Sharlot's yard sale

Yesterday -- the first day -- was probably a better choice for visiting the big annual Sharlot Hall Yard Sale. However, it was strictly during morning hours and I don't do mornings very well. So Sunday afternoon it was.

If I were being picky, I'd note that the sale wasn't in the yard -- nor was it in a garage. Strictly speaking, therefore it must have been a rummage sale. Whatever. Lots of Good Stuff, too. A cut well above the usual merchandise that one finds at such an affair. One surprise: no clothing, which is usually a staple.

There was luggage aplenty...

...and evidence of sports that had been given up for less vigorous activities.

Several cool looking electric portable typewriters -- though if my computer is down, that means the electricity is probably down as well. Which, in turn, means that the proper backup for emergencies or loss of civilization is an old manual Royal or Underwood.

Baskets always make a pretty display, as do Christmas goodies.

Mr. and Mrs. Santa (above) and an elegant if pricey set of fine holiday china ($30) below.

There was a room full of good looking, high quality furniture (above) as well as over 30 years worth of the Atlantic Monthly (below). I was sorely tempted to buy an issue from 1900 just to study the ads.

Also among the antiques: a set of Britannica, 9th edition, and the New Century. I'm sure that these references were chockablock full of great line illustrations, as well as presenting a point of view from an earlier time. Of the early topo maps in the antiques corner, none were of the Prescott area, so I was not tempted. On that note, I walked next door to the Park Plaza Deli for a roast beef sandwich.

I had planned to pick up a Thai take-out meal for supper plus a light bulb at the Goodwin Street Pharmacy -- but this was Sunday and nobody was home (except for the deli, thank goodness.) However, I took this opportunity to photograph yet another business down the tubes; I am quite surprised, as the recently opened Stepping Stones was a well stocked thrift shop, which should do well in these times. Anybody know what happened?

Yet another thrift

I'm a downtown person, not mall people. A major reason, of course, is that I don't drive. As a result, the closest I get to a department store fix is a visit to one of the larger resale shops, the Goodwill, Sal or Noah's, for example. And to speak the truth, I find a thrift to be quite as much fun as almost any Sears or Dillard's emporium. Now we have a new addition to the city's collection of larger second hand stores, over in the Goodwin Street Plaza.

The Stepping Stones store is slightly upscale, when compared to the Sal or Goodwill, and more attention is paid to the decor.

There is the usual collection of household knickknacks...

...but I'd say that women's wear is the major focus -- plenty of it and of better quality.

Not nearly as well stocked in the men's department, tho the Garfield shorts (below) would be a find for the right person (perhaps my Sson -- he's a Garfield fan).

The cowboy boots (for the ladies, I presume) were in the protected area behind the checkout counter.

There's a back room for guy-stuff.

Indicating just how ho-hum the computer has become, keyboards are stacked helter skelter (above); phones share a shelf with a couple of wheel covers (below).

Plenty of good hardware-type Stuff in the back room (above), including cheap golf balls, if you need some. In fact, the store will outfit you completely for golf (look in the corner above -- though I didn't see any plus-fours).

On the other hand, the telescope was seen by the store folk as being sufficiently upscale to merit a focal point in the front of the store. You can be sure I'll be back -- I scored a couple of neat sleeveless Ts, upscale, of course, on my first visit.

Linkage: Ronnie Hall, the Designing Fairy, dropped a note that she will lead a class in handmade book design this fall at Yavapai College; more info at Ronnie's blog.

Snap-Snap a quirky thrift shop

One of the regular bloggers about Prescott life is Sadira of Foolsewoode; in everyday life, she is prop. of Snap-Snap, a very cool resale shop on Montezuma next to Radio shack. I should have posted about this shop a long time ago, but time passes and one's photos sometimes go out of date.

I mean ... look at that faux leopard cape and matching hat that would do Marlene Dietrich proud. Had I posted earlier, that cape would not have been in the window. If I weren't married to my backpack, I'd have snapped up the outfit even as I walked in the door. (When I was much younger, I owned two black woolen capes -- one long, the other mid length. Elegant items for a bit of a weirdo; besides, they kept the Windy City's gales at bay. Beat a coat all hollow).

Snap-Snap isn't just about the clothes and accessories. It has its own quirky style -- note the lava lamp above.

Yes, well worn blue jeans are a must -- but how about that bright R.E.D. paisley skirt?

Or the splendid Mandarin style top amongst the vintage clothing on sale.

To really experience the shop, it's quite necessary to lift up your eyes to what's on the walls above the clothing racks. Bumperstickers (above). Old ethnic dolls (below).


Frames highlighting featured goods. Not to mention a stylish mail box and a man's formal outfit -- or is it strictly for the maitre d'?

Scooby Do is featured in the men's wear room. As I recall, there was at least one Cat in the Hat painted on the opposite wall, as well as this Suessian character (below).

And I truly wondern just how Sadira came into these vintage goodies. Anybody besides me old enough to recall Buster Brown, the shoes for kids sold in stores which fitted them using an fluoroscope -- a practice which was, of course, dropped like a hot potato around the end of the 30s or perhaps right after the Enola Gay launched the atomic age and radiation fear. (I just discovered that BB is still around, quite to my surprise.) Another of her fine trademark collectibles is the Pillsbury doughboy (below).

As you can imagine, it would have been easy to spend the rest of the day taking more pictures -- but the dotter wanted her afternoon in the sun at the Santa Maria. While we're speaking of thrift shops, did I mention that there's now a Goodwill store in town out Iron Springs. I promise that I'll scope it out soon.

Making donations easy

If you periodically drop your discards off at the Sal, you're certainly familiar with this sign at the Montezuma Street entrance. I suspect it's there because a lot of folk stop by after hours, when nobody's present to take charge of new goodies. Further: many, many people are not aware that there is a big intake set-up at the rear of the store along the alley.

However, our drop-off arrangements are small potatoes compared to this Goodwill center I came across in Memphis last summer. Obviously, the store was using a facility which had a previous history of some sort.

And, speaking of the Goodwill people -- were you aware that we now have a new Goodwill thrift over on Iron Springs in the spot which was a Longs' drug store when my LH and I first moved to Prescott. I read that the resale shops are thriving in the current economic climate. No surprise!

Needed: good Arizona sweats

If one were to make a list of the problems with Arizona, I'm sure that the summer desert heat would top the list. Another: too many people moving in too fast. But I'll bet that I'm perhaps the only one whose list would include the lack of decent topical sweatshirts. Probably related to issue #1, the desert heat; designers must figure that there's no market in this state for a stylish, warm sweat featuring, for example, one of many possible local Indian designs.

They're wrong. I do have one such: the trio of snakes above, given me years and years ago by Sson and his lady. However, I regularly check out the Whiskey Row shops -- and the resales too. I've only scored once in all that time; see below. From the NOAH thrift; I'll have to check in there more often.

Quite in contrast, back when I was ferrying my mother up to Victoria BC every summer, I found that the Goodwill and the little independent resales were both good sources for sweatshirt fun. For instance, Garfield, above -- or the butterflies below.

And what could shout Canada! like a loons in a pond. But my pride and joy, for just one $Canadian was the orca (below), like the loons, a find at the Goodwill store in Victoria. The design is by Haida artist Clarence Mills, one of whose totem poles is installed at the President's Palace in France. I dread the day when it wears out, but plan to cut out the design to use as an applique.

I've checked on the web for orca designs; this is the only one I've found with a raven inside the whale and a little shore critter inside the raven. My immediate response: food chain. However, I wore the sweat when dotter and I visited the Alaska Native Heritage Center and had an opportunity to talk with a young Haida woman. Her interpretation centered around a series of species interminglings and the resultant births. Oh, what a different outlook! Now I wonder what would be a Haida man's interpretation.

One day very recently, as I was walking down Gurley toward town, a woman with a little boy in tow spotted this sweat and called to me, "Haida!" Turns out her heritage included Haida and that she had lived in Alaska. We had a pleasant long chat there by the big pine at Catholic Charities.