Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Transcendental Garage Sale


There;s this warehouse on 8th, 2 blocks north of Berkeley Bowl West with a dummy in a lawnchair with a pumpkin for a head.

Today it looks like it is open with stuff laid out for a gge sale. I stop by on my bike.

First box is all 1/72 scale model airplanes. Oh, dear. Next box is books on similar subjects in English and French. Next box has 1/72 scale models of patrol boats I had considered building to go with my airplanes in that scale. One one hand, oh, dear, I so want that. On the other, I am safe because I recognise that hobby as sterile and leading nowhere. But still. There is a model of an Avia B534 and I ain;t got one of them... unnhh...

I follow the trail of notional breadcrumbs inside.

There are yards of shelves of books on similar subjects. More models. I decypher the Cyrillic on some of them. One title is about Potez fighters. I know what that _is_. Another is about Hawker 75;s dans le Armee d;l;Aire. I dig that. There is a whole stack of magenta Profile Publication pamphlets on arcane aircraft. Unnh...

.

There is a seafoam wall-mount dial phone with a 415 area code on the wall. "Nobody wants that," they tell me. Au contraire, I say. My friend wants that. There is a Sunbeam vertical twin motorcycle complete that needs air in the tyres and a licence plate. I "get" it all! But I don;t get anything but a couple cammie jackets and Brassey's Camouflage book by Borsarello.

The man was named Ron Penndorf. He died about a week ago. He was a collector with space enough for his collections. His interests ran parallel to mine, and as deep.

LP's, classical, I think. More VHS tapes than I care to consider. DVD's of war movies. Books on ships, cars, trains, airplanes, airplanes, and airplanes. Motorcycles. A couple cars. Licence plates.  Ron I wish I had known you. I feel like there are 10 guys in a 100 mile radius who "get" the things that all this is about. I am one of them.

Open 'til noon tomorrow. They have to go to the memorial. Also, Monday.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Ron-Penndorf-popular-West-Berkeley-blogger-dies-5744714.php

http://ronpenndorf.com/

8th St. near Grayson.




 

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