LAUSD AUCTIONS OLD EQUIPMENT BARGAIN HUNTERS DESCEND ON SITE TO FIND TREASURES.Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer HYDE PARK Hyde Park, park, London, England Hyde Park, 615 acres (249 hectares) in Westminster borough, London, England. Once the manor of Hyde, a part of the old Westminster Abbey property, it became a deer park under Henry VIII. - If one man's trash is truly another man's treasure, then Saturday the warehouse behind Hyde Park Boulevard School was a veritable Spanish galleon galleon, oceangoing warship used by the European naval powers in the 15th and 16th cent. A large, cumbersome vessel, the galleon was three-masted and square-rigged, usually with two decks, and with its main batteries in broadsides. - loaded with old chairs, ancient computers and used kitchen equipment. An eclectic mix of resellers and bargain hunters Bargain Hunters was a game show on ABC in the summer of 1987, hosted by Peter Tomarken. Games Each episode featured six contestants, with two playing one of the following games — Bargain Quiz, Bargain Trap and Bargain Busters — at a time. crowded the warehouse early Saturday for a chance to walk away with thousands of items the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. deemed obsolete and put up for auction. ``You never know what you're going to find in here,'' said Grady Devers, a self-described Inglewood scrap man. ``I have walked out of here with some rust-covered junk, shined it up and made some money off it. But you've got to have the eye.'' Devers had his eye on several prospects in Saturday's auction: a bin of old plumbing equipment, several 35 mm film projectors and a dusty set of kettle drums. But the true prize, he said, was an enormous globe printed with a fading map of the world. It was at least 5 feet in diameter. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what I would do with it, really, but it's just too good to pass up,'' Devers said. While many of the prospective buyers shared his eye for kitsch, others were at the auction for serious business. Rey Rincon, who sells used appliances, picked up an industrial-size food mixer for $750. ``Might seem steep, but I'll probably be able to sell it for a nice profit,'' he said. Among other winning bids: $4 apiece for 51 picnic tables, $800 for a pizza oven and $275 for a big pile of stainless steel stainless steel: see steel. stainless steel Any of a family of alloy steels usually containing 10–30% chromium. The presence of chromium, together with low carbon content, gives remarkable resistance to corrosion and heat. scrap metal. A set of 120 classroom desks went for $3 apiece. Lot No. 8, consisting of 82 plastic chairs, drew a top bid of 30 cents each. ``Every piece here comes from the schools throughout the district when it is deemed obsolete,'' said Warren Dean, a supervisor with LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) . ``It all gets trucked here, and we hold an auction like this about once every four months. We raise anywhere from $75,000 to $150,000.'' The proceeds are deposited back into the district's general fund, Dean said. Prospective buyers are required to put down a $200 deposit to participate in the auction and must pay for their purchases on the day of sale. Buyer beware is definitely the rule, as all items are sold strictly as-is. ``Once you leave that gate, you're on your own,'' auctioneer Jan Bendis warned the crowd before launching into a flurry of cajoling and coaxing for ever-higher bids. ``I'm not going to let you be that cheap on me today,'' he chastised chas·tise tr.v. chas·tised, chas·tis·ing, chas·tis·es 1. To punish, as by beating. See Synonyms at punish. 2. To criticize severely; rebuke. 3. Archaic To purify. one buyer, who bid $1 for a hulking hulk·ing also hulk·y adj. Unwieldy or bulky; massive. hulking Adjective big and ungainly Adj. 1. piece of playground equipment. Bendis eventually squeezed $5 out of the man. Ursula Brickey, who recently opened a ceramics manufacturing center and crafts school with a partner, eyed a bin of old printing press letters. ``These would be perfect for art,'' she said. ``There is some junk, and there is some funky stuff. It all depends on what value you attach to it.'' Of course, there were some items that drew no bids. Among them were a box of shin guards, an old basketball hoop without a net or backboard back·board n. 1. A board placed under or behind something to provide firmness or support. 2. A board placed beneath the body of a person with an injury to the neck or back, used especially in transporting the person in such a way and emergency eye wash/shower from a high school chemistry lab. ``That's all right if we don't sell everything today,'' Warren Dean said. ``The stuff will still be here next time, and so will the buyers.'' CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1) Prospective buyers inspect stacks of old school equipment offered at auction Saturday by the L.A. school district. (2 -- 3) Above, auctioneer Jan Bendis, right, elicits bids from prospective buyers at LAUSD's outdated-equipment auction Saturday in Hyde Park. At right, Los Angeles resident G. Sharp rests against a stack of obsolete school desks. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
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