Sandman's Journal

Today was the last day of the Dunn Center thrift store. The store didn't have a real name. It was a little white building on Main Street, next to City Hall. Martha Dvorak closed up shop at 3pm, and I believe I was the last shopper. I purchased an old-fashioned Zenith monitor to hook my Pong video controller into. Actually Martha gave me the monitor, saying to bring a dollar to her house next week if it works.

Now Dunn Center has only one private business left on Main Street, the Ilo Bar. Alice's Restaurant closed down last fall. Granfor's Garage, which sold Coca Cola and Mello Yello in returnable bottles, has been closed for over twenty years. So much has changed since I was a kid riding my bike with gangs of street urchins, chewing Copenhagen, and playing pool at Alice's. The trailer court is long abandoned. The rows of grey electrical hookups look like rows of veterans' tombstones.

Martha worked at the thrift store four days a week and had about two visitors a day. When I was younger, my cousins and I called it the Gift Store. We'd find lots of treasures. On July 11th City Hall will have a celebration for Martha, with cake.

Fortunately, my neighbor Loman Goetz recently started up a second-hand store about three blocks away, and it has many treasures, too. It's more of an antique store than a thrift store, but has good stuff. The coolest thing about Loman's Second Hand Corner is that it's so hidden. He barely advertises, and you'd need to look hard to see his narrow sign. He doesn't have an open or closed sign, but he usually leaves the door open if he's there. Last week I bought this amazing antique massage machine from him. It spins a series of grooved, wooden spindles at a high speed. You sit on it or lean against it and just hope it doesn't rip your clothes to shreds.