Posted on 03/21/2016 5:48:55 AM PDT by NYer
On the second floor of a nondescript warehouse owned by New York City's Sanitation Department in East Harlem is a treasure trovefilled with other people's trash.
Most of the building is used as a depot for garbage trucks, but there's a secret collection that takes over an entire floor. The space is populated by a mind-bogglingly wide array of items: a bestiary of Tamagotchis, Furbies; dozens of Pez dispensers; female weight lifting trophies; 8-track tapes; plates, paintings, sporting equipment and much more.
This is the Treasures in the Trash collection, created entirely out of objects found by Nelson Molina, a now-retired sanitation worker, who began by decorating his locker. Collected over 30 years, it is a visual explosion, organized by type, color, and size. Recently, Atlas Obscura had the chance to visit the collection with the New York Adventure Club, take some photos, and revel in the vast creative possibilities of trash.
Unfortunately, this isn't a collection that keeps regular hours; drop-ins are not allowed. For more information on the occasional organized tours, email [email protected].
Guitars, including an original Fender, surround the Michael Jackson shrine.
New Yorkers would seem to hate pewter tableware considering how much of it they put in the trash.
Art is a particular specialty of the collection. Nelson Molina grabbed any piece that caught his eye.
Even being Superman won't spare you the fate of being thrown in the garbage by New Yorkers with little space to spare.
A relaxing garden area, set aside for sanitation workers.
Every object in the collection comes with an untold story, not least these three female body building trophies, all thrown away for reasons we will never know.
Christmas, unsurprisingly, has a place in both the trash and in the Treasures in the Trash collection.
A wonderful sense of humor infuses the entire collection.
Some of the items left in trash are deeply personal.
Toys are a major theme in the collection.
Nothing is too sacred for the trash. Religious symbols abound.
Fruit plates get a second chance in the Treasures in Trash collection.
I know a little about what you speak of regarding money wasted on piles of stuff that sits.
It is very frustrating.
I’d like to get my hands on that Gibson SG 6 string.
Neato! Would like to do a tour.
It’s wasn’t her reason, it was the quality of the goods she bought and the astonishly poor financial decision-making she exercised. I never said she was not entitled to spend her money on whatever she wanted, no real big deal that one of her residences went into foreclosure twice and that had she had to pay real-world rent on the family home she had moved into she would have been evicted and kicked out by the sheriff; and that from those HSN purchases she accumulated over 700 qty $35 NSF fees from Bank of America. Nothing wrong with that at all. Except she didn’t voluntarily make those decisions, she was and is much like a heroin addict and other people had to clean up each and every one of the problems she created.
If your referring to the black one on the left, that could possibly be an Epiphone. Either way still desirable though.
Time ta hava a yaaaad sale oveah deah!
Body building trophies............a little creepy IMO for some reason.
I was thinking the same thing. I love that show!
Bet there will be a trash trove of orange pantsuits and H-> illary campaign paraphenalia about June when the treason indictment is announced.
OK, you're right.
say, that looks like my bass guitar I lost a few years ago, the one on the far right in the wall of sound.
Interesting stuff.
But hey...it would match my Epi SG bass. Red and black go together right?
Thanks NYer, interesting garbological research. :')
I can imagine....the shoeboxes full of vintage baseball cars. Yikes.
I just picked up 3 wood baseball bats for $2.00 at a yard sale this weekend.
One of them is traded on eBay for $295.
Good times.
It’s all so neat, organized and clean. I suspect a woman was involved.
Another unique NYC horde worth noting:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2452338/posts
Shopping channels are nothing but crooks that know they are preying on the elderly and very lonely people who may or may not have mental problems. They don’t care. They make people think they are their friends and really care about them so they will buy more. It is really sad how they lure people into a make believe situation where they think they need tons of jewelry, cooking equipment, etc. while all the buyer does is sit at home and spend money on this crap.
I’m not sure I understand your complaint about how she spent her own money. She supported numerous companies with that $400K she spent, and she probably thoroughly enjoyed buying these things. You sound like a liberal socialist complaining about how others spend their money.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2011/01/253645/#eJ418UXOhrGUWt5I.99
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