Last Weekend, Part 2.
In addition to the Murakami exhibit, I also got up early that morning and drove to a "Costumer's Guild Yard Sale". This was the professional guild, local 705, Motion Picture Costumers and this was their "Giant Yard Sale". It was billed as a fund-raiser to help their strike fund.
It was in the parking lot of History for Hire in North Hollywood. I got there about 5 minutes early and it was pretty crowded. Luckily, they had roped off the entrance, so the early birds couldn't sneak in. They dropped the ropes about 5 minutes late and the hordes descended. It was... well... interesting. Lots of clothes, mostly semi-modern and vintage. Very little in the way of historical costuming. Lots of people selling hand-made stuff, like knitted hats and scarves. Overall, I think the emphasis was more on the "yard sale" than the "costumers". I saw the contents of many many garages and attics, some less organized than others. The dust was horrible. Maybe just from all the old clothes or just the gathering of so many dusty items. I was coughing up a lung in about 5 minutes. Thankfully, they were selling soda as part of the fund raiser. Whew!
I did find one woman selling older medieval (more "ren-faire") theatrical pieces, but the quality was fairly low. She had a pile of '"corsets, but they were barely boned and not even worth the fabric (I think she wanted $30 each). Several tables had book collections, and I spent some time sorting through them, digging out my only purchases:
1. A 1970 reprint of the 1908 Sear's Catalog. This is so cool.
2. A French Book "La Chaussure" with pages and pages of pictures of actual shoes from through time. Very neat.
3. "A Richer Dust". A collection of Edwardian and Victorian photos.
Interesting conversations overheard: Two women were comparing notes on what they'd been doing since being unemployed. The first had just finished painting every room in her house while the second had completely redone her yard, catching up on a year' worth of yard work. I also heard another woman talking about the strike ending. She had already been offered a job, contingent on the end. She was to start three weeks after it was over. I guess she'll be back at work in two weeks. :)
It was in the parking lot of History for Hire in North Hollywood. I got there about 5 minutes early and it was pretty crowded. Luckily, they had roped off the entrance, so the early birds couldn't sneak in. They dropped the ropes about 5 minutes late and the hordes descended. It was... well... interesting. Lots of clothes, mostly semi-modern and vintage. Very little in the way of historical costuming. Lots of people selling hand-made stuff, like knitted hats and scarves. Overall, I think the emphasis was more on the "yard sale" than the "costumers". I saw the contents of many many garages and attics, some less organized than others. The dust was horrible. Maybe just from all the old clothes or just the gathering of so many dusty items. I was coughing up a lung in about 5 minutes. Thankfully, they were selling soda as part of the fund raiser. Whew!
I did find one woman selling older medieval (more "ren-faire") theatrical pieces, but the quality was fairly low. She had a pile of '"corsets, but they were barely boned and not even worth the fabric (I think she wanted $30 each). Several tables had book collections, and I spent some time sorting through them, digging out my only purchases:
1. A 1970 reprint of the 1908 Sear's Catalog. This is so cool.
2. A French Book "La Chaussure" with pages and pages of pictures of actual shoes from through time. Very neat.
3. "A Richer Dust". A collection of Edwardian and Victorian photos.
Interesting conversations overheard: Two women were comparing notes on what they'd been doing since being unemployed. The first had just finished painting every room in her house while the second had completely redone her yard, catching up on a year' worth of yard work. I also heard another woman talking about the strike ending. She had already been offered a job, contingent on the end. She was to start three weeks after it was over. I guess she'll be back at work in two weeks. :)