Pleasure or Addiction – Yard Saling in Fresno, CA
Hmmm. I groan and unhappily open my eyes and peer at my dog’s head mere inches from my own. It’s not yet 6am, but Morgan (my beautiful German Shepherd/Burmese Mountain Dog mix) is ready to go outside.
I stumble sleepily to turn off the house alarm and open the door to the back yard. I mutter as I reset the alarm and head back to bed. It’s just getting light and my friends are already off on their usual Saturday am jaunt to local yard sales. But, I’m the lazy bones of the group and my bed is calling out for my presence for a few more hours. Besides, before going to bed last night I printed out the local yard sales and marked out where I’ll go – a little later.
It’s another beautiful dawn on a Saturday. My friends Teresa and Joe have been up for over an hour and they’re rushing down the highway to pick up Dale and Lorraine to see what treasures they’ll find at today’s yard sales.
Fortified with coffee, they pick up Dale and Lorraine and as Joe drives their blue van, Teresa directs him to the yard sales around town. One of their favorite areas is the Woodward Lake area – close to Woodward Park, and part of a community that includes a lake with beautiful custom homes and gorgeous landscaping. If they find an estate sale, they might get lucky enough to get to go through a home or two. They’re not looking for anything in particular, but they I know I’m looking for a kitchen table and chairs. Teresa always looks for clothes for herself and her family and friends.
We all want a great find – I recall a day when I was near my home, and miles from my yard saling co-horts – I had found a Wurlitzer (that is THE NAME brand of excellent organ folks!) organ, and the price said $15.00. It was a portable, but not a tiny organ, came with a bench and was in excellent condition. Hmmm, could the price be a mistake? I casually strolled over to the homeowner and asked if that was indeed the price. Yes. Wow! I think. Teresa would like this for her mother, Teresa, Sr. Out comes the cell phone and Teresa answers. I tell her and she asks me to buy it while they drive over. They’re half an hour away and this bargain will probably be gone by the time they arrive. I check my wallet – less than five dollars. Oh, no! I tell Teresa’s group to hurry and I convince the owner of the organ to wait until they arrive. Of course, I have to stay there, “guarding” our new treasure and spending all of my “less than five dollars.” I think that’s the day I purchased an almost brand new electric ice cream maker with my sparse funds.
In the spring, we try to hit some of the “street block” sales that occur in the Fresno High and Old Fig Garden areas. Several streets in the area, each have “their” specific Saturday for that street’s “block sale.” Some of the streets are – Cornell, Simpson, Terrace – sometimes a few of the side streets get into the action also. There usually aren’t any fantastic bargains but always some interesting items and it’s great fun to wander throught the big front yards and visit with the home owners. There are always a few places selling coffee and doughnuts and as it get warmer, lemonade, iced tea and soda. One or two enterprising families will be selling delicious Mexican food such as tamales, tacos, etc. And, you might see a hot dog cart or two. Both of those neighborhoods always have lots of yard sales every week-end almost all year long.
I personally like to go to the Sunnyside area, one of Fresno’s oldest neighborhoods with beautiful custom homes on large lots and wide streets. It’s in the southeast part of town near a couple of very nice golf courses and our Fairgrounds. For some reason, they don’t have as many yard sales as the other parts of town so I go there rather infrequently.
Now, we do just this for fun. A few years ago, every Saturday morning found my friends rushing from sale to sale looking for furniture and other items which would sell well at flea markets. Then, the schedule was, up very early to shop on Saturday, load the trailers, the truck and the van, up early again on Sunday, pack up the canopies and head out to the Selma Swap Meet (Mt. View at 99 in Selma, CA). There, they had a double booth right in front and they’d start serving coffee to the early risers as they set up their furniture and other items under their canopy. Joe would unload and Teresa would display the merchandise.
Regular customers would come over to say hello and see what this week’s items were. Often, a piece of furniture would get sold before it ever got off the trailer. Money was exchanged, the item marked sold and put aside, under cover, until later in the morning when the customer would come back to get it.
As customers were buying our coffee and pastries, we’d also be setting up our racks of clothing. We sold an interesting, and ever changing, array of items – from the coffee, soda (later in the day) and snacks, to furniture, clothing, dishes, sunglasses and reading glasses (brand new & some of “my” saleable items). I would have to be sure my comfy canvas deck chair and cash box were labeled “ne vende” for the primarily Hispanic customers – they ALWAYS wanted to buy my cash box and my chair. Oh, and my umbrella!
It would get hotter as the morning progressed, and about mid-morning, our friends Dale and Lorraine would show up with their chairs. They are the “seniors” of our little group, being the parents of one of our long time friends (who don’t get to yard sale with us because they live a couple of hours away.)
Now, it’s lunch time. Teresa and Dale will usually get our orders, and go towards the interior of the swap market where there were several food booths serving up delicious Mexican (& other) dishes. Dale will often buy the little sweet bananas the produce booths are selling – delicious.
It was a lot of hard work, but some pretty decent money to be had and lots of fun besides. We probably enjoyed the interaction with our customers most of all.
Now, we yard sale just for the fun of it. I say “we” because I do too, after a fashion. I tend to hit the yard sales in the early afternoon when the bargains are there. Afterall, being a lazy bones, I wouldn’t want to get up for the early sales. But, I check my list and stop at a couple of sales on the way to meet my yard saling friends for lunch. The good news is, in the afternoon, what ever is left for sale, usually goes for a very, very low price.
A few of the local swap meets or flea markets to check out are – on Tuesdays and Saturday, Cherry Auction in southeast Fresno and on Sundays, the Selma Swap Meet (see above). The Selma Flea Market is just east of Freeway 99 and the Mt. View exit. Mondays, you’ll want to go out to the swap meet in Hanford, a small city about 45 minutes southwest of Fresno. It’s best known for its antiques. There is also a swap meet in Madera (about 15 minutes from Fresno, north on Freeway 99 at Cleveland Avenue and across the railroad tracks. It’s a smaller swap meet than any of the others. I’ve gone on Sundays but I think there might be another weekday when they’re also open. There is a swap meet in Kerman, about 15 minutes from downtown Fresno, but I’ve never gone to it and I don’t know if operates on Saturday or Sunday or both.
All of these markets off fresh produce and in spring and summer often plants and trees. There is great fresh Mexican food available along with hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. Try a churro – it’s a long, crispy, sweet stick of dough – great with coffee in the morning. There is always a fellow at Cherry Auction that sells yummy Mexican pastries. Along with my produce, I always buy beautiful ribbon and lace because it’s cheaper than the craft stores and there are always booths with brand new kitchen items, furniture and even bedroom sets, complete with mattresses and box springs
As my friends wander amongst the sales, their van has a specific location – it’s heading towards Al’s CafÃ?© in northwest Fresno (1 block west of Fwy. 99 on Olive Ave.). This is where we have an early lunch. I call them about 10am to confirm they are indeed out buying and I plan to meet them there about 11:30am. Give it a try – they have great Mexican food.
There we enjoy large portions of Mexican food (or American) food and they regale me about the day’s events and treasures. Our waitress rushes over not to take out order, but to hear what they’ve bought. (Don’t worry, she takes our order and serves us coffee also.)
They have sometimes visited the inside of beautiful homes (these would be the estate sales, usually) and always have a tale or two to tell. Often they’ll have a bargain to show me. They’re thinking they might have to start getting up earlier to hit the sales while the best deals are there. Now they buy for Christmas gifts and clothing for some of us, not the furniture they used to resell. We keep our cell phones handy-just last month Teresa called me to ask if I wanted a rattan kitchen table and chairs. I said no. Disappointed, she said good-bye and continued to shop for other friends.
Our friend, Doug, might join us for a quick bite at Al‘s but it will be fast. He is the one who got us all started in this and he does it full time. He is up at 4am every day – Mondays see him driving to the Hanford Flea Market (known for its antiques), Tuesdays and Wednesdays he is busy pricing and listing items on Ebay and packing them up for shipping. Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings find him out early looking for merchandise. Sunday he is also off selling at various locations. If you run into him at a sale, you get a brisk hello and he’s off-perhaps buying the very chairs you’re sitting in and contemplating whether to buy. Doug, in the meantime, went and paid for them. He then came back and told Teresa to get off his chairs – he had to load them into his truck.
It’s 11am on Saturday and I’m off to Al’s to hear about today’s special treasures. Oh, and some not-so-serious yard saling as I come back home later on.
If you live in the Fresno area, perhaps we’ll see you at a yard sale on some Saturday morning. Good luck finding your treasures at your yard sales.
