Not Your Auntie's Yard Sale

Take a ride along Biscayne Boulevard or Miracle Mile and you can’t miss the new-age Americana floating past your window. Hip-pop music blares from tinny speakers, crushed Big Mac boxes speckle the sidewalk, and garish tabloid magazines roll in the street like tumbleweeds. Is this what historians from the year 3008 will pore over to explain our culture? Come on, people, let’s start discarding some classier trash! Luckily, our forefathers left behind stuff that’s actually worth something and pretty cool to look at. And the largest collection of Miami memorabilia and Floridiana in the nation is contained within county lines, clutched in the fists of the Miami Memorabilia Collector’s Club.

At today’s open house, you’re privy to the mass of historic heirlooms such as photos; postcards; booklets; hotel and restaurant china; silverware and linens; brochures; menus; timetables of airlines, railroads, and steamship companies; and the kitchen sink. Well, maybe not an actual sink, but we wouldn’t be surprised. Today you can bring in your own “junk” to be appraised, buy some new stuff, or just view some of Miami’s history. The club has spent years saving these mementos, and you can check it out for free at Central Christian Church.
Mon., April 21, 2008