Bric-a-brac Department

Last Sunday I went with some friends to check out the big White Elephant Sale to benefit the Oakland Museum -- it's touted as "the Bay Area's biggest and best rummage sale," and they weren't kidding. The sale was located in some out-of-the-way warehouse on the Oakland/Alameda border. It wasn't the easiest thing to find, and parking was difficult, but the hordes of rummage sale zombies walking in the same general direction helped point the way.

Oh, I wanted to add that some of the residents and other businesses in the area were holding their own "white elephant" sales. TRICKERY, I SAY! The old lady on the corner selling cracked dinner plates and broken sewing machines wasn't going to fool me. I knew if I trudged on to the REAL white elephant sale, there'd be plenty more cracked plates and broken machinery awaiting me.

We finally got inside and the place was HUGE. I'm talking "the Spruce Goose could fit in here" huge. And they had everything. If you were looking for used books, toys, clothes, furniture, appliances, hardware, dinnerware, arts & crafts, etc., it was there. I kept trying to find the little old Asian man selling mogwai, but the place was so packed I'm sure I must have walked right past him.

Anyway, after some initial wandering, we headed for the big sign that said "Bric-a-brac" - I was thinking, "isn't this ALL just bric-a-brac? Why is this bottle bric-a-brac, but this glass is dinnerware?" I spent the most time in here, and after checking out desk blotters, miscellaneous wood items (seriously, my friend bought a little stump of wood that didn't look like it had any function at all), and woven baskets, I settled on two items.

The first was an empty frosted bottle. The kind you stick messages in and toss into the sea in the hopes that destiny will lead it to your one true love who will happen to be in the right place at the right time to find it. But then you can never throw it out far enough and the current just brings it back the next day and you feel really stupid when one of your friends finds it on the beach. Man, why DID I buy that stupid bottle?

The second item I bought was a tray. A simple skinny black tray. I'm not sure what it's used for, but it looked cool. If anyone knows what it's for, please let me know. The only identifying mark on it is an "L" logo on the underside. The "L" looks like the kind Laverne stitched on to all her clothes so you'd know she was "Laverne."

And how much did I spend on the bric-a-brac you ask? Well, since Sunday was 1/2 off day, I spent a whopping 65 cents.