Yard Sales

The shop's front door was shut tight. The little "Will Return At" sign that was attached to it was of no help -- its clocklike hands were conspicuously missing. It was another business day at the Never Open Store. At a time when vacant storefronts and "For Lease" signs dot Melrose Avenue, Stephanie Mata's tiny shop is doing just fine, thank you. The Never Open Store is open only when Mata feels like unlocking it and allowing shoppers inside. Those who do get in are intrigued by the merchandise that fills every cranny of the 245-square-foot shop.

The city of Tustin is inviting local nonprofit groups to take part in a community yard sale. The fund-raising event is planned for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 13 at the Tustin Area Senior Center and nearby Peppertree Park. For a small fee, Tustin area nonprofit groups will be provided with spaces to sell clothes, toys and household items. Space reservations are available by calling Gary Magill in the city Community Services Department at (714) 573-3332.

Catherine Burnett, Nancy Allis and Leslie Bigos toiled in the midday sun Friday, sorting and pricing the souvenirs of their North A Street neighbor Charlie Shaw's longtime hobby--scavenging. Parachutes, piles of brand-new shoes, unopened party invitations, paper plates and several wedding dresses were among the treasures that Shaw has collected over the years during regular bicycle trips to trash bins of stores. "Egads! Did I do all this?"

John Lommen knew his $2 yard sale purchase was a bargain--he just didn't know that it could end with a bang. But as soon as he showed the four-inch-high aluminum cylinder to a weapons expert Friday, the man advised Lommen to call the sheriff's bomb squad immediately. "It was a fuse detonator for a land mine, and it was live," said Richard Clark, a salesman at Battlefield Surplus, the store where Lommen brought his purchase.

Bargain hunters take note: San Marino is cleaning house with an auction of discarded furniture and office objects, along with some unclaimed stolen property. Want to buy a used IBM Selectric typewriter? A 1986 Chevy sedan? An electric pencil sharpener, some curtains or a green chair, among about 40 other offerings? The auction will be held beginning at 8 a.m. April 27 in the yard behind City Hall, 2200 Huntington Drive.

Picture it: a bevy of Moscow's finest military officers standing around in a tank shed at the largest Soviet base in this city hustling an impressive array of arms and equipment to anyone with ready cash to buy. A slightly used MIG-23 attack aircraft? It's there. So is an MI-8 helicopter--at $140,000, the best deal going, confided Col. Alexander Pordunov, who squired visitors through the air force part of the sale. Something else? A few thousand 57-millimeter hand grenades, perhaps?

Piru residents are cleaning up and selling out this weekend. A town cleanup from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today will be followed by a community yard sale and flea market from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Dumpsters will be set up in the community's downtown today for disposal of old appliances, yard waste, unwanted furniture and garbage. Only tires, paint, oil, batteries and other hazardous waste cannot be accepted.

Young congregants at La Habra United Methodist Church hope to raise funds to send youths to camp by holding a yard sale of furniture, clothing and household goods Saturday. The sale, from 8 a.m. to noon at the fellowship hall, will benefit the youth campership program, which provides tuition to members to attend Methodist camps statewide. Money also will go toward mission projects in Mexicali, Mexico. The youth group will donate all remaining yard sale goods to churches there.

A woman whose home was burglarized was shocked to spot her belongings offered at a neighbor's yard sale. Police in Anne Arundel County, Md., said the woman recognized items -- including Christmas decorations, Beanie Babies, a dresser and a fur coat -- being sold by a man who was wearing one of her T-shirts. Authorities said they found $25,000 worth of her clothes, furnishings and other possessions on the property. The woman, who had been living with her daughter while her home was in foreclosure, discovered last week that her house had been burglarized.

The Los Angeles City Council moved this week to restrict the hours of yard and garage sales and limit the total number of such events residents can have each year, though the proposal will have several more reviews by the Planning Commission and the council before taking effect. In moving to prevent the perpetual sales that plague some neighborhoods, the city joins Los Angeles County and Orange County's largest city, Santa Ana. The proposal would prohibit sales from starting before 9 a.m.