Estate sale
Neat estate sale in one of the many crumbling mansions on West Adams. First time I've been to an estate sale where they said the building was being considered by the city for historical whatsits status. And therefore any fixtures in use were not for sale. And perhaps related to this, if you took pictures inside the house, they were gonna throw you out.
Hundreds of player piano rolls. Probably a thousand 78s. Three pianos (one a player). Dozens of radios and radio consoles. Smutty paperbacks.
I looked through the piano rolls hoping to find something with some sentimental value. I found a roll of Louis Moreau Gottschalk's The Last Hope. Here it is played from a piano roll, but not the one I have (mine was made by the amusing if quite accurately named Automusic Perforating Co. of NY, NY):
Piano rolls were $2, and off 50% on Saturday, so $1. Tomorrow it'll be 75% off.
78s were a buck each, so fitty cent, so a quarter tomorrow.
There was a jillion of them, so I picked up a couple that caught me eye. Liked the Vocalion label, liked the red color ("Vocalion Red Records are best"), and liked the Spanish theme. I hypothesized that the label specialized in Spanish language music, but that's apparently nowhere close to the truth, though it was true of the only 3 or 4 red discs in this huge collection.
Of course, I don't have a record player, much less one with a 78 setting. But this is the age of the internet. You can hear at least a preview of the Bar Harbor Society Orchestra's version of "Mexicali Rose" on amazon. Though I haven't found the A side -- "The Song of Songs".
You can download both sides of the other disc (and a few more Spanish songs) from a great blog of old music. The disc I have is the one pictured in the post: "La Golondrina" backed by "La Paloma", by The Castillians.
The Loot:
Hundreds of player piano rolls. Probably a thousand 78s. Three pianos (one a player). Dozens of radios and radio consoles. Smutty paperbacks.
I looked through the piano rolls hoping to find something with some sentimental value. I found a roll of Louis Moreau Gottschalk's The Last Hope. Here it is played from a piano roll, but not the one I have (mine was made by the amusing if quite accurately named Automusic Perforating Co. of NY, NY):
Click to viewPiano rolls were $2, and off 50% on Saturday, so $1. Tomorrow it'll be 75% off.
78s were a buck each, so fitty cent, so a quarter tomorrow.
There was a jillion of them, so I picked up a couple that caught me eye. Liked the Vocalion label, liked the red color ("Vocalion Red Records are best"), and liked the Spanish theme. I hypothesized that the label specialized in Spanish language music, but that's apparently nowhere close to the truth, though it was true of the only 3 or 4 red discs in this huge collection.
Of course, I don't have a record player, much less one with a 78 setting. But this is the age of the internet. You can hear at least a preview of the Bar Harbor Society Orchestra's version of "Mexicali Rose" on amazon. Though I haven't found the A side -- "The Song of Songs".
You can download both sides of the other disc (and a few more Spanish songs) from a great blog of old music. The disc I have is the one pictured in the post: "La Golondrina" backed by "La Paloma", by The Castillians.
The Loot: