Category: Personal Blog

Last night I told you about the warehouse up the street from me that dumped a ton of stuff out on the sidewalk that people had torn through it spreading it out over 25 feet of sidewalk.
Today while giving Bozzio his morning walk I passed by the same spot and saw that it was all cleared away, like it nothing happened.

I asked Lily, my friend who lives in a parking lot up the block, what was up with the warehouse-dump. She knows everything that goes on in our little bit of ghetto neighborhood (which in gentrifying Brooklyn is shrinking fast). She asked me what I needed. I told her I didn’t need anything but was just curious about it. Then she asked me for money for a 10 dollar phone card and helped me walk Bozzio.

I give her a few dollars here and there. She has 2 Pits herself and makes a big fuss over Bozzio whenever she sees us. I give her money because I can and I hope it trickles down to the dogs.
The other development is that about a week ago on the same block, 2 men appeared and began to empty out a tarp-covered lot full of furniture, knick-knacks,dishes,pots and pans,books and boxes onto the sidewalk and began a little business selling it all to passersby.

I bought a vase, a plaster buddha, and a drop leaf table and a wood carving of Krishna from India all for about 40 dollars. I restrained myself from buying more because we already have a lot of stuff in the loft. The day I bought the table they gave my roommate and me a tour of the lot. It was just narrow paths cleared out between towers of boxes and bookshelves and chairs all stacked any which way.

The same time as the storage warehouse made it’s purge the 2 men seemed to close up shop.
Since the incident they sit in chairs pulled from the jumble and drink, guarding their cache day and night.

The oddest thing: last night while walking Bozzio I turned the corner onto Adelphi and saw down the block a massive pile o’ crap outside my free furniture connection: a self storage warehouse.
Once in awhile and always at night I have been lucky enough to find a decent table or chair on this exact spot. Last night about 300 people were lucky enough to find box after box of personal belongings up for grabs on the street. The storage facility had made a purge around 5pm. By the time I got there it was desperately slim pickings. All the boxes were empty and the contents spread out on the sidewalk, mostly clothing and bad romance novels and papers. I’m not too proud to dumpster dive but this was too weird even for me. It felt like someone’s attic had exploded onto the sidewalk. It didn’t seem right. Someone (a lot of someones) had cared enough to box up this stuff, drive it to the warehouse and pay to have it stored.
There were still about 10 people rummaging thru the jumble. One guy had his car parked right next to the pile with the trunk popped. He was the one who filled me in,told me some had even found cash.
You cannot pick trash with a dog. He was pulling everywhere, trying to bite the stuffed animals or falling at the feet of all the strangers and rolling onto his back. But even if I had been sans Bozzio I don’t think I would have dived in.