Garage Sale America

Garage sale season has begun in Portland — woo! In fact, I just discovered that the neighborhood behind my apartment organizes an annual sale, which took place last weekend. On a morning walk, K. and I stumbled upon house after house, offering up all kinds of cast-off goodies at screamin’ prices.

If you’re also a fan of garage sales, or curious about the fine art of neighborhood treasure-hunting, you’ll enjoy Bruce Littlefield’s new book, Garage Sale America. The book is not unlike a garage sale (or yard sale, rummage sale, tag sale, estate sale) itself, offering up a nice jumble of different approaches to the subject. There are how-to’s for garage-sale shoppers, and good tips for people who want to organize their own sales. (A favorite: “Take your signs down afterward!”) There are absolutely great photographs of garage-sale finds, and garage-salers on the hunt.

. . . And my favorite part of the book is Bruce’s stories of his own garage-saling adventures — such as the time he set out to traverse the famed 450-Mile Outdoor Sale, which stretches along US route 127, through Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Ohio. (MAN! I have to go to this someday.) Armed with a great big truck and $1000.00 cash, he wound along the highway scoring furniture, vintage jewelry and aprons, postcards, and a vintage Coca Cola cooler, among other things.

Speaking of that cooler, Littlefield also offers up some fascinating sidebar tales of the various collectibles you can find at garage sales — Bakelite, Barbies, and glass marbles, to name just a few. If you know what to look for, there’s a lot of history to be found in other people’s junk.

Littlefield also shares stories of the prize things he’s found at sales around the country, and the people who sold them. Which is really the thing that sets garage saling apart from eBaying. As Littlefield puts it, “There’s just something neighborly about being invited into someone’s yard or home and encouraged to paw through their stuff.”

Sure, eBay makes the whole hunt for cool stuff easier and more efficient. But it’s nice to meet real human beings once in a while, and share a little pleasant conversation while you help them lighten their junk-load. Not a bad way to spend a summer Saturday.

The Garage Sale America website rocks, by the way.