physician had a special knack for picking of images of men in all forms. While not lewd (but some perhaps slightly suggestive) it was a collection to behold and I was sorry I did not come buy two days earlier when the sale began. For on that day said Dr. Smith’s acquaintance remarked the place had three-times as much stuff as was displayed today. While the male images stood out there was considerable more stuff in this home old medical magazines, bags of silverware, yellowed appliances with large NO signs taped to them, a selection of old military uniforms and many leather bound books.
On a fine antique piano was a portrait of the estate owner. I told the gentleman on the porch I had initially mistaken it for a photograph of Tennessee Williams.
I bought nothing.

Inside the home of Dr. Smith.

Appliances not for sale.

Figurines found in estate.

Old medical ephemera.

Collected uniforms of nearly all branches of the armed services.

The late Dr. Smith, not Tennessee Williams upon the piano.

Community sales gone mild 9/29/07

2009-10-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

For some reason whenever there are community wide yard sale event I feel compelled to go and spend several hours perusing an endless collection of small meager sales. I don’t know why this is. I should know better. There is seldom anything notable. My defense of these events is that they are not just a conglomeration of small tedious yard sales but a true community event that brings neighbors together. Community event yes but yard sale affection ado and musician James Kelly put it this way when he commented in Facebook “..."...these big organized neighborhood yard sales are set up by yuppies trying to get rid of their useless unwanted wedding gifts, and TONS of baby stuff. A waste of time...".
Today my own neighborhood of Lake Claire claimed to have 75 sales (I did not bother to count them) and neighboring Druid Hills also had a similar event as well.

This was the first highly organized event of this kind for Lake Claire. I like my neighborhood; it’s a locale of aging bohemians mixed with upscale younger families. We have the lots of green space ranging from Frazier Forest, several city parks and the Community Land Trust. There is a sound to my neighborhood, from front porch I can hear aging hippie bands playing Doobie Brothers tune, the staccato endless rhythm of drum circles, the lonesome cries of train whistles and the call of “table for party of six” outside the Flying Biscuit. It’s a pleasant place to live. This weekend I wish the 75 yard sales were as pleasant as the sounds of my neighborhood.
I think I started off the wrong way. Atlanta had just gotten over days of torrential flooding rains and the Air was densely humid and warm. Warmer and more humid than I was prepared for when I left the house thinking I could cover the event on bicycle. After one block of ho hum sales I was drenched in sweat and spending more time getting on and off the bike to make it worthwhile. In the first five sales that I visited on bike I did not see one memorable thing worth photographing. Not wanting this to be more painful then it needed to be I retreated to the comfort of my Camry and cruised to the sales with the air conditioning blasting. The more I toured the area the more James Kelly’s words range true. Except that the toys far outnumbered the wedding presents. Most sales were so meager they dropped from my memory shortly after I left the premises. But while the goods were nondescript the multitudes of lemonade stands were notable. One on my street was made to resemble a tree others were simpler. But all had child-crafted charm and did offer cooling refreshment on this humid morning or boring sales.
Some photos depicting what I encountered.

Is the ladder part of the water slide?

This is from a little know Christian sect that has a nativity sans Holy Family.

Lincoln and handgun together again!

Lemonade stand with canine host.

Wetsuit and Impala for sale.

Yuppie humor?

Druid hills was not much better. I’ve documented this annual event several times in the past five years but this year after the countless sales in Lake Claire my energy was drained. This was made worse since the first two sales I attempted were at the top of steep driveways that were nearly a quarter mile long. In addition by the time I reached most of the Druid Hills sales all the interesting stuff had been taken away. But I was happy to see the house with the two furbies once again and the seller remembered me from past visits. She said she’s considering selling the ugly talking toys on eBay.

Children's costumes in the Druid Hill

They're ugly, they talk and you can't sell them - Furbies.

The deluge begins 9/19/09

2009-09-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

Rain

The rains that have now flooded Atlanta began shortly after I left the house on Saturday morning to explore sales. Nearly everything mentioned in Craigslist from the previous evening was cancelled. In Poncy Highlands I found one brave sole standing in the torrent under an umbrella beside a meager collection of stuff in the driveway of his home. Atop a computer desk were two large statues of the Virgin Mary. I don’t really know what to make of this especially considering the deluge that has come in the past two days. I shot the photo from inside my car.

Saturday 9/12/09

2009-09-22T07:31:00.001-07:00

W. Parkland Dr.- Druid Hills “Yard Sale”

The two women running this sale seemed to be having a very good time ridding their homes of clutter. They had piled a large array of goods at then end of a long driveway leaning up to their house. One of the sellers seem to delight in adding more and more stuff to an ever growing free pile they had created upon the unkempt grass at the curb. In the ever expanding free pile I found a selection of very ugly coffee mugs, stacks of old copies of Nutrition Action magazine, some assorted kitchenwares and jumble of men and women’s clothing. A large orange tabby roamed about the piles and sometimes nestled in the clothing while shoppers rummaged about.
The stuff for sale on tables was priced cheaply and the sellers were happy to see everything go as quickly as possible. They offered a free book with any purchase no matter how small. Among the books being sole and given away were “Sins of the fathers”, “Cold Day in Hell”, “Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul” “Best Puzzles in Logic and Reasoning”, “Deliverance”, “Apache Caress” and a Croatian travel guide. Assorted clutter displayed upon a series of tables included a mold testing kit, a pair of mugs shaped like moose, a game entitled Photo-opoly (Your life, your photos, your game), a portable cassette player shaped like a robot, doll furniture, glitter in assorted shapes and a large assortment of candles some of which were bent and broken. I bought a pack of Eames- House of Cards set for a gift and took a vegetarian cookbook as my free item.

Ugly mugs for free.

Reading matter, free with purchase.

Cat on the free pile.

East Lake Drive – Oakhurst “Community Sale”

I never found out exactly what community this sale held outside a popular watering hole in Oakhurst was for. Here was a jumbled assortment of goods piled up upon a narrow slab of sidewalk outside the bar. There was a lot of kid’s stuff here but some very adult stuff was well thrown in for good measure. In addition there were some large household items. Laid out were two disassembled ceiling fans one still attached to a two by fours looking as though it were ripped from the home. There were also several old decrepit looking sinks and a wood-burning stove. Scattered about were auto parts tools, used cosmetics, framed artwork and Halloween costumes. One item of note was an Obama commemorative plate the first I have seen at a sale. Perhaps this marks the decline of our president’s cult of personality or at least an end to the celebratory sprit of his era. I bought nothing. The adult items are shown below.
(Regarding the president, I was told this week the Everything Obama store in a local mall has closed).

Novelty adult cleaning product.

The makings of a halloween costume?

Casual adult furniture?

Brooks Ave.- Candler Park “Moving Sale”

I stopped at this sale in my neighborhood before returning home. Here a moderate amount of stuff was assembled in the driveway of a smallish bungalow. Like the first sale of the day, a cat was lying upon some sale items when I arrived. Here I found an oversized Asian fan, a salt and pepper shaker set in the shape of a buxom woman, some gag gifts about aging left over from a 40th birthday event, several sets of sheets and bed clothes, a pair of cordless phones a bright red jacket and a sign the said “ask about our big birdcage”.
I bought a set of sheets and the pair of phones for five dollars each.
Someone else bought the birdcage.

Catching up..a few sales from the last few weeks.

2009-09-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

I’ve been falling behind in my documentation the last few weeks. So I wanted to catch up on a few of the things I’ve seen over that time. I’m not sure if it’s the time of year; overwork, becoming obsessed with bicycling ennui or malaise. But here’s some of the stuff I’ve encountered.

August 22nd

My biking obsession has been taking over and today only two sales neither or which were monumental in scope were on my biking route.

Ferguson St. - Candler Park – “Yards Sale”

This was a mediocre sale that I would not have mentioned if I had gotten into the car and visited a lot more sales. The sale was sparse, most of the stuff they had was kid’s stuff. But laid out across the grass in front of the yard was an array of concrete numbers. For some reason I like this while I hated the rest of the sale. Perhaps it was the precise manner in which they were laid out. The seller seemed very proud of his arrangement. The other item was noting here was a chalkboard upon which was written, “Haven’t you always wanted a chalkboard?” I pedaled away with nothing.

Dalgren Ave - Edgewood “Yard Sale”

On the way to this sale I had to bike by a crazed man with a loose pit bull by his side. As he walked he kept yelling about people in the neighborhood who did not like him and kept insisting loudly that this was not his dog. I was glad to get to this home that to me was a safe harbor from the crazy guy and the pit bull that he claimed not to own. Here in front of a small bungalow I found a box of Krusty O’s cereal, a animated head inside a clear plastic bubble, a large print Bible, some iron on transfer paper, a Bee Gees lunch box and a large painting of Christ altered to look like Christ was holding a cute kitten. While I was there a gray calico cat strutted over the good covering the yard. Soon the crazed man came walking past the yard sale. The cat ran for cover and I tried not to make eye contact.
I bought the transfer paper and made it home without incident.

head in plastic bubble.

Religious adaptation found in Edgewood.

August 23rd

New York Ave. – Lake Claire “Yard Sale”
The following Sunday I happened upon this sale on my way to the hardware store and the library. A large sign painted upon a warped piece of plywood led me to the event. I parked next to a sign demanding the return of a wheelbarrow that was taken by someone who read the free sign on the wheelbarrow too liberally. It seems the wheelbarrow was simply the container for the stuff not free itself. When I arrived there the sellers recognized me as that guy in the neighborhood who takes pictures at yard sales. One of the women reminded me that I had taken here picture a few months back holding pink plush teddy bear. The noted bear was now at this sale. The sellers were having fun here and had made careful arrangements of small bottles of shampoo and lotions, a keyboard placed in front of a toaster oven to look like a PC and a car hood covered in surrealist prints by an artist they knew.
One of the sellers told me she had inherited an arts supply store from here mother and had a bunch of stuff in her nearby basement and that she wanted me and Cindy to come and check it out. I have not been there yet and I bought nothing. But they were happy to have me taking more pictures of their stuff.

Hybird computer toaster oven.

August 29th
North Ave. - Poncy Highlands “Yard Sale”

The following week I was back on my bike (I covered over 40 miles by bike this week a standard I want to continue and improve upon). I followed some signs to this sale in the small front yard of a brick bungalow near Manuel’s tavern. Here a young man and woman were divesting themselves of large collections of pop culture memorabilia. They had two bins of Simpson’s related games and figuring, a selection of refrigerator magnets covering everything from Betty Page to Devine to the Virgin Mary, what appeared to be an entire village of small dolls constructed from sea shells and a basket of San Rio merchandise. Other items were just fringe pop oddities, such as a pair of large eyeball shaped candles, a pair of fake fur covered boots, a collection of plastic swizzle sticks, a copy of Playboy with Madonna on the cover and several Margaret Keane style painting of big eyed cats and dogs. Their book selection matched their accumulated stuff. In a few bins of books I found “Hair Styles”, “Jim and Tammy Baker”, “White Trash Cooking” and “Low Life in High Heals”. More practical titles included “George Foreman’s Knock out the Fat” and a home repair manual.
I bought nothing.

Collection of shell dolls

Large eyed artwork.

September 5th

McLendon Ave. - Lake Claire "Yard Sale”

This Labor Day I resumed my normal habit of plotting addresses and spending the morning in the car driving from sale to sale. But there was almost nothing to be found. It appears that people are actually traveling and vacationing this Labor day or that maybe people had other things to do. I did visit one sale at the far end of my neighborhood. Here a woman who had at one time been in the antique business had assembled a large collection of old stuff in her front yard. It’s difficult as to what qualifies something as an antique these days but she had some objects of visual interest. Among the clutter gathered here was a straw mask the type sold at cruise ship ports of call, some odd new religious artwork, a pair of male hula dancer dolls, a large Dore print, a painting of a rat serving and angry duck soup, jewelry, some women’s clothing and a selection of children’s books from the 1950’s ranging from the Bobsey twins to Cherry Ames Nursing books.
I bought nothing.

Male hula figures.

Nursing book.

angry duck painting

The Remains of Another Estate 8/21/09

2009-08-30T15:57:00.001-07:00

Mason Mill Rd. - Emory "Estate Sale"

Estate sales are wider doors into people’s lives than the more common Saturday morning yard sale, especially if they truly feature the accumulation of a long life. On occasion I will go pillaging through the remnants of someone’s belongings in a dusty basement or cluttered study and lapse out of my droll state of mind to find myself having a poignant moment considering the long life of the owner of the assembled clutter. This Friday that feeling approached me while going through the contents of a home near Emory. It wasn’t so much a feeling towards the individual but more so a feeling towards myself. Dreaded feelings of mortality where the clutter looked back at me and said what will you leave behind? Estate sales can bring on such thoughts but inspecting the goods here I came away with the feeling this was a life well lived.
So what was here? The rambling ranch home in an upscale neighborhood between Toco Hills and Emory was well kept for a person who had accumulated so much. It also seemed timeless. The owner had been a graphic artist leaving behind some of the tools and material of his trade. Most of which was old school stuff that was of little value with the current digital methodology of creating graphics. Lots of rulers, cans of fixative and spray mount, pens, pencils erasers tracing papers and such. Some of the more curious items from the pre-computer era, such as reams of half used Letraset were not in evidence. The owner had also worked in photography and found here were left over examples of corporation production work sitting in piles and boxes. There were images of people working in 1970’s era offices, with wide collars and equally wide ties. Product shots of indeterminable mechanical devices and portraits of businessmen. The owner’s photographic career may have led to his collecting of even older photographic gear. In the dining room of the home two tables were covered with a multitude of old to very old photo devices. Some stuff old and outdated by today’s standards such as high-end Polaroid gear may have been used by the estate owner. But other stuff such as 100 plus year old magic lamp projectors, a cast iron 16mm movie projectors must have been antique items he collected over the years. The presence of these very old objects made it appear that this sale was unstuck in time. Did the seller live 20 years ago or 100 years ago? In addition to the larger devices lots of older small accessories were scattered about including old flash attachments, dark room bulbs, miscellaneous filters, light meters and instruction manuals. Other collected objects in the home bore more resemblance to many things I have seen at other estate sales, the bedroom filled with old dolls in various international costumes, a table filled with children’s trophies, boxes of old greeting cards, and closets still filled with women’s clothing.
The downstairs of the home was as usual more preserved and more interesting to me. Each room was labeled with printed signs indicating the nature of the room. This appeared to have been done by the resellers but the signs did not really add any order to the confused array of stuff found in the rooms. In one room were boxes of old tapes both home VHS tapes with typewritten labels indicating the family events contained on them. Near them were containers of larger 3/4 inch tapes and 16mm films with some type of corporate productions on them. Another room had a selection of Xmas décor both store bought and homemade. In the later category was a mounted reindeer head fashioned from a tube sock. Other stuff scattered around the basement included a novelty severed leg, some Halloween masks, cassette tapes of novelty songs and a school project on a tri-fold panel explaining the half life of M&Ms.
Books on several bookshelves around the home features such titles as “Twisted Tales from Shakespeare”, “Outline of History”, “Instant Furniture Refinishing”, “Christians in the Arena”, ”Limping Along” two bibles, several copies of the Image Bank catalog and “The Strange Career of Jim Crow”.
Two final notable objects were a MARTA supervisor’s badge and a selection of small rocks laid out in the kitchen selling for 25 cents apiece.

Tube sock reindeer.

Severed leg found in basement.

Rocks for sale in the kitchen.

My purchase of the day. They create the illusion of eating an egg while a chick is hatching from it. Bon Apitite.

Five Years..............

2009-08-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

I could say it all seems a blur, or perhaps that I should celebrate in some way but on August 8th Yard Sale Addict celebrated its fifth anniversary. Sounding like a bad parent I neglected posting for the past few weeks. I had returned to work, finished up work on a sculptural piece I’m doing and finished of a photo essay I’ve been working on for the last six months for an academic journal. Another excuse I could offer is that while my first post was on August 8th 2004 the site did not assume it’s current form that includes photographs until October of 2004. With that in mind I think I should declare the period between now and October the anniversary SEASON of Yard Sale Addict. Not to be self indulgent but over that time I will repost some old stuff, site statistics and act like an old man glorifying the past events in his life.
So what did I do? Well for one in my frenzy to get other things done I let my normally well-organized documentation go to hell. I did go to several yard sales, most of which were mediocre at best. A condition that does occur in mid summer here when it’s too hot and people are getting their kids ready to go back to school and those without kids are on vacation. So this week I have a hodgepodge of photos that I am not sure exactly where they came from other than they were taken over the last three weeks at sales near my home.

Somewhere in Morningside

Three weeks ago I wondered out aimlessly with no particular destination and no indication of where any really good sales were. Some signs led me to a section of Morningside where there were half a dozen small sales. None had anything of particular notable interest. I did see one sale, which had the worst street presentation I may have ever encountered in a nice neighborhood. At the bottom of the driveway a small collection of clutter was just piled up. A comforter was thrown over some item of furniture, bedclothes were loosely crammed into a plastic bin and other stuff looked like it was awaiting the trash collectors. The sale was active for at the top of the driveway a woman was sitting sipping a cup of coffee and looking quite bored. At least she would not have to carry the stuff down to the street after the sale to be picked up by the trash men.
I did buy some stuff in Morningside from some other sales. I picked up a leather coat for $5.00, a set of pencils to hand color photos for a dollar and a box of cardstock to use for library cards at work for 25 cents.

Pig's head somewhere in Morningside.

8X10 glossy of Willie Nelson in bondage found at a location I can't recall.

S. Ponce De Leon Ave – Yard Sale

This was one of the largest sales I attended three weeks ago. It was set up in front of the home of the Atlanta Boy Choir, an institution headquartered in one of the old mansions visible from Ponce De Leon Ave. I at first thought it was a fund-raiser for the choir but the lone gentleman running the sale told he lived here and now he had to move. According to local media the choir is in financial arrears so I don’t know why they are evicting some one who lived here. I also wonder what it is like to live in a place where you continually have to hear boys singing. I guess it’s like living next to the railroad tracks and you get used to it after a while. Any way I recall (keep in mind my normal well organized documentation methods are is out the window this week) here was a large supply of toys, a lot of candles, many classical Lps, some office furniture and a very ugly lamp with a figure of Paul Revere for the base.
I bought a wallet for Cindy for one dollar.
Disturbing game found outside Boy Choir headquarters.

Moreland Ave. – Estate Sale
The following week I attempted to go to sales but poorly organized and the sales were disappointing. First I left the house with my long zoom on the camera instead of my normal lens. So I took no pictures at the first three sales I visited. I then went back home and got the correct lens and headed to a sale I had seen a sign for the night before. This was not really an estate sale but just an average yard sale. When I arrived there was a large group of Latino men and women snapping up goods here. On man jumped into a pose as soon as he saw me with my camera. The shoppers were far more entertaining than the sale itself. Here I found a disorderly pile of CDs, a box of faux wheat grass and an exercise kit that included a half dozen DVDs and a jump rope. I see more and more groups of Latino men as well as families in Atlanta shopping at sales in the past few years and they do seem to be having a good time for all the right reasons. Not only are yard sales a great way to furnish a new and perhaps temporary residence for émigrés workers but also I’m feel the small scale street business reminds them of their homelands. The families I see shopping are always picking up lots of very inexpensive toys, kitchen items and clothing. I hope yard sales are one of their fondest memories of the USA.

Pile of CDs.

Somewhere in Kirkwood

I got an email on Sunday about this sale so I road my bike a few miles to a small home in Kirkwood only to have it start raining as soon as I arrived. One of the occupants of the home was moving and selling a lot of electronic gaming stuff such as a Wii and various hardware and software for Guitar Hero. They quickly pulled the stuff in to keep it dry. I quickly pedaled home for the same reason.

The Bad Ceramics Preservation Center 7/31/09

2009-08-11T01:42:00.000-07:00

Heritage Hills – Decatur "Estate Sale"

Before I critique the sale of one woman’s seeming obsession with small ceramics I should take inventory of what ceramics are in my own home. I am not a young man but while my lifestyle may be considered youthful by some, but the calendar of my existence says that I should have far more ceramic figurines in my home. What do I have? Taking inventory by walking from room to room I see first a small retro gift vase with a dancing teenage girl on it, a brightly painted six inch Infant of Prague, 10 eight inch saints including Lucia and both Teresas, three Hummel figures and a one-foot tall hula dancer. In actuality the saints and the hula dancer are panted plaster so they are technically not ceramics. The fertility-inducing infant of Prague dates to my parent’s home (it was never effective here). The Hummel my father acquired on the black market in postwar Germany by trading a pound coffee or a carton of cigarettes for them. The dancing girl, which I now use as a penholder, was something I picked up while in my 20’s when I bought far too much stuff at thrift stores.
So every ceramic tells a story. When I come across a sale like this one just outside Decatur I wondered what the stories are and this lady had plenty. When grown children take stock of a parents home they marvel at and fear the quantity of the runaway nick knacks, as many younger people believe having too many of this stuff is an indication that one is getting way up there in years.
So what did I find? Well the quantity trumped the quality. Aside from one big faded clown head with a sign indicating it was a McCoy, with fading paint there were no Llardo or other overpriced designer named items. A large seated Raggedy Ann or Raggedy Ann knockoff was one of the bigger works. On the floor I encountered a life like dachshund that could have been used as a decoy to attract long little dogs. Two very ugly and disturbing cats were on a table nearly covered in ceramics one with an insidious smile the other with a bow tie was equally disturbing. See the photos for the full effect. Other artifacts there included a trio of squirrels, a head with blank eyes and a set of mugs shaped like elephants. There was a wide range of styles from your traditional Blue Boy and Pinky to a pair of intertwined heads reminiscent of Modigliani. In one room was a bin of assorted tiny ceramics cats and dogs There were also two bags of broken ceramic figures that tempted me to become a ceramic assemblage artist.
There were other objects of note in the house a jig saw puzzle of a squirrel shaped like a squirrel, a copy of Walking Tall Part 2, five feathered pens in holders (you can never have too many of those) and a large painting of a woman lying in bed in a unintended erotic pose.
I bought nothing.

One of many feline figures found in Heritage Hills.

Human head with empty eyes.

Bin of small cats.

Ceramic rendering of Rag Doll.

Trio of squirrels.

Squirrel shaped puzzle.

A lifetime supply of feathery pens.

Pacyhdermic mugs.

Reclining figure under the sheets.

Under the Volcano

2009-08-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

Lassen, Tahoe and Reno

Last week I took a short vacation to Lassen National Park, Lake Tahoe and Reno. I have a thing about volcanoes I always feel good going to volcanic places. There are no volcanoes around here and it’s always a special treat to be near one. Perhaps it’s that volcanoes remind me the earth is not a dull planet for when they blow their tops they really turn things around. I’m not one of the crazed types that don a fireproof outfit and walks on hot lava. I’ve actually never seen one lava spewing. But I always feel good being in the presence of such volatile mountains. The last time I had been near a volcano was in Guatemala six years ago (I had attempted to see Aconagua while in Argentina but a road closure prevented that a few years ago). So having a plane ticket I needed to use I headed to the Lassen National Park. Until St. Helens blew up Lassen was the last volcano to erupt in the lower 48 states when it sent smoke, ash and mud down its sides in 1915. My best access point for Lassen was Reno about three hours away so I spent four days seeing Lassen, Lake Tahoe and the Biggest Little City in the World Reno. While in Reno I was able to attend a Basque Festival, a Pacific Islander Festival, watch people gamble and visit few yard sales.

Reno come for Burning Man stay for the gambling!

Massive clown presiding over downtown.

Just over the California Boarder is Donner Memorial State Park noted site of starvation and cannibalism. Now a place for jet skiing.

Dancing Basques, Nevada has one of the largest Basques populations in the US.

Hula dancers in the desert, I have no idea why Pacific Islanders descended on Reno. But I enjoyed their presence.

Most of the yard sales I visited on Saturday morning were in the Old Southwest neighborhood. In many ways it looked a lot like the neighborhoods I visit in Atlanta but with more xeriscaping in the yards and more western styling on the homes.
The initial sale I visited cooled shoppers by showering them in bubbles.

A sign the economy is turning around in Nevada, people are selling their books on making money selling foreclosed properties.

This faux book case actually hides a mini sewing machine. It indicates it's better to look like you read 70's pop literature than sew.

Disco balls for sale at the home of a local artist. I think even the yard sales want to have a casino look.

Regardless of where one travels, discarded piles of old electronics look the same

7/18/09 Yard Sales and Re-enactors in the 'hood.

2009-07-21T07:44:00.001-07:00

Glendale Ave. – Candler Park “Sale of the Century”

In truth only a few of the signs for this sale noted it to be “the sale of the Century”. We are still only nine years into the century so I did not expect anything big and were not highly disappointed when I visited at this small sale set up on the sidewalk of this narrow street. When I arrived a man driving a car with Gwinnett County plates was arguing with the seller that his books should only be fifty cents and not a dollar. The reseller appeared desperate and drove off in anger when the seller did not drop his price. Overall this sale was not very notable. The seller asked me if I knew the value of his Polaroid J 33. I had no idea but told him they no longer make film and it was probably worth 10 to 20 bucks. I later looked it up on eBay and found my appraisal to be correct. Among the stuff being sold here were packages of Avery mailing labels, some AAA maps of recent vintage, containers of sewing supplies, a tripod that folded sown to fit in a backpack (I later regretted not buying this), a microwave oven, a crock pot, a drink mixer and a tray with a tole painting of flowers.
I bought nothing.

Seller posing with Polaroid.

Mortimer Ave. – Edgewood “Yard Sale”

After driving into Cabbagetown to visit a highly unmemorable yard sale I saw some signs for this sale in the yard of a small home in the Edgewood community. Here two women had covered their front yard with a wide range of clutter. While sipping wine spritzers they showed me the Hulk hand from the newer film version not the Ang Lee film, a pair of mismatch stage monitors left over from a band one of them was once in and a black velvet painting of a very unhappy looking Willie Nelson. In addition to the sad looking Willie they had another painting in the same media of a happier looking unicorn. Other stuff scattered around included a small purse that said LUST, a semi demolished ink jet printer, two Reservoir Dogs action figures (Mr. Black and Mr., Orange), some oversized play money, a set of flaming hurricane glasses from Pat O’Brian’s, a box of framed Gaham Wilson cartoons and a bag of small dowels. They asked me if I knew anything about the camera they were selling (this seems to be a theme this morning) and I examined a Minolta SLR that was in several pieces in a camera bag. I told them that it was not worth much but showed them how some of the pieces fit together.
I bought nothing.

Hulk Hands but not the inferior Ang Lee Hulk Hands,

Vidal Dr. – Decatur “Yard Sale”

In Decatur I found four sales very close to one another. This one looked promising from the large sign in the driveway but once I headed past the row of mattresses lining the driveway I was disappointed not by the quantity of goods for sale but more so by the ordinary nature of what was there. In back of the house I found a fireplace set, a large table stacked with hardbound copies of popular fiction, a set of candle holders that looked like oversize stemware, a set of golf clubs some clothing, a framed print of Auburn University and a box of plush toys. In the plush toys was plush I pod. The seller told me it you could connect it to an I pod and it functioned as a speaker pillow.
I bought nothing.

An I Pod to sleep on.

Lamont Dr. Decatur “Estate Sale” “Yard Sale”

There were two sales on this street. The first was a moving sale that featured a large selection of clutter spread across the yard and driveway of a brick home.
An inflatable Munch’s Scream figure was posed horizontally in a rosemary bush at the entrance. On the grass was a selection of garish Halloween and Xmas decor. The Halloween stuff included a witch cauldron, a sign that read “Broom Parking” and a very ugly hand painted teapot in the shape of a witch hold a cat. There were a few faux jack o lanterns and a few objects with snowmen on them. In the yard was a pile of children’s games including one entitled “Throw Me a Bone”.
I bought nothing.

Bone throwing game.

Horrible teapot.

The Second sale on this street was very small and featured a variety of sporting goods including a portable putting green. Among some stuff on a table was a setoff plastic Civil War figures. I found this ironic after seeing the re-enactors earlier.
Boxes of Civil War characters.

Clairmont Rd. – Decatur “Upscale Yard Sale”

I’m not sure what made this sale upscale but it was quite interesting. Here a huge amount of stuff lie sprawled in front of a ranch style home. The mixture of clutter here was more unique than upscale. On a setoff shelves was a huge collection of VHS tapes all labeled with very large print labels. One tape even had a large label that said “blank”. On a table was a pile of CDs that had all been placed in library style soft plastic cases. Spread out in the middle of the yard was a huge array of plush toys, mostly bears but in the middle was a large smiling plush clown. A large selection of books carried many contrasting titles included among them were “Three Magic Words, a guide to foot reflexology”, “Excuse Me Your Life is Waiting”, a book of gags for religious ventriloquists and “The All American Bean Book”. Several tarps on the grass were covered in clothing mixed in with the clothing were a few unopened packages of women’s hose still bearing the 59 cent original price tags.
I bought nothing.

Well labeled video tapes.

Gags for sacred dummy humor.

Pile of plush.

Vintage hosiery in original packaging.

Re-enactors in the ‘hood

For the second year in a row the Kirkwood community near my home has celebrated the anniversary of the Battle of Atlanta with tours, a 5K run, a party and Civil War re-enactors camped out in a local park. I am a history major and I appreciate people getting dressed up in costumes but I’ve never fully understood the full mindset of the re-enactor community. Today in a park near a large satellite dish array a few dozen of these dedicated individuals marched around, shot off a canon, made horseshoes, moseyed about and talked on cell phones while locals looked on. I hung out for a while and all those I spoke with were quite authoritative in their knowledge of the battle and the life of the troops. A few women and children were also in the mix. It’s a shame that more historical events are not reenacted everyone needs a reason to dress up in costume more often.

Women involved in re-enactments are mostly delighted their spouses have chosen this over Dragon Con.

Civil War field hospital or yard sale? You be the judge.

State law requires that one antique looking sepia image must be included with photographs of any Civil War re-enactment.

Perennial sales and unwanted Tiki items 7/11/09

2009-07-16T17:56:00.000-07:00

As I approach the half-decade mark of this odyssey of clutter one of the things I have found in my limited realm of in-town Atlanta is that some sales occur on a repeating basis every year. These sales appear and blossom much like the azaleas in the yards of so many southern homes. Like those flowers sometimes there are good years and sometimes there are drab years. In my neighborhood I have visited several sales in the same yards of some home four years in a row. One not so interesting sale I visited for four years. In that time they have attempted to sell a used breast pump without success. One the fourth and most recent sale the pump was not in sight. Either they had sold it or given up on trying to sell this somewhat highly personal device. Most of these perennial sales seem to evolve, some things reappear some thing remain retreating back to basements and garages to hibernate for another attempt the following year.
This morning I visited two homes that I have visited multiple times in the past.

Elmira Ave.- Candler Park “Yard Sale”
The painted plywood sign nailed to an oak tree on the curb was my signal that this was a return visit for me. I told the seller upon arrival that I have photographed the large yellow smiley face sign at least twice in the past. She told me a man who had done some work on her house had made it and she kept using whenever she felt like having a yard sale. In years past the contents of her yard featured a selections of house wares and older home furnishings. This time around the yard was dominated by a selection of new age media. A card table held a number of bumper stickers (Led by spirits, Follow your bliss) pins and cards.
On another table was a large selection of mostly new age and spiritual books. Among them I found “Create Your Own Goddess”, “The Earth Path”, “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga”, “Smile for no Good Reason” and “Reality Adjustment”. On another table were a CD player and a large assortment of recordings that matched the spiritual essence of the books. The discs were sorted out in boxes with labels such as “guided meditations”, “chanting”, “Native American,” “music for meditation and healing” and “dance music”.
I bought nothing but talked for sometime to the seller about the publishing industry.
Selection of new age bumper sticks.

Elmira St. - Candler Park Yard Sale

At the end of the same street was another sale hosted by a friend from my days in Ormewood Park. On top of his van parked in the street was a large sign directing customers to also visit the sale down the street. It was evident by the age spread of the toys that he had not had a sale in some time. Among the toys was A Real Meal Oven, Junior Monopoly, bins filled with small plastic cars and airplanes and a large box of PlayDoh. Hanging on a pole in the large was a child’s costume of one of the characters from Monsters Inc made with blue fake fur. It looked too hot to wear. Adult stuff in his yard included a bowl of golf balls, some candles shaped like stars, some silver serving dishes, two trench coast, four boogie boards and a collection of glass insulators.
I bought nothing.

Hot costume. Note: It could also be worn as a Where the Wild Things Are costume.

Bin of plastic toys.

Mansfield Ave. – Candler Park “Yard Sale”

This was the other perennial sale of the day. The women hosting the sale remembered me when I arrived. She recalled two years ago when I was documenting her sale she viewed pictures of her sale on a laptop at this website while I was there. Each year here something stays the same and something changes. The seller is an artist. Last year she had the remains of a series of paintings large and small she had created of dogs. There were a few elements of this series remaining on this visit. But presently she is creating exotic headgear using bandanas, feathers and jewelry to liven up people’s heads.
This sale always has a lot of leftover art and craft supplies. Today I found clothespins, stencils, and old copies of Tole World, yarn, glue and lots of scrap pieces of fabric. Other stuff found here was a selection of women’s clothing, an old painting which I’m trying to decide is a self portrait, a copy of Lou Reed’s Transformer ( a personal favorite of mine) an empty Turfurky box, a copy of “The Customer is Always Wrong” and a Pippi Longstocking looking wigs that was brunette instead of red. She posed with it and said it was for the Asian Pippi Longstocking.
I bought nothing but hope return again next year.

The seller's current project - Head decor.

Seller with Pippiesque wig.

Brownwood Ave. – East Atlanta “Yard Sale”

This was a small sale without a lot of stuff worth remembering. A pair of tables was arrayed in a yard where the owners had failed at growing grass. Here I found a harlequin doll, a large plush Kermit, some small picture frames, a pedicure tool a book on cuddly cats. There was also a large old box spring leaning against a tree.
I bought nothing.

Emerson Ave. - Ormewood Park “Yard Sale”

Performer extordinaire Chico Nunez told me I needed to visit this sale the previous evening. I had started on Friday but when I arrived there was still a lot left. In the driveway in back of a small house a large collection of Tiki decor and other barware was piled up outside the garage. The seller told me he was changing his bar motif from a Tiki theme which he felt had peaked ten years ago to a more suave and sophisticated sixties look. In his redecorating efforts both large and small things were being divested. Among the stuff gathered in the driveway was a set of faux bamboo living room furniture, a massive two foot long varnished blowfish, a dozen paint by number paintings, a chocolate fountain ( not really a Tiki or retro item at all) one of those old vibrating belt exercise machines, numerous Tiki headed drinking vessels, several large Tiki heads, a salon floor model hair dryer and two pink artificial Xmas trees. Various other things that the owner was probably just tired of looking at included a large fax machine, a pair of platform boots, a pair of slippers shaped like women’s feet with painted toenails and a large collection of old light up magnifying make-up mirrors.
I bought nothing but the seller did take me inside to show off his new 60’s bar room décor.

Collection of old make-up mirrors.

One of the many paint by numbers works on display.

Platforms and old fax machine together at last.

Other footwear for sale.

Nelms Ave. Lake Claire “YaRd SaLe”

This sale was not very noteworthy but I wanted to mention it just for the sake of their poster and yes everything they had was cheap.

On Vacation

2009-07-12T11:05:00.001-07:00

I've been on vacation the last few weeks. YSA will return next week with new reports and images from the yards of clutter.

6/13/09 The day after portable TVs became useless.

2009-06-17T07:31:00.001-07:00

Euclid Ave. - Candler Park “Yard Sale”

The seller gave me a warm welcome as I was an old friend as I approached this sale on his porch. I had a vague memory that I had been here before some time back but I recalled not a man two older women selling a lot of antique like stuff on this porch. I also had a vague memory that I had seen the selection of Elvis collectibles and the collections of old glass electric insulators before. But one insulator looks like any other two me. Insulator are one collectable that I have never understood. I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone to actually collect these but there were a lot of them on this porch gleaming in the harsh morning sun. I didn’t spend much time here looking at a copy of the Da Vinci Code, a few old Pez dispensers or the unopened bottle of Woodbridge wine, which may or may not have been for sale. I told the friendly seller to have a good sale and left buying nothing.

Elvis stuff on Euclid Ave.

Euclid Ave. - Candler Park “Yard sale”

Just a few homes down was another sale. This one featured a man and two women presiding over a collection of clutter in their front yard. One of my artistic schemes for another exhibition is to create a series of portraits of sellers with their goods. So I spent most of my time here convincing the sellers to pose for me. The man posed holding a large Chinese style wall hanging that appeared to be crafted from plastic. The women posed on a very ugly sofa they referred to as big orange. “Oh we’re going to be in a coffee table book” one remarked. I took this to be a sign of fortune and made a mental note to get out at least one query letter to some publisher this week. I need to do something with the 7000 plus photos in this series.
Among some stuff found in the yard were two chairs badly in need of recaning, a red union suit, a pillow embroidered with “the best is yet to come”, a door, an old gaming console, a vacuum cleaner and women’s clothing. There was a sign that said “Popcorn 50 cents” One of the sellers remarked that their son had sold not any popcorn thus far on this hot June day.
I bought nothing.

Seller with Chinese wall art.

Village Walk – Decatur “Yard Sales”

I had taped an interview the previous day on the local AM arts station WMLB and the host had told me that he was having a sale today so I felt obliged to visit. He had remarked that he collected a lot of stuff so I wanted to see what he had accumulated. One the way towards Decatur I made some stops at two totally forgettable sales and one that I am trying to forget. The later was a so-called estate sale that consisted of two tables of old décor items in the front yard of a tiny bungalow. It wasn’t the size and misleading manner of the sale that I want to forget but the odious smell. In front of the yard was a large open dumpster fill with damp broken things reeking of mildew. The molding smell was so strong I was able to taste it in my mouth for two days.
Village Walk an infill community in Decatur had no noxious smell there were three sales happening in the small community when I arrived. My host from the radio station did have a lot of collectible items. Most notable was a large animatronic singing and talking bust of Elvis. The eerie android King rolled his eyes curled his lips and talk and sang the entire time I was there. Other stuff neatly displayed on several tables included a selection of bobbing headed characters, a plush M&M dressed as Luke Skywalker, a bread maker, an unopened copy of the urban myth game, a storage rack for baby food complete with a sample bottle of baby food marked “bad” and an end table with a base of faux books.
I bought nothing but thanked my host for telling me about the sale.
Two other homes in Village walk had smaller sales. One mostly had a lot of modern house wares and a large collection of sweaters. The other had a large cat maze. I bought a portion of the cat maze. My cats have yet to play in it.

Singing, talking, lip curling Elvis bust.

One of my purchases for the day. A cat toy my cats don't like.

Russell St. - Forrest Hills “Street Sale”

This was a relatively small street sale with about six homes hosting medium to small sales. Yesterday marked the final day of analog TV broadcasting and strangely I found three old portable and now totally useless TV here. One was the once fashionable and high end Sony Watchman. Today it is just a curiosity that just picks up static. I did get a woman at one sale to pose with an especially dreadful striped sweater for my portrait gallery. Among some other stuff I found here was a replica of a grass hut, an extremely ugly baby doll with removable hair, a table full of holiday décor selling for 25 cents an item and a large vibrating lounger with a built in cup holder with instructions not to use it as an ashtray. I bought some pieces of copper pipe that I need for a sculpture I’m creating in the fall.

Seller posing with ugly sweater.

Useless electronic device.

Ugly and scary doll.

Forrest Ave. - Forrest Hills “Yard Sale”

This was an extensive yard sale with a lot of stuff covering the front yard of a brick ranch home. Much of the stuff was baby items. In addition, they also had a used motor scooter, yet another non functional portable TV, several pairs of Crocs that appeared never to have been worn, an unopened package of toe separators, a Marilyn Monroe doll and a sweater almost as ugly as the one a the prior sale. I bought nothing but as I was leaving I encountered a large snapping turtle walking across the road towards the sales. I took this to be a good sign.

Marilyn doll overlooking baby items.

Why is the turtle crossing the road?

Delmar Ave. Ormewood Park “Multi Family Sale”
I headed from Decatur to SE Atlanta but several of the sales listed in Craigslist were not happening or were tiny events not worth documenting. The sale on Delmar was spread across the yards of two neighboring homes. Sadly most of the stuff was more baby items. I view baby items as the reverse of old home health care items. The later stuff often marks the end of a life and carries with it a certain amount of pathos. Baby items have no dramatic pathos but do mark the beginning of a new life and the dream of more clutter to come. Regardless of its promise of clutter to be I don’t find strollers, diaper bins, basinets and the like interesting to document. But there were other things going on here, such as several tables covered with older popular Cds selling for 3 for five dollars. Next to this they were selling Obama t-shirts and buttons. I do not know if they had over invested in Obamabelia or had created the stuff just for this sale. Other stuff here included a novelty rock star wig, two motorcycle helmets some women’s clothing and another now useless TV.
I bought nothing

Obama stuff on sale.

Clocks and helmets on Delmar.

Big Church Sale redux- 6/4/09

2009-06-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

The Yard Sale, Decatur

This is a yearly sale that actually generates talk on the street. “Did you see that church with all the crap in front of it?”, “It looks like a 747 carrying the contents of 10 Goodwill stores crashed at a church in Decatur” or “The stuff goes on for miles”. People were calling me and sending me emails. When I heard church and yard full of junk I knew it was a reprise of the sale I had documented last summer. The sale is a delight not so much for the uniqueness of its goods but more for the massive volume of its clutter. It is a sight, a veritable field of clutter all scattered in a somewhat organized manner across several acres of grass.
Today I was just getting around again. I had had surgery only last week and was not moving to well but I decided that this event would be a good way for me to return to normalcy. While I mostly needed to protect my still bandaged abdomen I cautiously proceeded around the sale hoping no one would jostle my midsection with bedrails or curtain rods. I also found it challenging to bend and dip to inspect sundry goods and take proper photographs.
The sale this year had been dampered (as nearly all local sales for the past two months) by on and off rains showers. But while I was there the skies were clear. The organizers of the sale clad in “The Yard Sale” t- shirts had separated the contents by use and type much like in a large thrift store. Some things were more organized than others.
The art section (one of my favorite areas) had the work divided by size with tiny five-inch framed works on one end and sofa size art on the other. Among some of the better art work was a wonderful naïve painting of a duck family, a painting of a drooping palm tree, a print of a busty fraulein and a hand carved boy scout plaque.

All manner of holiday décor was represented here in no particular order. It appeared that at the start of the sale Xmas, Halloween, Easter items had been separated but by the actions of so many shoppers the seasons had been mixed into an tangled endless sea of holiday charm. I was most impressed by a highly degraded light up Nativity set that now presented the Holy family as a trio of lepers.

The technology section is notable for its excess in dated devices, most of which I fear will end up being recycled. In some ways it looked like the last stand of the cathode ray tubes as old TV and monitors were huddled together hoping to have once last chance at life and utility. The sale also demonstrates how disposable ink jet printers have become as these nearly covered the front steps of the sanctuary. Telephones, CPUs, cheap small speakers and masses of tangled cabled completed the mix.
Two surprising pleasant displays were the old baskets and luggage gathered underneath two large blooming magnolia tress. Nothing says the deep south more that a bunch of old crap piled under a magnolia. It was at this point that my doctor called me to come in and have my bandages removed. I would not see the rest of the sale but I felt I was now fully on the path to recovery.

Tangled mess of holiday decor.

Duck painting.

Revisiting the Land Trust 5/23/09

2009-06-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

Lake Claire Land Trust Yard Sale

Not far from my home is a unique green space known as the Lake Claire Land Trust. The Land Trust is sort of an unofficial peoples park, it hosts drum circles, is home to an emu, contains many community gardens, a sweat lodge and a small pond filled with algae and bullfrogs. Strangers who wander into this remarkable green space often remark “So this is where the hippies went to”
Each year the Land Trust puts together a fundraising yard sale and for the past several years I have documented the curiosities that its supporters donate to help with the upkeep of this urban oasis.
Today’s sale was in the cul de sac on Arizona Ave. the same locale used in past sales. Many of the same things or things that were more of less identical had returned this year. These included a well used looking pile of plastic toys, outdated electronic devices with tangled cords, mismatched cookware and kitchen utensils.
As I perused the book collection a volunteer was sorting the philosophy volumes. Among some titles there were “Bhagavada Gita”, Love Magic”, “Who Moved My Cheese”, “The Whole Soy Cookbook”, “Art of Serenity”, “Getting Rich” and “Beyond Pendulum Power”. A selection of tattered board games dominated one whole table. One notable game was entitled “Don’t Wake Daddy”. Clothing was much more orderly this year than last as item were hung neatly an arranged fashion. Last year the apparel was randomly dumped atop a massive pile of wood chips and mulch.

There are always a few surprises at this event. A very tiny sailboat with trailer was parked in pavement looking for a buyer and a small hatchback was loaded with old TVs. If they do not sell (as expected) they can be driven to a recycling center. One notable item was the reappearance of a strange oval painting I had seen at two sales in prior months. This odd rendering of a horned naked woman with mystical designs on her entrails may be the monkey’s paw of Atlanta yard sale items. I photographed it them noticed that w woman was purchasing it. When I told here about how it keeps reappearing she responding that she was going to use it for a prank. It seems she is house sitting for a friend and is planning to hang it in his house to surprise him when he returns. He lives in the area so I expect to see it soon at another sale.
In addition to strange artwork the Land Trust always has a huge collection of boxes of old New Age magazines offered for free. If one ever needs to get an old copy of Dream Journal this is the place to find it. In addition to all this the sale featured home made peace signs, henna painting, fresh bakery items and Tarot readings. I bought a brownie.

Countless copies of free new age journals.

The horned woman returns.

I could not help myself...

2009-05-25T06:07:00.000-07:00

Family Circus this week featured the family having a garage sale. In a long tradition of people adding their own creative text to these cartoons I joined in.

Saturday 5/16/09

2009-05-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

After 4.5 years a bit of ennui….

As I approach the five-year mark of documenting sales I feel this week it’s time to change my approach a bit. When I went out two weeks ago I found first of all that in my own neighborhood I had possibly exhausted all possible variations of photographing what appeared to be the same old stuff in people’s yards. While one bad weekend should not tamper the quality of a half-decade of work I feel the necessity of changing the approach of my narrative. Last weekend I attended four sales all in the adjoining neighborhoods of Lake Claire and Candler Park. Each sale was a disappointment of one form or another. While one sale did have a selection of homemade artwork of note and another an ugly and dirty love seat, the gathered artifacts I witnessed that day did little for me. Perhaps my mind is no longer stimulated by Cartoon Network promo items, bins of plastic toys, garish Halloween décor (I need to survey my past entries and find how many times I used that phrase), children’s furniture and piles of popular hardbound books that no one wants to buy (Dean Koontz is the leader in this genre). Perhaps I should take notice, my yard saling compatriots told me there were wonderful sales in other neighborhoods the same day I found only dismay. Or perhaps I should more persistent like that Japanese artist who has created a painting of Mt. Fuji every day of his life for the past 35 years. He must go out some days and say ‘ah it looks just like it did yesterday so why bother?” But that artist does seek out nuances and variation in approach and perhaps that’s what I’m doing now.

Saturday Morning

The skies are grey this morning and the weather forecasters have called for rain most of the weekend and I’m out of coffee. Regardless I plot a route to the local sales sans caffeine stumbling over Craigslist listings. I had made some notes the prior evening but by 8 AM there are three more pages added to the listings. Craigslist despertly needs to create separate pages for ads inside and outside Atlanta’s perimeter highway. Passing over listings for sales in far flung locales like Canton, Blue Ridge and Griffin I compile a working list for a handful of sales in Edgewood, Virginia Highlands,
And Midtown.
A tall cup of coffee at San Francisco Roasting Company clears my head but not the grey skies. Rain is coming one way or another this morning. My first neighborhood is Edgewood but there sales there are dreadful and uninviting. At one only a few scattered things are in the driveway looked over by a young child with a Mohawk. The other sales have a slightly greater selection of stuff but it’s more of the same tedious stuff I’ve seen far too many times. I don’t bother taking one photograph.
I head north in the more upscale Virginia Highlands. My first stop is at a dilapidated bungalow that stinks of mold and mildew. Outside a disgruntled looking seller tells a buyer the used jeans are five dollars. The buyer replies he’s not interested upon hearing the price. There is something really unpleasant about this sale. I’m afraid to take photos since the seller in charge seems so unpleasant. I wonder into the house where the dank smell is overwhelming. Old books, movie posters of 80’s action movies (Iron Eagle 2 among others) are splayed out on a wooden floor badly in need of refinishing.
Framed prints of dogs and bears are leaning against the walls. Piles of tedious popular novels are scattered across the floor of another room while looking over the titles I hear the sound of feet on a staircase and proceed up a narrow flight of stairs. A woman tells me there’s nothing upstairs but these is a desk down stairs. She leads me down a wooden staircase to a basement that reeks of mildew to show me this small student’s desk. I want to look around at piles of accumulated clutter but she tells me only the desk is for sale and leads me back up stairs. I leave without taking one photograph. Not a good start today.
But things seem to turn around when I encounter a street wide sale onRupley Ave.
in Virginia Highlands. It seems they do this sale every years and some of the stuff I see I have seen and photographed before. Browsing the sales I run into one of the Saturday morning regulars Bob, a local attorney who buys a lot of old records. He once told me he had two storage lockers filled with stuff he’s bought at sales. When I describe my malaise regarding my documentation he suggest I need to visit some low-end flea markets out in the country. Many he says now have a bit of international flair with Latino venders offering live animals and colorful clothing. Among the highlights of the seven or eight homes on this street with sales was a fine selection of Braun hand mixers-a device I’ve never known anyone to actually use, Potty Pot shots a game that improves men’s aim in urination and an antique hobby horse from Tennessee, the same kind Bob told me he owned as a child. I was particularly impressed with a woman’s massive display of candles on a front porch swing. It’s this type of arrangement that keeps me pursuing this interest on otherwise dull mornings.
I wondered around to other sales in Morningside and Virginia Highlands. On St. Charles I got a woman to pose with a Christmas tree she was selling and on a street in Morningside another seller posed Hamlet like with a plaster skull. While there it began raining and I helps the sellers carry in clothing and bags of teddy bears to the front porch to keep them dry and sellable.
Driving over to Midtown I found an old wooden bungalow with car tires piled on the sidewalk and a selection of old bicycles and bicycle gear in the yard. The seller declined to be photographed with his stuff. Also in midtown I visited what sign proclaimed was “La Vie duhe Artiste porch and garden sale”. Here a local art instructor who was moving to the west coast displayed the day’s best sale décor. Through a flowered trellis one encountered a lush garden with bamboo and dogwoods draped with elegant Victorian dresses and a pedestal tops with a pile of kitchen tools seemingly arranged not unlike an elegant floral display. The porch held similar displays. The seller proudly posed for me next to her kitchen items.
The rain increased as I drove to a church flea market on Highland Ave. where I encountered a lot of children’s toys and clothing covered in clear plastic sheeting. The sale was picked over and I was being very careful not to get my camera wet. A table covered in work gloved was not protected from the rain as if no one would mind wearing wet gloves.
In all the day ended my feelings of ennui I did make one purchase, a drawing tablet from the sale where the seller posed with the skull. I paid a dollar for it but six days later I still have not drawn one sketch in it.

Glass head before the rain.

Candles arranged on a rocker.

Wet children's clothes.

Three Neighborhood Sales in Decatur 4/17/09

2009-04-28T15:26:00.003-07:00

Today I visited a trio of neighborhood sales all within the confines of the city of Decatur. For those outside Atlanta, Decatur has become the place of choice of families who want to live close in but don’t want to deal with Atlanta politics and services. Their school as good, their taxes high and now everyone seems to have children and lots of toys for them to play with. I should also note that Decatur has a yard sale ordinance that is actually enforced. I believe people are only allowed two yard sales a year and sign placement is limited and closely monitored. Technically you have to get a permit for a sale. With this in mind much of the sales in the city limits are covered in yearly neighborhood sales, the kind happening today in three different neighborhoods.

Wynonna Park – Neighborhood Sale
Wynonna Park is not named after the Naomi’s daughter but after the fine elementary school that brought people to this once forgotten, tree shaded neighborhood of brick bungalows. In this cozy community the sales worked as a social event as well as a clutter clearance for residents. Among the stuff put out in the lawns were artwork, paper mache creations, bicycles, wedding gowns, children’s books and barware. Among some of the better single items on display were a large gnome figure that appeared to emerging from a hole in the ground, clear plastic bags stuffed with knitting yarn, a children’s boot camp play set (in which the soldiers were shooting at each other in basic training), a remote controlled large plastic insect and some scaffolding.

Well placed sign in Wynonna Park

Emerging troll.

Ridley Scott “Neighborhood sale

OK the neighborhood is not really called Ridley Scott. But the intersection where most people enter the area is the intersection of Ridley Cir. and Scott Blvd.. I’d like to propose that neighbors here go for this name and then change street names to match. Then create such streets as Thelma Drive, Louise Road, Alien Ave and Blade Run. They could even get a condo development called “Black Hawk Downs.”
I think this would immediately up property values far better than the Ponderosa subdivision did when they had all the streets named after characters in Bonanza.
Anyway this was the second go around for a neighborhood sale here this year. A few months ago when the weather was not conductive to sales they attempted a neighborhood event with lax results. Today’s event was much more successful with nearly twice as many sales. The dominant sale here featured a massive amount of old clutter crowded into the driveway of a brick ranch home. Here a portly man in a brightly colored sombrero walked among the clutter extolling its virtues. At the top end of the driveway was a large dumpster perhaps where all the stuff would end up if he did not sell it today. Among the stuff in his driveway was a pair of matching ugly recliners, several dozen dusty baskets, a pair of crude looking Indian tom toms, a box of car litterbags advertising the election of Carl Sanders, some old home health care items, crutches, a lightning rod, mismatched end tables, massive candles, decrepit Xmas décor, old board games and an empty gumball machine.
Other sales in the neighborhood had the usual amount of large toys. One near the driveway of clutter I just described had toys with a military bent including two large plastic warplanes with wingspans exceeding three feet and a box labeled stuff filled with aggressive looking action figures. Overall this neighborhood appears to be the weak stepchild of Decatur areas and may well need the name change I suggested.

Pair of matching recliners.

Manly toys for boys.

Great Lakes – Neighborhood Sale

With a name like Great lakes you can’t go wrong as this is perhaps the premier neighborhood of the Decatur. First of all there are no Ontario or Erie streets in this area, but there is a Champlain and a Geneva. Perhaps those names have more prestige than the two eastern Great Lakes. Regardless this is the portion of Decatur that never faced gentrification because the values here never dropped not even at the peak of suburban growth in the 1960’s Here today was the mother lode of sales with over 50 homes included. I didn’t count them all but that’s what the signs said. Here the toys are bigger, the lawns better kept and a high level of walkers and cyclist with so many sales close to one another. But sadly with the high numbers the quality of individual sales was not good. I think here in Great Lakes residents feel obligated to participate in this event regardless of if they have stuff they need to divest themselves off.
My favorite stop on the sale route was a woman who had her crewelwork from 20 year as ago on sale. I told her that soft sculpture was coming back into vogue but she doubted her work would ever be in vogue. There was a wider range in clutter than I expected in the upscale neighborhood. One Sale seemed to have nothing but older dejected junk including comptometers and weighty electric adding machines. They also had some dour locking furniture a cheap old portable victrola and a sign behind it all that proclaimed “Will negotiate on everything”. Some sales were repeats from prior years. I was happy to encounter once again the delightful gentleman who makes clever signs on every single item in this sale. Not far away pointing in the wrong direction from this sale was one of the best children made signs I have encountered. This one simply said “YRDE Sale” . An adult watching over a nearby sale said, “You gotta love phonics”

Sign in Great Lakes.

It's a crewel world.

Old stuff in Great Lakes.

Nagel and Rainbow Fish together at last.

Ridgewood Ave - Lake Claire “Yard Sale”

I stopped at this small sale on the way home. Here I found the ultimate in determination on the part of a yard seller. A few nights earlier during a bad windstorm a massive oak tree had toppled over and demolished their garage and the car inside it. Their solution to this household tragedy? Have a yard sale. Here the mighty fallen oak was used as shelving and as a display area for clothing, towels and bedclothes. One of the best responses to major property damage I have ever seen.

Saturday 4/11/09

2009-04-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

I did not expect to encounter any sales with today being Easter Saturday. There was nothing listed in Craigslist near my home and no notices were posted on the usual nearby utility poles. But when I ventured towards Ponce De Leon Ave. I found a sign that would then lead me to at least six other sales.

Briarcliff Terrace – Virginia Highlands “Yard Sales”

My first find was two sales directly across the street from one another. The first was a rather small sale where an older gentleman presided over an eclectic collection of clutter in his driveway. Here I found a selection f small framed art prints of old European scenes, plastic bags filled with gears and springs from old clocks, a fully set up two person tent and a suitcase filled with golf balls. On a table at the end of the drive was an array of nine wall clocks most of which were promotional items for pharmaceutical products. Among the drugs promoted on the timepieces were Paxil , Celexa and Lexapro.
I bought nothing.

Across the street was a larger sale arranged in a highly fastidious manner. The merchandise was so well arranged in this woman’s driveway and lawn that one dare not call it clutter. Everything was placed in a highly organized manner upon a series of well placed tabled and boxes. Even the stuff laying on tarps and carpets in the yard was neatly arrayed. Nearly all the smaller items were placed inside clear plastic bags that were properly labeled. On he first table I found a large selection of souvenirs and memorabilia related to the Master’s Golf Tournament (which was going on at this time). The Master’s is a Georgia event and golf is a popular sport but this collection of mugs, plates, balls and totes seems obsessive.
Another table held electronics and anther house wares. Boxes contained neatly arranged copies of Southern Living and medical journals. Even the boxes containing hundreds of Cds had them were placed neatly in rows. The sale was so fastidious that perhaps buyers were scared to root through the stuff and mess up the order. Near the back of the driveway were dozens of new boxes of bathroom fixtures. Above them taped to the wall was a prices list from their manufacturer. A buyer muttered to me as I appraised the quantity of the boxes “Why would anyone want that many towel racks?” In the yard I found framed prints and some original artwork and a washtub filled with water containing a large selection of floating plastic duckies.
I bought nothing but commended the seller on her fine arrangement of goods.

Materials from the Master's.

Floating duckies

Virginia Ave. – Virginia Highlands “Yard Sale”

This sale was a small event in front of an old apartment building here a young couple had put their unneeded collection of cute and bright retro items out in the street for someone to buy. I always look upon the sales of the young with delight as for many it is the first time they realize that no matter how interesting something seems at one time it will eventually become clutter in their life. Among their divestments were an orange 70’s telephone with an adjoining case for a telephone book, a bright red plastic hanging lamp, a large painting of a clipper ship, a large framed piece of embroidery, a Colecovision game unit, a jigsaw puzzle of an Amish scene, a Fox and the Hound lunch box and a large cat cage. The seller’s cat kept checking out the cage.
I bought nothing.

Retro goods on display.

Glen Arden Dr. – Morningside “Yard Sale”

This sale was disappointing. Here a man had lined his driveway with an uninteresting assortment of stuff that I had seen at nearly every yard sale in the past year. An old printer, disassembled ceiling fans, an old TV and wire storage racks. A few boxes of books yielded boring religious and self-help titles. But there was a copy of “Is there a Cow in Moscow”. This was the least memorable sale of the day. I bought nothing.

Noble Dr. – Morningside “Mega Sale”

This large sale was in the small backyard of a large Morningside home. A lot of the stuff here offered shape contrast. The initial object I encountered here was a large blowup print of a scene from Pulp Fiction. Next to it was a half dozen small psycadelic framed art works depicting day glo geometric shapes floating in strange alien landscapes. Next to these was a large Fauvist style painting of a cat looking at a bird in a cage. Scattered around the rear driveway were even more contrast, a large set of archery equipment including some deadly looking arrows, a box of old fireworks, a wet suit, a large tablecloth with a tie died peace symbol on it and one of those weird ugly ergonomic chairs from the early days of computer use that were impossible to sit in. Mixed in with all of this were perfectly mumdane stuff like a coffee maker, a lamp, tote bags and small candles. The media here was also contrasting. In a box of books I found an old Sidour, “The Zen of Zelda”, “Worse Than Watergate”, “Conspiranoia”, “Driven to Distraction and “Day Hikes in the Santa Fe Area” The collection of videos was stranger for here political conspiracy reigned. I found “From Ike to Mao”, “Invisible Ballots’ and “The truth and Lies of 9-11”
This whole scene was dominated by a massive sculpture of a menacing blue parrot that was not for sale.
I bought some candles to use with my Octomom art.

Used fireworks in Morningside.

Mind bending art.

Sherwood Ave. – Morningside “Yard Sale”

This final sale was small but interesting. There was not a lot in the yard or driveway of this small brick home. I first went to the back driveway where a single card table contained some brightly decorated Easter Eggs. When I approached a trio of Latino women were laughing hysterically at the eggs. The seller nor myself were not able to understand why the eggs had set off such a reaction. In the front yard I found an old Obama sign lying atop three newspapers with election headlines. Nearby were two very large action figures. One of which I recognized as Bruce Campbell’s character in “Evil Dead” (The chainsaw gave it away). Nearby was a college diploma from Oberlin College selling for $100,000. The seller admitted that this was a joke. But I had a feeling he was unhappy with what his BA from a private college had given him since graduation.
I bought nothing.

100 Grand Diploma.

Spring Break 2009

2009-04-17T03:30:00.001-07:00

We took a short road trip to St. Petersburg last week. We spent Saturday driving so we missed the semitropical yard sale activity in the west Florida city. I did catch one sale on Sunday. While there we made a side trip to Tarpon Springs, the sponge capital of the USA. I was happy to see that upscale slick commercialism has not replaced the low-scale homespun commercialism in this tourist Mecca. Not one sign of Sponge Bob.

St. Pete “Yard sale”

We stopped here on Sunday on our way back from visiting the beach at Desoto State Park. In the midst of an official “Florida Certified Yard” we found an interesting collection of clutter mixed in with the foliage. Cindy was drawn to this sale since the signs said “free plant with purchase” Here I found numerous unopened boxes of plastic car wheel covers, unopened boxes containing inflatable children’s pools, a bird house, disorderly boxes of men and women’s clothing, coffee mugs and some old plumbing fixtures. All this was under a jungle like canopy of lush green plants, some of which were for sale. Cindy bought a plant to get a free plant. I bought nothing.

Clutter under a lush canopy.

The long ride home. Empty land and empty billboards.

Saturday 3/20/09

2009-03-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went out with my wife Cindy to neighborhood sales. Cindy needed a few things for a figure painting class she's starting, but she always dreads going to sales because she ends up buying things she does not need.

Oakdale Ave – Candler Park “Yard Sale”

I was more impressed with the signage at this sale than the contents. In front of this craftsman bungalow there is a long dilapidated Lincoln stretched limo, the unmoving vehicle has been sitting there for years gathering the accumulated debris of a city street. On top of the limo was a large sign proclaiming the sale created from a cardboard box. The sellers signage did not stop there as every box, and pile had a neatly lettered sign, “Artsy things”, “Christmas stuff”, “Everything in this bin $1.00”, “Free canisters”, “Coolest fruit bowl ever” all signs were well crafted and most were positioned on metal rods over the stuff for sale. Cindy came close buying several things here but sensibly refrained. She came very close to buying a large carpet but I fortunately convinced her it was too large for any room in our home. Among some stuff that neither of use even considered buying were a Chia Dinosaur, a wine rack, a decorative goose, teapots, tote bags and small pieces of oak furniture.
We bought nothing.

Hyperbole about bowl.

Sterling Ave. – Candler Park “Street sale”

Most street-wide events like this feature smaller sales all within walking distance of one another. The lack of depth in merchandise may not give you insight into the individual lives of the sellers it but does provide a snap shot of what’s happening on this street. By the looks of today’s sales there’s been a baby boom on this somewhat dense urban avenue. Nearly every other home had a selection of toddler wear for sale. One neighbor was even discussing overcrowding at the local elementary school. Aside from the children’s apparel there was a wide range of plush toys, women’s clothing, some ugly Xmas ornaments, a selection of Manga books, a foosball table and some old furniture. Cindy bought a chair for a figure model to sit on for a class she starts teaching next week. The chair was $2.00.
I bought nothing.

Furnishings on display on Sterling St.

Ridley Ave. – Decatur “Yard Sales”

I headed to Decatur to the noted intersection of Ridley at Scott (not far from the cross streets of Martin and Scorsese) to check out this street sale that had been canceled by rain last week. We were welcomed to the streets by a massive colorful sign. The sales in the neighborhood were mixed. The selection at the first home we stopped at was so meager the seller seemed almost apologetic and told us a much bigger sale was further down the street. The bigger sale was in the driveway of a ranch style home and the contents covered the pavement. Here we found an odd assortment of home décor including a large sculpture of a dark skinned man, a broken model of a clipper ship, a painting of an art history book, bingo markers, bags of popurie, an old one speed bike, a rusty bed frame and a multitude of small house wares. Other sales on the circular street included one estate sale of sorts. The seller was getting rid of the contents of a house they had purchased and was complaining that everything there was from the seventies. Among the decades old objects were baskets, ugly bedroom furniture, a large scale and a sculpture of a sniper made from a railroad spike. I could never get the lighting right in the glaring morning sun to get a good picture of the spike. The final home we visited here had a few old appliances in the driveway and a massively tall and heavy cat play condo. Cindy wanted to buy it but I told her I doubt I could lift it was it was constructed out of 4 x 4s.
We bought nothing.

Spike transformed into a sniper.

View of clutter in Decatur.

Massive and heavy cat playscape.

Artwork found on Ridley.

Oakdale Ave – Candler Park “Yard Sale”

This sale was in the large back yard of one of Cindy’s poker buddies. Here a number of over the top new age folks had set up shop selling among other things buckets of crystals and a multitude of books on witchcraft and magick. Among a large selection of books spread out on the ground I noted the following titles “A Garden of Pomegranates”, “Liber Null and Psychonaut – an introduction to chaos magic”, “The Sorcerer’s Handbook”, ”Spell Crafts”, “The Bible Fraud”, “Magikal Dance”,” A Witch Alone”, “Witchcraft Today”, “An Outline of Occult Science”, “The Magical Household”, “The Power of Positive Thinking” and “Women Who Love too Much”. Other stuff scattered around the seller’s very lovely garden included a rack of costume clothing suitable of festivals of all types, several pairs of fairy wings and a painting of a nude woman with horns.
We bought nothing.

Box of doves among new age clutter.

book about another kind of magic

Paidiea School Garage Sale

We got here much too late and what we saw was grim and picked over. This is the third year I’ve written about this sale so there is not much more that I can say about this private upscale desirable inner city institution of learning. The pile of toys, the piles of books the lamps and coffee makers were little different than the ones I saw in years past. Cindy’s main remark was “You’d think rich people would have better junk than this”
We bought nothing.

Plastic serpents on sale to support a prep school.

Springdale Rd. Druid Hills “Estate Sale”

Leaving Paidiea we decided to see if the Druid Hill home with the garden I have dubbed “Tuliptopia” was in bloom. It was not in full bloom yet but on the way there we spotted a sign for this sale. The sale had been going on for three days so when we arrived so there was not much stuff remaining. The stuff that was left was very picked though and left in an advanced state of disorder. Inside the home I descended some very steep stairs to a dark basement to find baskets, Xmas décor, old hardware supplies, broken furniture and old copies of National geographic heaped together in a teetering pile. Not to mention the boxes of ball jars that are de rigueur every octogenarian’s home.
In a kitchen I discovered an assortment of spices mixed with, spatulas, ladles, ceramic figures, baskets and dirty pots strewn across the counter.
Up stairs one bedroom was nearly empty except for a pile of bras and bra pads tossed onto a dirty shag carpet. Another bedroom was full of useless stuff but it looked as though the room had been turned upside down and violently shaken. Among the disorder was a Christmas tree, some blankets, a demolished lampshade, office supplies, women’s clothing, old greeting cards, religious tracks, tennis balls and lps or Broadway soundtracks.
The crown jewel of this sale was found in the living room next to were an exhausted looking seller sat at the cashier’s desk. Here was a hand made five-foot long Barbie Cruise boat. The estate owner had fashioned it while from a long illness. The gargantuan pink ship was crafted from plastic crochet material. Among its features were a grand piano, a swimming pool, a disco ball and a variety of furniture. The hull was emblazoned with jumping dolphins and waves. In the rear of the vessel was a bathroom (or more properly-head) with a sink shower and toilet with working lid. The seller was taking bids on the pink monstrosity but while we were there only one bid totaling $25 had been made.
We bought nothing but discussed if we should have bid on the Barbie boat for the remainder of the weekend.

Disorder in Druid Hills.

Pile of undergarments.

The incredible Barbie boat.

DeKalb Ave. – Lake Claire “Yard Sale”

Our final sale of the day was in the yard of a home on this busy city highway. Here stuff was put out in a tiny yard perched above the fast moving traffic. A lot of people were at this sale and I wondered if anyone had fallen from the yard into DeKalb Ave. earlier on. Here we found an overpriced collection of questionable art, clothing, toys, antique furniture, sporting goods and house wares. Most of the stuff was listed as vintage regardless of worth or value. Cindy wanted to buy a few yards of fabric for her class but found it prohibitively priced. We bought nothing but were entertained by the small dog wandering about in a pumpkin costume.

Costumed dog.

At the end of the Cindy Cindy had refrained from buying anything she did not need but is still thinking about that Barbie boat.

Saturday 3/7/09

2009-03-16T13:38:00.001-07:00

I hoped that this weekend with the pleasant weather would bring a bounty of yard sales. But sadly I found only four nearby, all within the confines of Virginia Highlands Morningside area. An area that has been disappointing lately. The only fun event here was really not a yard sale but the divestment of a business (albeit a fun business).

Hancock Ave. – Virginia Highlands “Yard Sale”

This was a small sale in the driveway of a well kept renovated home. There was not a lot here and the contents were dominated mostly by a selection of fancy architectural trim work. There were also some power tools, a rack of clothing and a palette of women’s accessories. I attempted to buy a shirt but the person in charge told me the man selling the shirts was out getting change and she didn’t know the price of the shirts.
Not wanting to wait around staring at wooden hardware I bought nothing and departed.

Rosedale Rd. Virginia Highland “Yard Sale”

I think this may have been some sort of small group fundraiser. But I have no idea what they were raising funds for. There was more here than the last sale but there was not much here of lasting interest. A pile of women’s clothing, some old computer gear, a few board games and jigsaw puzzles, some old Lps, a box of business books and some athletic gear.
I bought nothing.

Amsterdam Ave. – “Virginia Highlands “Yard Sale”

This sale was equally disappointing. Most of what was in the driveway in front of this small Tudor home consisted a selection of dreadful home décor and holiday items. I heard the seller remark “ I’d have more candles, but my father was a fire chief and he would not let use candles”. But he did allow garish frog figurines, baskets and a plethora of dried flowers. There was also a disassembled chandelier for sale. Perhaps it was not up to fire code.
I spent little time here and bought nothing.

Wildwood Pl. Morningside “Yard Sale”

This was the biggest and most visually interesting sale of the day. But the irony is that most of the unusual clutter strewn across this corner lot was not the contents of a house but the contents of an antique business a spouse of the seller once owned. The collection was remarkable and the display was alluring. Among the items laid out on the grass and pavement were two prosthetic legs, a pair of large mounted sharks (one being a hammerhead), a seemingly bottomless pile of found photographs collected over a lifetime, endless toys and disorderly boxes of LPs and 45s.
Mixed in with the found photos was a large selection of movie memorabilia and a variety of advertising posters and cards. Framed artwork litter the property with prints of babies, bulls, old celebrities, landmarks and military scenes.
I was tempted to spend more time rotting through the paper items but I kept telling my self this is previously discovered stuff and it does not have anything but a business relationship to the seller. Regardless the seller was quite open to my extensive photography of her estate. I bought nothing but appreciated the fine arrangements in this yard..

Pile of found photos.

Toy trucks arrayed in the yard.

Prosthetics in the grass.

Advertisment about a dream of deafness.

Saturday 2/21/09

2009-02-27T02:56:00.000-08:00

This morning I visited sales with a reporter and a photographer from the Atlanta Constitution. The reporter was doing a story for the business section on yard sales and was employing my expertise for the story.

McLendon Ave. - Candler Park “Moving sale”

In the front yard of an older bungalow a bohemian young couple were selling off their belongings to move to Guatemala to make music and art. They did not have an excessive amount of clutter to divest. When I arrived they had just sold a round dinning room table and their other belongings were quickly being picked up by early morning shoppers. In the yard I found a collection of hand woven shopping bags, an unruly pile of clothing, an alien puppet, a collage depicting a chicken, some glassware, shoes, a box of bread crumbs, some spices, a St. Jude candle and several plastic snakes. On the porch among some kitchen items was a half full bottle of Everclear grain alcohol. They said someone had left it at their house after a party. Among the books I found “For Your Own Good”, the Lonely Planet guide to South America, an Italian English dictionary, “Culture and Development”, “Critical Thinking” and “The Book of Answers”. The photographer took several pictures of the buyer of the alien puppet.
I bought nothing.

Snakes being sold by couple moving to Guatemala.

E. Clifton Rd. – Druid Hills “Estate Sale”

I was happy to be able to take my guest to this event so they could encounter the full wonders of a lifetime of accumulation inside a home. When I led them down the steps to a basement brimming with clutter I remarked, “It’s like an archeological dig here” they seemed to like that. The basement was full with a horde of collected cameras and related photographic paraphernalia, old magazines, piles of gift wrap, ancient college text books, personal memorabilia as well as the usual hardware and accessories that fill basements after so many years. The camera room was quite impressive. A seemingly endless array of point and shoot camera from nearly every decade of the last century. There were boxes of flashbulbs and endless accessories. Filters and lens caps were piled like poker chips on a card table. Slide projectors, slides, negatives, straps, flash attachments, an occasional manual, cables and empty cases all contributed to the photographic confusion. The owner of all this wandered the basement as well proud of the gathered treasures he was divesting himself of. Other things on this level included an old Royal typewriter, a spittoon and stacks of old Lps. In this mix were occasional personal photographs, cleaning supplies, postcards and old appliances. Some of the appliances had placards on them noting the date they were purchased.
Upstairs there was less confusion, a sofa covered with small framed art prints, a table filled with green stemware, 45 albums from Ethel Merman and Paul Weston and a pile of matted artwork next to a pile of empty frames. In a bedroom a bed was covered in clothing, towels and bedclothes. A bathroom appeared as if still fully in use with a full cabinet of the things one normally keeps in a bathroom.
My guest were pleased and amazed with what they encountered, the reporter bought an old Lp. I bought nothing.

A writer's necessities of days gone by - a manual Royal and a spittoon.

Music for dreaming found in Druid Hills.

Bed laden with clutter.

Rogeretta Dr.- Toco Hills “Yard Sale”

I led my guest to this dead end street to find a ranch style home surrounded by whimsical metal yard sculptures and a carport filled with assorted clutter. By the looks of the stuff gathered there the sellers appeared to have been in some sort of retail business but it was difficult to tell what it really was. When the seller saw the press photographer with his heavy-duty camera and massive lense he at first tried to stop all picture taking. But I changed his attitude by showering ample praise on his taste in yard art, especially the large pink panther constructed out of a propane gas tank. The photographer from the AJC calmed him further by saying they were he to take pictures of me taking pictures of his stuff. The seller then proceeded to show me the items he was most proud of. One of which was a stroller for a dog. He also tried to get me to take a look and the cases of books he had piled in the side yard. He had once been a bookseller and was now trying to get rid of the tomes at ten bucks a box. I asked him if any of the book buyers with the ISBN scanners had come by. He said they attempted to open the boxes to scan the contents for valuable editions but he chased them off. In all the seller and his wife were far more interesting than most of the stuff they were selling. Except for the large skeleton figure wearing a tuxedo hanging from the carport. This item also attracted the attention of the AJC cameraman and I had to pose in front of it for dozens of pictures. In addition to all this there was old backpacks, dolls, model airplanes, old Lps, a good deal of ceramic figurines, a large plush M&M, some large plastic toys, metallic pinecones and a very ugly metal owl.
I bought nothing.

Propane tank panther guarding Toco Hills home.

Rolling dog stroller, this device could also be used for unruly children.

Wineleas Rd.- Druid Heights “Yard Sale”

This sale was pretty minimalist compared to the last two events. Behind a small simple bungalow was this massive garage large enough to hide two city buses. Inside the garage were a two tables sparsely covered with stuff for sale. On the floor of the garage were brand new boxes containing sinks, appliances, as well as kitchen and bath hard ware. There was also a hot tub but I was not sure if this was for sale. Among the smaller stuff was a tire, a pair of crutches, two old Mousekerteers 45’s, a mirror, two uninteresting lamps, and a disposable unused Xmas tablecloth.
This sale was only interesting for its marked contrast to the prior sales.
I bought nothing.

Kitchen sink found in massive garage.

McLendon Dr. – Rehobeth “Multifamily Sale”

This was a bit small for a multifamily event. Here two women watched over a small amount of stuff gathered under a festival tent. Among the stuff there was a pair of cat eye sunglasses, a unopened box of fake eyelashes, a mug with a cow’s face on it, a open bottle of Patchouli bath gel, a butterfly chair, a wig, some clothing and a pile of CD’s without cases. I bought ten somewhat scratched 80’s Cd’s (Joy Division, Bauhaus etc...) for 25 cents each. The reporter bought a leather purse.
Most of the Cds played when I got home.

Used bottle of bath gel and cow faced mug.

Burgundy Dr. – Rehobeth “Yard Sale”

The final sale we stopped at was a good example of a sale with mostly kids stuff but something the reporter needed to see. In the carport of a small home was a disorderly pile of children’s stuff that had been rooted thorough by buyers for several hours. A pile of dolls, a more disorderly pile of children’s clothing and a scattering of tiny shoes. In the final shot the photographer took of me I was splayed on the driveway with my camera aimed at the shoes. That picture is shown here. And yes I bought nothing.

2/14/09 No one has sales on Valentine's Day except…

2009-02-19T19:12:00.001-08:00

Yard sales are not romantic. Spending all morning hauling piles of clutter out to the lawn and dealing with annoying early birds does not spell romance in any language regardless of your gender or sexual orientation. As for myself I went out seeking sales while my spouse was still asleep. She had told me to pick up some candles if I found any. Buying candles is somewhat romantic. Here’s what I did find.

Virgil St. - Inman Park “Moving Sale”

This was inside a small home and when the sellers saw my camera they said no pictures. It was not a big loss since there was not much to take pictures of. Among the few things in this sale were a rack of women’s clothing, a treadmill, and a pile of motivational business books. The two women holding the sale did not appear to be having a good Valentine’s Day.

Holtzclaw St. – Reynoldstown “Moving Sale”

The only other sale today was a more lighthearted event where a couple seemed to appear happy to be ridding their home of clutter so they could move. On their porch were selections of candles including one of the largest candles I have ever laid eyes on. The burnable mass of wax was over two feet in diameter and had at least five wicks. If placed on a pedestal it could serve as an end table. There were also three relatively smaller candles for sale. Also on the porch was a large decorative star, some foot wear, a sign that simply said ‘stairs’, a large light up bear figure, two decks of Hello Kitty playing cards, a framed photo of a chef cooking pasta and a bottle of hand soap.
Inside the house laid out on a coffee table was a box of ugly costume gnarly teeth, a meat and game cookbook, a few DVD’s including The Occult History of the third Reich, Chinese Hercules, Freddy vs. Jason and CSA, the mockumentary about the south winning the civil war. Also in the home were several original pieces of artwork for sale and in the bedroom was a king-size bed for sale that looked as thought it had just been slept in.
I attempted to buy the copy of CSA and the three smaller candles. But when I opened my wallet I discovered that Cindy had taken all my cash for a late night trip to the wine store.
I returned later with cash in hand to make my purchase but found that the copy of CSA was taken. Cindy appreciated the candles.

Massive candle, foot shown for measurement purposes.

Art found on V Day in Reynoldstown.

The Rebirth of Confusion and Clutter 2/7/09

2009-02-11T18:34:00.000-08:00

This morning I set out with Cindy for the first full morning of yard sale activity this year. Cindy normally does not like to go because she says she always buys things she does not need nor can afford.

Harold Ave. – Lake Claire “Yard Sale”

This sale was just a block away but was a disappointing way to begin the morning. There was not much in this yard, two CRT monitors, a box of old computer cables, a pile of clothing, two used bottles of shampoo, a cocktail shaker, a non descript lamp, a empty album for holding commemorative quarters and two small electronic keyboards.
We bought nothing.

Greenwood Ave. – Virginia Highlands “Garage Sale”

The site for this sale was an older apartment building in Virginia Highlands. At the entrance I ran into a former Peak Sister (Shelbra) who was also in search of the sale. The front door to the building was locked so we went around to the side where I found the door to the laundry room open. In a basement room past the washers and dryers was what appeared to just large unkempt piles of old plumbing and electrical hardware. I asked a man there if this was the sale. He told me he had not organized the stuff down here but it really looked like the stuff had simply been tossed into this dark room years ago. I perused the plumbing stuff and found a showerhead I could use for an upcoming installation I’m doing. Meanwhile Cindy and Shelbra Peak had come upon what really might be the sale in an adjacent garage. Here the clutter was sparser and slightly more organized. Among the stuff scattered about was a large stack of small pieces of tongue and groove flooring, a shop vac with a plastic pumpkin sitting on top of it, a large kitchen sink and a framed photograph of Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly.
I bought the showerhead.

Yard sale or just accumulated debris?

Rosewood Ave. Morningside “Yard Sale”

This was a larger event both in scope and disorganization. Here far too much stuff was spread across a much too small yard of a brick Tudor bungalow. The majority of it appeared to be kids toys and holiday decor but it was so scrambled that it was hard to tell what was a toy and what was not. Adding to the confusion was a large herd of shoppers perusing and further confusing the collection, not to mention the covey of neighborhood children frolicking in the debris in the harsh morning light.

Among the clutter I found a chainsaw (swiftly grabbed by a female buyer), a box of cheap ceramic angels, an oversized plush Easter Bunny, an old low end drum machine, a box with containers of spray paint, grout and fabric softener and a large plastic bin filled with dirty work gloves. Among the confusion I also found an assortment of still in the box useless appliances, such as a Smores Maker and a Children’s Pizza Oven. While we wandered about the sellers attempted to control the confusion but seemed to be losing the battle. At one point they erected a clothing rack in the driveway only to have it collapse leaving an even more chaotic pile of clothes.
We bought nothing but enjoyed the experience.

Disorder on display.

Somehow when stuff gets confused baskets always appear.

Seasonal figure among the clutter.

Mason Woods Dr. - Emory “Estate Sale”

I had not been to a true full blown inside the home estate sale in some time so I was delighted to stop here. I was even more delighted to seen that the estate owners had hardly even thrown anything away and were living in a fire marshal’s nightmare. The home was well kept but the extent of the clutter was beyond the scope of reason. To some people having a basement means that you can keep everything that ever comes into your life and this was evident in this large ranch style home. The upper rooms of the house maintained a certain level of order with the estate sellers having arrayed silver, jewelry and more seemingly valuable stuff within sight of where they had set up the cashier’s station. But the further one got from this point the more confusing and cluttered the house became.

The epicenter of this crowded confusion was of course the basement. On the lower level dwelt the remains of the lives of children, the celebration of over decorated holidays and the graveyard of unfinished projects. The vintage children’s things were interesting for their age as well as their quantity. Among the things I uncovered in the dim light were countless boxes of games, partially completed plastic aircraft models, wooden blocks, Pez dispensers, broken roller skates, an endless variety of dolls, paper dolls children’s books with quaint covers, toy swords, jigsaw puzzles, boxes of magic tricks and doll house furnishings of all varieties of size. One back room was a children’s bedroom or playroom with a large hand drawn poster that paid tribute to a fantasy GTO.

Another room downstairs was packed from floor to ceiling with rolls and bolts of fabric. A nearby bathroom was overflowing with dreadful Xmas décor. The holiday items covered the toilet and flowed into the bathtub. Remnants of personal memorabilia were peppered all about the confusion, a high school diploma, trophies, framed family photographs, awards and boxes of mail and holiday cards lay about to be tossed around by rude treasure seekers. Added to this mix was sheet music, college textbooks, large and small tools, pieces of a model train set, old copies of airline magazines and strange small cookbooks.

The other rooms upstairs things were somewhat more ordered but equally crowded. Among the outstanding find here were old prom dresses, Russian travel ephemera, boxes of pot holders, unopened packages of linens and toiletries, cases of old cassette tapes, and cheap hand tools. One of the more remarkable finds was the “Half Pint” a portable urinal for young boys still in it’s original box. It appeared unused.
The clutter even ran outside the house where piles of garden tools lay in a jumble next to cypress knees, postcards, knives and more Holiday décor.
Cindy bought an antique floor lamp for $45.

Excess Xmas decor covering commode.

Retro kiddy lit or cookbook?

More children's reading matter.

One of the many dolls found in the basement.

Unused bathroom carpet.

Saturday 1/24/09 - The return of the yards of clutter

2009-01-28T03:28:00.001-08:00

I have returned to the yards of clutter after the longest break I have taken in the four years I have published this journal. Much has happened in that time, leadership has changed in the United States, the bottom has fallen out of the world’s economy and the weather has been usually cold, wet and dreadful for Atlanta. In the past two months I have been contacted twice by local news media wanting my views and opinions on yards sales and the current economic plunge. In truth there are less yard sales around here since the weather has been so dreary. But there appear to be plentiful sales outside the reach of my psychologically limited driving ability in suburban Atlanta.
This Saturday the weather was still not pleasant, a slight chill and some drizzling rain. But I did find two nearby sales.

Woodward Ave. – Turniptown “Yard Sale” ”

Here a man had crammed almost the full contents of his sale onto the tiny porch of a rehabbed shotgun house. The only things in the yard were a few ice chests and a pressure washer. He said the pressure washer sort of worked, it just had a short somewhere. He also told me that under current city rules one is allowed to pressure wash at least every other day. On the porch I found a box full of not so old Playboy magazines, a suitcase full remote controls for TVs the seller no longer owned, a cassette tape of the Late Deacon Lunchbox, a box of slang flashcards, a CD entitled Pure Disco, a chess set, a ceramic frog with an oversized male organ, a stack of lps from the 80’s and several empty microphone cases.
I bought nothing.

Playboys, Disco and slang on a man's porch.

Well endowed frog.

Clifton Ave. - Kirkwood “Yard Sale”

Here two women were late in setting up a sale on the porch of their frame bungalow. When I arrived an eager gaggle of buyers was rummaging through each box as the sellers brought them from inside the home. Here I found an electric chainsaw, a leather jacket, two small oars, a framed print of the Eiffel tower, a framed antique map of Ireland, some artificial flowers and bags and boxes of books. Among the books I found “Buy Your First Home Now”, “The 9/11 Commission report”, “The Secret History”, A Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable repair manual, “30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary”, “Steal This Computer Book”, “Pass Both Your Driving Tests” and two copies of Eliot’s Middlemarch.
I bought nothing.

Box of clutter.

Happy Holidays

2008-12-29T15:22:00.000-08:00

If yard sales are not happening around me where are they happening? On Boxing Day I perused Craigslist both locally and internationally to see what yard sale were posted or being held on Christmas or Christmas Eve. I found it pathetic in some way that people were posting sales for old clutter on Christmas day instead singing carols, eating too much or getting intoxicated. A few things I found disturbing were the person in snowbound Fargo who posted a garbage can for sale on Christmas Day. Further north an individual in Anchorage posted a room air conditioner on Craigslist something that I really doubt is in demand in our 49th state this time of year. Also in Alaska I found someone selling clothing on Xmas day in of all places Wasilla, but they did not appear to be clothing used in a recent run for vice president.

In Los Angeles one person was getting rid of a very basic looking room divider perhaps with the hope someone needed a very boring last minute gift.

In the Washington DC listings I found a massive brass hookah for sale by a man claiming he was suddenly leaving the US. In addition to the seller also had a large brass camel. Perhaps this was an early visitation of the magi. Locally the most interesting Christmas post was a gentleman selling a new Kirby vacuum with all the accessories. Everyone knows all Kirbys eventually end up on the street.

As In years past I have shown some of the locals yard of Xmas. On McLendon the large effigy of Obama was topped with a Santa hat for the season. I hope the massive display stays up and changes with the season as hearts, shamrocks and bunnies find a way onto the image of our new iconic chief executive.
While wondering the streets of Candler Park the other day I did notice how disturbing those framework holiday figures look when they are not lit up during the day. The reindeer and snow men are eerily reminiscent of circa 1989 non- fully render computer graphics.

I escaped from Tron to wish you a happy holiday.

Nothing says the holiday is over better than a deflated santa lying face down in the pavement.

A Happy New Year to all readers of Yard sale Addict.

This is not an orphaned site!

2008-12-29T15:05:00.000-08:00

After going more weeks than ever before of not posting, I’m finally getting around to updating this site. I can only blame the weather, the holidays and my self for this long period of inattention.

Sad to say I have not attended any sales worth documenting since November. In this case I blame the dreadful cold, wet and overcast skies that have plagued this city since Thanksgiving. This is not to say there were not any sales, just not any worth mentioning in my small portion of the world. That portion is limited to an enclave of neighborhoods within two miles of my home. The rest of Atlanta appears full of yard sales, as the economic glue of this nation has separated. Criagslist is filled with listing in places outside of I 285 where McMansions face foreclosure and SUV lie abandoned with empty gas tanks along the highways. A few weeks ago a local radio station interviewed me regarding the rise of yard sales in this time of economic demise. I am honored to be considered as an economic pundit, but sadly I’m still not going to these somber events outside my normal range of yard sailing.

In December I was very occupied with Cindy’s graduation and solo exhibition at Sycamore Place Gallery. Her show “Now Explosion” let me relive (at least for one night) the glory of the Celebrity/Nitery Club nights. She received a great story in the Southern Voice (http://www.sovo.com/2008/12-12/arts/feature/9566.cfmand) the opening was a packed event. One of the notable events that evening was the public singing premiere of Kitty Butler a Now Explosion scion.

Mob of art patrons at Now Explosion opening.

A mortarboard wearing Cindy Zarrilli salutes the future at Sycamore Place Gallery.

Following the opening we spent some holiday time in Tequesta escaping the dark and wet skies of Atlanta

Blue waters and blue skies in South Florida.

The season in decline….

2008-11-27T10:42:00.003-08:00

As the leaves have fallen so have any semblance of quality and entertaining yard sales. Today there was next to nothing in my neighborhoods so I had to drive further to get to these few meager offerings.

Virginia Cir. – Virginia Highlands “Yard Sale”

This was the largest yard sale I could find today. It was put on by the residents of two adjoining homes and featured a decent collection of clutter. On one side was a large collection of collectable dolls and toys. A table was stocked with small Madame Alexander figures and some hideous plush toys with horrifying hand painted faces. I will not mention the creators name for fear of bringing on a lawsuit. Other stuff here included a pair of pink glitter children’s disco boots; a Santa figured that played an annoying saxophone, a pillow in the shape of a bunch of asparagus, a VHS tape “The Vita Mix Cookbook” a copy of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and a Ben Hogan biography.
On the other side I found an American flag woven from wicker (these colors don’t run, they splinter) a scuba tank, children’s furniture, several framed prints of grizzly bears, a famed print of some kind of aquatic dinosaur and a boxed set of Inner Child cards.
I bought nothing.

Framed print of aquatic dinosaur.

Horrible plush creatures.

Highland Ave. – Virginia Highlands “Yard Sale”

The Craigslist ad said a couple was combining their households and getting rid of stuff. Among the stuff they were getting rid of was a vacuum cleaner, a pair of plastic machine guns, a boxed set of wild drinking games, some wine glasses and women’s clothing.
I bought nothing.

Two non-events

I did later visit an estate sale in Virginia Highlands that was disappointing beyond my standards. I might have been wandering thought a realtors showroom house. I'm starting to think I should not go to any estate sales unless obsessive compulsive octogenarians lived and died in the household.

Dreadful estate sale.

Earlier in the week I relieved the following email message:

“The Yard Sale, examines the adventures of making and viewing art in alternative spaces and for unconventional audiences. As the name suggests, this is a residential address where the performative‘sale/show’ will take place.

Part One is aimed at bringing art to the average shopper. It will invite the viewer to a Saturday morning yard sale, placing the works in an environment different from their typical context, in order to invoke the eye of the ordinary, unbiased consumer. The goal of the show will be to create the illusion of an actual yard sale, complete with random objects typically found at such occasions. The artists will not be in their expected roles, acting instead as observers in order to document the reaction of the unassuming public.

This setting aims to create a dialogue that contains a new set of thoughts and ideas by taking art out of its assumed context and placing it into an environment that is unfamiliar.
Part Two includes a literal and conceptual documentation of the show, that combines the remaining chatchkees from the yard sale with the artworks in order to initiate an engaged dialogue between curator and viewer. The artists will be sharing their observations of the above experience, including consumer reactions to the work and concepts that were presented.”

Sadly I drove by the address for this event three times this morning and it appeared that nothing was happening. I am a major advocate of conceptual art and an even bigger supporter of any project that demonstrates that I am the founder of an entire sub-genre of art. But the only thing that really occurred were few wet signs placed around midtown and this written documentation of the non-event. Which is in it’s self a conceptual work of art.

Sign for conceptual yard sale non-event in Midtown.

More Yard Sale Addict stuff on Facebook

2008-11-17T18:15:00.000-08:00

I think I'm spending too much time on social networking. I have established a presence for myself and Yard Sale Addict on Facebook and have been getting good response. This week I created a Facebook gift app "Yard Sale Junk" where users can send each other some of the mindless goods seen on this site. All the images are taken for the vast horde of photographs I have taken at yard sales over the past four years. So if you would like to send a Facebook friend a dirty mattress, ugly furniture, bad paintings or boxes of empty jars search "Yard Sale Junk" in Facebook and load the app. Over 1500 items were sent be users in the first week it was online. Become a user now.

Saturday 11/8/08

2008-11-17T18:04:00.000-08:00

Howard Ave. – Lake Claire – “Yard Sale”

This was not a good morning. There was not much happening, it was cold and the glaring sunlight made for lousy photography. Plus I could not find anything really interesting at the sales I visited. This sale was located on the driveway of a modern home built in the past year of so. In fill homes seldom have great sales and this was no exception. Here I found exercise equipment, baskets, luggage, a bike, some audio components, a big framed poster for a popular brand of wine, kitchen stuff and a few boxes of books. Among the books were “Healing Though the Dark Emotions”, “Flawless”, “Journey Through Heartsongs”, “The Way the Crow Flies” and “How to Behave So Your Children Will Too”.
I bought nothing.

Lakeshore Ave. Lake Claire “Yard Sale”

This sale was down a steep driveway on the back deck of a large home overlooking a park. The view was wonderful but the contents were boring. It was almost entirely made up of children’s apparel. I did appreciate the placement of a guitar in a basinet.
I bought nothing.

Oakdale Ave. – Candler Park “Yard Sale”

The harsh sunlight was really bad here. Plus what they were selling was not that good either. I couldn’t fully understand this sale some of the stuff appeared to belong to an older woman but two younger guys who did not appear to be her sons operated the sale. Among the stuff piled on tarps and tables in the front yard were jigsaw puzzles, old computer parts, old screens and windows, disassembled light fixtures, a box of 70’s rock LPs, an old framed Sunbeam bread ad and dressmaking patterns. On the porch was a huge selection of tedious Hollywood movies on VHS tape.
I bought nothing.

McLendon Ave. – Candler Park “Yard Sale”
I had been to several yard sales at this address in the past few years and some of the stuff here was seen and documented previously. There was some new stuff such as the propane gas cylinders, rat traps (the sticky kind) and bingo markers. Among some books I found th two copies each of “Who Moved My Cheese” and “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” The seller told me he got one pair from a former employer and the second from a new employer. Perhaps the distribution of such books is the reason that this country is in its current economic malaise. I found a weed whacker here something I actually needed since my old one burned out. When the seller demonstrated it for me he almost cut off his toes. With this demonstration of power I purchased the weed wacker for five dollars along with a pair of shorts.

Redundant business books .

Some belated Halloween images and more...

2008-11-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

I have to admit with the change in weather, going out of town, Halloween and the election I’ve somehow avoided yard sales for a while. So I’ve posted some images from the Little Five Points Halloween parade and some local yard décor. No sales just yards.

Mexican wrestling masks were a big thing this year.

Someone told me this fellow looks this way most of the time.

They held workshops in the neighborhood on creating these massive skeleton puppets, there seemed to be dozens of them.

Sometimes a costume doesn't have to make sense.

One of the best yard displays was on a nearby street in Decatur. Here a horde of dead pirates ruled the landscape. Some finer details included fake crows in a tree, a bar room of the dead and a smoking cannon.

Two ghost pirates in a sinking rowboat.

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Political displays were mixed with the holiday theme in my neighborhood. Here's an Obama symbol carved into a pumpkin. It looked better lit up at night.

A Massive Obama sign erected on McLendon Ave. Halloween decor can be seen in the background.

Saturday 10/18/08

2008-10-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

Oxford Ave. - Lake Claire “Yard Sale”

I should have ventured further this weekend since I needed something for a Halloween costume but I stayed close to home and visited only two nearby sales. This sale in the yard of a large old home near DeKalb Ave. was a grungy delight. In the yard was a mixture of old motorcycles, cycle parts, uninstalled home fixtures, clothing and home décor. Dominating the scene were two motorcycles in questionable condition one with the low selling price of $120.00. The debris of abandoned home projects included a laundry sink, heaters, cabinets, glass and Plexiglas, light fixtures and unassembled plumbing items. Home furnishings featured a lamp with the KISS logo and flames, a large white bed frame that did not match the Kiss lamp, some sheets from the Luv-Motel, the usual assortment of small picture frames, a large print of a human eye and a framed Joy Division poster. To complement the motorcycles clothing included a large box of leather boots as well as some stylish purses, a collection of sunglasses, men’s shirts and pair of well-worn pith helmets. Other stuff included six different guitar effects pedals, a few home audio components, a throw pillow shaped like a rat, two silver skulls and a book on planning weddings on a budget.
I bought nothing.

A pair of silver skulls among the debris.

Joy Division poster with matching boots.

Dixie Ave. - Inman Park “Yard Sale”

This was a larger sale put on by several women in front of an apartment building. The presentation was well-arranged and featured a lot women’s clothing. While I examine the material on display a frisky tabby cat wandered about the clutter sometime jumping into boxes other times sitting of clothing. I attempted to photograph the feline but he keep moving away from me. Among the things the cat passed by were a pair of slippers shaped liked dogs, a squat effigy of the Eiffel Tower and a container of pubic hair dye. One place the cat did not go was a box filled with old golf balls, I presume he found these toouncomfortable to lounge upon. Other stuff scattered about the yard included old lamps, a variety of house wares and some tools kits that looked as though they had never been used.
I bought nothing and still have no costume.

Dog faced slippers. I guess I should have bought them for Halloween.

Walking again…10/11/08

2008-10-21T16:45:00.001-07:00

With the Candler Park Festival happening this weekend there were a lot of sales close enough to visit on foot.

Arizona Ave.- Lake Claire “Yard Sale”

Here I found two sales in adjacent homes. In front of one home was a sizable collection of garden tools, household fixtures, old baskets, lamps without shades, antique looking dolls, toys and house wares. Three inexplicable items included a sliced section of a log, a banner of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a box full of light up plastic American flags.
The house next door had a lot less stuff with just two sparse tables sitting out on the curb. But in the collection here were two zydeco rub boards neatly arranged on the walkway and a framed photograph of a deer crossing a river.

I bought nothing.

Zydeco rub boards flanking the walkway.

Connecticut Ave. – Lake Claire “Yard Sale”

Two friends of mine who recently adopted a baby put on this sale. One of them is travels the world as a public health official and has brought back a treasure trove of exotic paraphernalia from his travels. A lot of this was on sale today undoubtedly since children should not be chewing on splintery Congolese carvings. They also were like other couples with babies as they were selling off the initial baby items they acquired. So the sale was a delightful and disturbing blend of exotic and domestic clutter. Among the stuff gathered for divestment was a pair of tabla drums, a menorah carved from a Cyprus knee, a wooden carving of a lion that appeared to have no front legs, a variety of primitive musical instruments and a tiny Central American sculpture of a woman giving birth. The baby stuff was the usual new born to six months stuff that does not need to be described. But more domestic exotic clutter included a drinking vessel in the shape of the Westin Hotel, an ashtray shaped like a Ubangi women’s head and a painting of the cartoon French Skunk Pee Pee le Pew. I do not know if that last item was purchased in Paris.
I bought nothing.

Jungle drums and cypress knee Menorah.

Central American woman giving birth.

New York Ave. – Lake Claire “Yard Sale”

I had visited this sale last Sunday and it looked no different today except that it appeared abandoned. No one was in sight when I arrived and no one came out the entire time I was there. There was not a lot to this sale so maybe the sellers just didn’t care. The sale was in a booth in the back yard among the stuff there were some toys, garden tools and clothing. There was a cat sitting on some sale stuff, perhaps the feline was trained to watch the merchandise.
I bought nothing since there was no one around to buy anything from.

Ferguson Ave. Candler Park – “Yard Sale”

This was another small sale. With furniture, Xmas décor and some kitchen stuff. Among the notable items here was a chair almost totally covered in silver duct tape and a framed, spooky and dark portrait of a woman.
I bought nothing.

Face found on Ferguson.

Glendale Ave. Candler Park “Yard Sale”

This sale was very small; here two young women presided over a meager collection of stuff on a table and on the sidewalk. In a box here was a copy of the Dummies Guide to Bartending a six beer glasses.
I bought nothing.

Hardendorf Ave. – Lake Claire “Yard Sale”

This was a large sale just down the street from my home. My neighbors here have always had a talent for creating good yard art and today that talent spilled over into their display of stuff for sale. On the sidewalk they had unruly and jumbled collection of Xmas and Halloween décor. The clutter was mixed with their edgy Halloween décor that features a large six-foot mummy and a torso with a bloody head mounted on their fence. Their zesty mixture of the gruesome depravity of Halloween with bones and plastic chainsaws fused with tangled colored lights, faux poinsettias and the flotsam of abandoned miniature holiday villages holiday villages was nothing less than outstanding. I am so delighted to have neighbors with such flair.
I bought nothing.

Decrepit head welcoming shoppers.

Mixing the holidays on Hardendorf.

Dekalb Ave. – Candler Park “Yard Sale”

When I returned home Cindy told me a local artist had been calling me to please go check out this sale because they had piñatas in the shape of male genitalia. So I got in the car and drove over to find a sale in the same site I had visit three weeks ago with the aforementioned piñatas as well as some of the same stuff I had seen three weeks ago. The sellers were delighted to pose with their paper mache creations as indicated in the following photos. I never did ask why they had these creations that were being sold. They were placed next to some very homey and domestic looking crochet work.
I bought nothing.

The Wonders of Druid Hills Redux - 9/27/08

2008-10-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

Druid Hills Community Yard Sale Day

Druid Hills the upscale neighborhood just to my north seems in some ways a far cry from Candler Park and Lake Claire to the south. There one finds Italinate mansions instead of craftsman bungalows, Emory doctors instead of drum beating old bohemians, and far more cosmetic surgery than tattoos. So once again I wondered tree lined avenues with names like Oxford and Lullwater to examined the divested clutter of this exclusive enclave. Here even the lemonade stands are a more distinguished and a plentiful supply of large plastic playthings indicates that the upper classes are repopulating their kind and spoiling their offspring.

The participants in the sales were interesting in their own right at one sale a neighborhood teen purchased an epee, fencing mask and jacket. Then he proceeded to chase another teen with sword in hand from sale to sale. The Other teen in turn purchased a pair of nunchucks and the two then began sparing among the assembled clutter. The hoi poloi from less fortunate sections of Atlanta appeared to be having a pleasant time overfilling their pickups and SUVs with upper class castoffs. Several sales that ended in the early PM just moved their contents to the curb with shoppers digging through the clutter. But not everything met this fate for I did see some of the same items from last year such as a large floral painting that was placed in the exact location of the prior sale. Some of the highlights are depicted in the photos below.

Upscale refreshment stand.

Vehicle laden with a bounty of goods.

Shoppers scavenging discarded clutter.

A pair of Furbies, one of the ugliest and most annoying toys ever created.

Reading matter of the country club set.

Local canine assisting with sale.

A defining image of the Druid Hills community yard sale day.

Gas shortages, economic meltdown, faux fruit and little ironies..

2008-10-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

The gas crisis in Atlanta continues. I filled my tank returning from Charleston and it’s still a little more than half filled week later. I’m not yet desperate but I don’t know of any nearby stations with gas and those further out have drivers waiting in line for over an hour. So this morning I haul the bike out on the street, pack my camera in the handlebar pouch and go. I’m able to hit half a dozen sales before noon.

McLendon Ave. - Lake Claire “Yard Sale”

This was a small sale in the front yard and driveway of a Tudor bungalow. Here I found plastic bags filled with miniature faux fruit, a trio of monkey hand puppets, a box of pewter drawer pulls, a bin filled with tiny garden tools of undetermined use and some tiny lawn furniture that no human could sit in. In a selection of books was a copy of “One Nation Under Debt”. In the yard under the shade of a small dogwood one of the sellers was arranging a collection of souvenir plates and ashtrays. Among them were tokens from Singapore, the Vatican and the USA Bicentennial
I bought nothing.

Basket of tiny tools.

Today's first faux fruit.

Ridgecrest Ave. – Lake Claire “Yard Sales”

Pedaling further uphill I came across a small sale and a medium sized sale across the street from each other. The smaller sale mostly featured women and children’s clothing. The larger sale hade a number of tables arranged in the yard of a brick bungalow and a lot of stuff scattered across the grass. The centerpiece of this sale was a single solar panel in the middle of the sale hooked up to a ceiling fan mounted on a wooden bracket constructed of two by fours. The solar panel was aimed towards the morning sun and the fan was turning briskly. But the low placement of the fan four feet from the grass meant only plants and earthworms enjoys its cooling breeze. But it was an appropriate item to come across considering Atlanta's current energy crisis. Sadly no buyers seemed interested in either the solar panel or the fan. Other stuff collected in the yard included a plastic bag of full sized faux oranges (perhaps a theme for today) a framed photograph of an outhouse, a old massive IBM Selectric typewriter, a steam cleaner, a huge propane outdoor heating tower, toys, disassembled lighting fixtures and women’s shoes.
I bought nothing.

Solar panel at work.

More faux fruit.

East Lake Dr. – Druid Hills “Yard Sale”

For some reason this enclave between Lake Claire and Decatur is considered part of Druid Hills so I guess this sale was part of the Druid Hills Community Sale day, which I will cover, in a later post. But I’m mentioning it now since it was on my bike route.
Here I found a line of tables going down a long driveway leading to a stately brick bungalow. A jumbled assemblage included old house wares, avocado green small appliances, ugly ceramic cats, a framed print of the partying Bama red elephant, old televisions and boxes of tangled Xmas décor. I was impressed that one o the TV’s for sale was the same RCA model I had purchased over 20 years ago. The seller said it still worked but didn’t have a remote for it. The ironic item of this sale was a toy car set that came in a plastic gasoline can. This was the closest thing anyone in this city saw of gasoline today.
I bought nothing.

Children's gas can.

Ugly cats.

Flora Ave. - Edgewood “Yard sale”

I rode downhill and across DeKalb Ave into Edgewood to visit this sale held on the front porch of a small frame home.
Here a tattooed man presided over an unopened collection of Star Wars figures, some CD, men’s clothing and baby items. This was the classic ‘it’s time to get over the things of your youth and move on to raising you kid sales’. The Mom or the baby were not in sight. The ironic item of this sale was one book sitting alone on the porch entitled “You Are Being Lied To”
I bought a nice black short sleeve shirt and took a hand full of coverless CDs he was giving away.
I took CDs by the Pogues, The Smiths, Violent Femmes, Beastie Boys and The White Lines. I declined to take any of the plentiful Iron Maiden recordings here.

Degress Ave – Inman Park “Yard Sales”

There were two sales on this short street off DeKalb Ave. The first was a tiny sale in the front yard of an old Stone church that had been converted into a private home. The only stuff here was a small assortment of items laid out of a tarp in front of the church. On the tarp was more faux fruit, an air mattress and a copy of Josef Koudelka’s book of photographs entitled “Chaos.
I bought nothing.

Images of chaos and an inflatable bed.

The second sale was down the street and visible from the first sale. Here was a larger collection of stuff gathered in the front yard of a brick bungalow. Among the clutter here were three disassembled ceiling fans, a primitive mask of unknown origin, clothing and a large selection of cutlery.
I bought nothing.

Mansfield Ave.- Candler Park “Yard Sale”

Heading back toward home I stopped at one final sale near Little Five Points. I visited a sale at this location last year and the sellers remembered me from my prior visit when I brought out my camera. They reminded me that when I visited then they were poking about the web on a laptop on their porch and visited my site while I took photos. They were not online today but had a few of the same items I saw last year. But the large collection of dogs painting that I documented then was gone. This years items included a large selection of art supplies, women’s clothing and three ceramic pigs.
Among some books I found “Really Important Stuff”, “A Wellness Way of Life” and a few biology textbooks.
I bought nothing.

Divestments of an artist.