The double-height dumpster parked on the street signaled the arrival of the demolition crew. Soon, buckets of decades-old construction materials and building contents would be wheeled out and dumped inside its cavernous hold. Once a dumpster has been filled, a new, empty one will materialize overnight. This is a typical process; decades and sometimes centuries of building contents are indiscriminately sledgehammered into a dusty pulp and earmarked for the landfill, though not if we can help it.
The PLAV haul was relatively modest with a few excellent objects, most notably a hand painted bar drink menu sign, which we dated to the 1950's. We sold this piece to our friends at Duke's Liquor Box in Greenpoint.
We found a moldy bag of large, 48-star flags in the basement; after a thorough laundering the flags flew again proudly.
A file cabinet in the commander's office held a stack of old dance posters; a few still remain at out shop.
This handmade sign still baffles us today. We traded this odd piece for some beautiful art with our favorite osteologist.
