Even Fred Sanford would be in awe.Collectors...

Even Fred Sanford would be in awe.

Collectors Thrift Shop in Santa Ana is like a garage sale on steroids. It is housed in a 93-year-old, two-story converted home that has 15 rooms, three bathrooms, four hallways and a fireplace. It also spills out onto a courtyard, a patio, a back yard, two garages and a long driveway. The shop is an eclectic roundup of bric-a-brac from antique to new, Ming Dynasty to Art Deco, the Coke generation to the Pepsi generation. It is a cache that true raiders of the lost objets d’art love to invade.

It is an adventure in shopping that can easily take four hours to even make a dent. Grown men and women can frequently be heard uttering that familiar exclamation: “Wow.” And why not? There are things to touch, things to pick up and admire, things to peer into.

There are stately grandfather clocks, whimsical cuckoo clocks and delicate pocket watches; there are cannons, tomahawks and samurai swords; an 1894 carved walnut Victorian reclining

chair, a 1925 barber chair, and a 1910 fainting couch. There are 1920 gas stoves, 1938 electrical stoves and an 1889 wood-burning stove. Here too, you can find the Edison cylinders of the late 1800s (precursors to vinyl records), plus all kinds of other records, including 78s, 45s, 33 1/3s and a 1920 Philco radio/phonograph on which to play them.

If that’s not enough, there are such knickknacks as teaspoons, blue glass dishes, Nippon china, leather sewing tools, date nails, square nails, American Indian jewelry and piggy banks. There are odds and ends like mailboxes, toilets, fire hydrants, water pumps, an 1850 one-ton solid brass cash register that requires three people to lift, old plows, gum machines, an old PBX board complete with cords, washboards, wringer washers and even a brass-and-copper diving helmet, circa 1905.

The thriving business began in 1958 when Artemio Paz opened a small vacuum repair/antique shop in La Mirada. Growing restless after eight years, he sold the vacuum-repair half of the enterprise and relocated the antique store to Brea, where he stayed for seven years before moving once again, this time to Santa Ana. However, when an accident in 1987 left him with a head injury, Paz cut back to working part time, leaving his eldest son Manuel to tend the family legacy.

The younger Paz was an artist before joining the business--his most famous work is the 540 feet of sculpture outside the Page Museum in Los Angeles. “I still have time for my sculpting at night, but this store is my father’s life, so I want to help keep it going,” he says. “Besides, the store is a lot of fun, and I enjoy talking to the people who come in here. Over the years my father has built up quite a loyal clientele.”

Loyal barely covers it. According to the senior Paz, customers periodically return from as far north as Seattle and San Francisco, as far south as San Diego and as far east as New York City. The shop draws everyone from the curious to the informed, from first-time visitors to longtime friends.

In any case, the quaint country store with hedges trimmed into the shapes of wild animals, the row of 1900s claw-foot bathtubs and a fierce-looking totem pole, all looming conspicuously in the front courtyard, can make even the unadventurous feel like Indiana Jones for having discovered the treasures within its walls.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday

Address: 1221 S. Main St., Santa Ana

Telephone: (714) 542-4322