garbagescout blog

Pretty good timeline courtesy of the Daily Apple blog

Here’s an article from the New York Times about a predecessor to the ’scout. This was published 12 days after my birth, and the author is Dan Carlinsky.

Street Salvager Refines His Art [230K PDF document]

Funny things: in 1971, it was assumed that one would repair something thrown out. Now, most stuff is so shoddily made that it can’t be repaired, but also, people tend to throw out stuff that is not in need of any repair. Different stuff, differnt motives.

Also the guy in the article, Hugh Rogers has “one of those sprawling west side apartments that are nearly impossible to make look cluttered”. Ha ha! I wonder who lives there now. “Only seven or eight pieces of furniture in the six-and-one-half-room apartment were bought.”

Rogers’s interest is in architectural details, and he has a block and tackle and a steel helmet among his scavenging tools. Even in 1971, New York was characterized by constant demolition and construction.

Thanks to DBS for sending the article.