Yard Sales

Two days after Atlanta's blockbuster deal for Kenny Lofton, the Braves sent outfielder Jermaine Dye and reliever Jamie Walker to Kansas City for outfielder Michael Tucker and infielder Keith Lockhart. "It's our young, upcoming star for their young, upcoming star," Royal Manager Bob Boone said. "Dye's right-handedness fits better on our club and Tuck's left-handedness fits better on their club. Hopefully, it's going to be something that works out well for both teams."

Though prom season is still six months away, students at Chaminade High School are already gearing up for the big event. Led by its parents association, the school is planning its fourth annual after-prom party, offered as an alternative to a night of drinking. Members of the campus' Students Against Drunk Driving will hold a yard sale at Chaminade Intermediate School in Chatsworth on Saturday to raise funds for the fete.

Joining about a dozen small Southland cities in an attempt to combat neighborhood blight, the Los Angeles City Council moved Tuesday to restrict yard sales in residential areas, limiting them to daytime hours and prohibiting the sale of new merchandise.

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.

Signs of the 'Hood Garage sales have become suburban institutions that say as much about communities as they do about individuals. In older enclaves such as Toluca Lake and Sherman Oaks, antiques prevail, and rustic Sunland-Tujunga also offers horse tack. Encino seems to be the place for used exercise equipment. . . . In Reseda, where whole apartment complexes stage joint yard sales, it's kids' clothes and toys. Along Topanga Canyon Boulevard, beach bums can find tie-dyed bikinis.

Complaints that yard sales have become a fixture at some Artesia homes could soon leave their mark on the city's municipal code. Under a proposal before the city's Beautification and Maintenance Committee, residents who want to sell used property on their front lawn would have to apply for a $25 business permit and could host only one every six months. Residents have been urging regulation of "perpetual" rummage sales for at least a year, City Manager Paul Philips said.

If one Culver City council member has his way, garage and yard sales will be a thing of the past. "I think they're really a revulsion; they're ugly," Councilman Jim Boulgarides said. "I don't want to be anywhere dumpy. I want [the city] to be nice, simple, small and clean." Sellers spread their wares all over their front lawns, which attracts the attention of passersby and creates traffic jams in neighborhoods, Boulgarides complained.

Like houses across America, the House of Representatives is having a yard sale Saturday. In the process, it will make some pocket change for the Treasury. Five warehouse floors of furniture, books, odds and ends are ready to move in an unprecedented public auction of congressional things. The House decided to get out of a warehouse lease costing $235,000 a year and make some money on belongings built up over 30 years or more. Each item comes with a certificate of authenticity.

The ninth annual World's Longest Outdoor Sale--covering 21 counties and 450 miles in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama--will take place Thursday through next Sunday. The sale was started in 1987 when local officials, looking for ways to draw travelers off nearby interstate freeways and onto local roads, suggested a giant, one-day yard and craft sale.