Vintage Junk Pile

So there is this house in our neighborhood that has been vacant for decades.  It was probably built in the 1920s, 2 story, craftsman's style.  It could have been a really cute house but the family that owned it couldn't bear to part with it yet left it to become derelict.  They came by once a year and mowed the jungle and had the roof replaced when it caved in.  

Back in the early part of 2019 (maybe even 2020?  Time is not grasp-able anymore.) the house was torn down and PB noticed that there was a big pile of stuff in the back of the property so we went on an adventure.

Who's up for some scrounging?!

The fridge had a clock in it!  And to the right a similar hair dryer to mine.  PB really loved that old TV to the far left but it weighed like 50 pounds...should have brought a heavy lifter along with us.

The back side of the pile.  Every.thing.was.old. Even the boxes.. look at that neat Doublemint Gum box to the right.  It was full of old records but they were unfortunately wet and moldy.   I think the newest item I saw was a electric hamburger press (a George Foreman precursor) that was probably from the 1980s (seen in the second photo bottom left).

 

So it seemed obvious to us that all of this stuff was just waiting to be tossed into a dumpster so we went digging for some treasures.

Here is what came home with us:

Old peanut butter jars.

Starburst coffee carafes.

 

This is interesting huh?  It is a cotton candy machine from the 1960s.  

I happened to find the instructions online of how this thing worked, wanting to know more about it being "Safe!  Battery Operated".  The spinny part is battery operated but the metal disk that spins on the top has to be sat on a hot stove burner and then transferred to the spindle using a wonky tong apparatus.  I guarantee kids got burned either between using the hot stove, transferring the searing metal disk, or having said disk go whizzing off the 20 mph spinner... all in the name of it being "safe" because batteries.

PB picked out a couple of things too.  One was this pogo stick, another toy with questionable safety. He also found an old tintype photo of a Civil War looking dude that he has in a frame in his room. 

The last item we scrounged was this Harmony House electric clock that we found face down covered in wet dirt...and it still worked!  

PB and I had sooo much fun rummaging around in all of this stuff.  It makes me wonder what other things may have been swept away with the demolished walls.  When we got to the site the entire house and driveway were gone, even the dumpster so no diving.  Nothing left but the front porch base, an empty storage shed, the mangled jungle, and this pile.

I still regret not getting that TV to the house....