Style-Minded Shoppers Seek Designer Junk

Do people living in Beverly Hills throw out better junk than the rest of us?

To find out, hundreds of curiosity seekers on Saturday mobbed the second annual Beverly Hills Garage Sale, sponsored by the Beverly Hills Education Foundation.

They pawed through racks of Giorgio dresses, mink jackets and what volunteers called “gently worn designer clothes.” They snapped up sterling silver knickknacks, an antique demitasse set and bone china tea cups that seemed as fragile as spider webs.

Funny Stuff

Most of Beverly Hills’ castoffs, however, would never make it inside a K-Mart much less a Rodeo Drive antique store. There were the usual white elephants: a lone bowling pin, a topless burlesque doll made of Styrofoam, smelly shoes, a salt shaker without its mate, tons of ashtrays and frayed National Geographics.

“There is something magic about the name Beverly Hills,” observed Karen Richman, a volunteer stationed in the furniture department. “People come from all over the city because they think they’ll find better things in Beverly Hills and I think they do.”

And they came early. While volunteers inside the Beverly Hills Board of Education compound at 255 S. Lasky Drive psyched themselves for the onslaught, a line of customers began forming around the block 1 1/2 hours before the gate opened.

Among the first inside were art and furniture dealers who swooped down on the better pieces like hawks divebombing for prey.

“They fly in and grab; they know what to pick,” said volunteer Helene Lederman, who was wearing a personalized Mercedes Benz cap.

Not everyone was impressed.

A studio costume designer, cuddling her toy poodle, ridiculed the array of designer clothes displayed at the garage sale’s exclusive “boutique.” To appease the fire marshal, only 20 customers were allowed in the boutique at one time, forcing a long line of women with shopping bags to wait outside.

“There is no real good couture here,” she sniffed. “They call this a boutique? It’s junk, junk, junk! There is an old broken cashmere coat for $150. It saw it’s best days 20 years ago.”

But the boutique also attracted fans, among them, Dilma Strasburg, 48, of West Hollywood. A saleswoman was complimenting Strasburg, who had anchored herself in front of the “finer jewelry” counter, for selecting all the best pieces to examine. She toyed with a broken art deco watch and peered inside the band of an aquamarine ring to see if the designation “sterling” had been stamped inside.

“Beverly Hills has the best garage sale,” Strasburg clucked. “It’s worth it to come to their sales.”

Equally exuberant was Evy Rappapost, who was wearing a Gucci fanny pack as she worked her stint as a boutique volunteer. At Friday night’s preview, she had grabbed two plaid raw silk chairs for $250 that must have sold for $5,000 at the pricey West Hollywood shop where they were bought.

“They are magnificent,” Rappapost said beaming.

Help for Schools

Sponsors hope to raise $60,000 from the two-day event--double last year’s take. All the proceeds will go to Beverly Hills’ public schools, said Mark Egerman, one of the event’s organizers.

Egerman predicted that 2,000 will have attended the garage sale when the gate finally closes at 5 p.m. tonight. Quite a few will be Beverly Hills residents--some rather sheepish to admit it.

One of them was an elderly woman clutching a bundle of Italian-made clothes for her nieces. She was quite talkative until asked her name.

“I don’t want people to know I’m buying things here,” she confided. “Some people might say, ‘Betty goes to garage sales!’ ”