By Yvonne Vávra
The other day, somewhere in the 60s, just off Central Park West, I met someone. She was just sitting there on the curb — alone, the tiniest bit disheveled, but full of charm. “Adopt me! I’m Jasmine,” she said. I wasn’t planning to bring anyone home that day, but what can I say? I’m soft like that.
So I picked her up, her leaves fluttering like she was ready to start over with me, and walked her home. “Ha ha, you’re walking your plant? Did it need to pee?” a man called as he passed. Funny man. Well, whatever Jasmine needs from now on, good sir, she’s got me.
Her name was, in fact, Jasmine — Madagascar jasmine or Stephanotis floribunda, as the internet revealed. If you’re the Upper West Sider who had to rehome her: thank you. Whether this is her second life or her seventh, I’ll do my best to make it her favorite. She already has plenty of friends: Most of the things I own come fresh from the street, just like her. When I need something, I don’t rush out to buy it. I wait — until the street gives it to me.
While you work through your initial icky reaction to someone bringing “trash” into their home, I’m over here trying to figure out how to convey to you the sheer glory of what ends up on the curb around here. The good people of the Upper West Side put out amazing things. Brand new, barely used items, and gorgeous vintage pieces that, with a bit of polishing or a touch of love, can make your guests jealous. I once walked past an art-deco mirrored cabinet on Riverside Boulevard and posted it on a curb alert chat. When I came back 15 minutes later, it was gone. Who of you was the lucky one to snap it up?
Personally, I stay away from anything porous or absorbent — no textiles, no plush, no fuzz. Just hard surfaces that can handle heat, soap, and scrutiny. So here I am, sitting among my safe and sound treasures, writing at a desk I found on 86th Street, surrounded by shelves, picture frames, a rolling cart, a coffee table, and plenty of plant pots. Not to mention a brand-new, still-in-the-box bread machine. I got all these things from you, and they’re hanging out with Jasmine — swapping stories, probably, about life on the street.
I have a fond resistance to buying stuff. We live with this idea that there’s joy in endless new- and more-ness, and I just don’t buy it. I’m happiest when things can be reused, reimagined, repurposed, re-beautified — re-anything. Let them stay in the circle of life, where they can be shared, released, and made valuable again, over and over. That spirit is what makes the Upper West Side’s Buy Nothing groups and curb alert chats my favorite corners of the internet. It’s not just about getting rid of things or scoring free stuff — it’s a rich little economy of generosity and connection. A community that exists because neighbors take the time to ask: I have this, do you need it?
Imagining the lives an item had before becoming part of my story always gives me a kick. The coffee table I carried from your curb into my home still holds a little piece of you. There’s a faint ring from a glass—barely visible, but there. I don’t know you, but I know you had a drink, and probably got yelled at for not using a coaster. I now rest my feet on your little act of rebellion, and it’s fun to know we’re connected in this way.
Maybe it’s because I came to this country alone and without any stuff. None of my things have old stories to tell, so I borrow yours — written into coffee tables, and yes, even into that brand-new bread machine that never got a chance. A life cut short, mid-manual. Why, in the name of domestic tragedy, was it not allowed to bake even one loaf before being tossed aside? No worries, little bread machine. We’ll make some memories.
This Saturday, until 5 p.m., you can stroll through a real storytelling market: The West 104th Street Yard Sale is back for its 35th year, with hundreds of things waiting to start a new life with you. Take a look around, but more importantly, listen for what’s calling your name. Because that’s the real thrill of it all: finding something that feels like it’s been waiting just for you. Not shopping the usual way—caught in the grip of browsing through a never-ending stream of options, driven by a vague need—but being chosen by something special, asking if you two might need each other.
One last word of caution about curbside treasures that don’t come with a clear “Adopt me!” sign like Jasmine. Take a beat, scan the scene. I once spotted the most beautiful turquoise lacquered nightstand outside the Beacon Theatre’s side entrance on 75th. My hands were on it before my brain even caught up. The find of the century! I was awkwardly wobbling it toward the corner when I heard: “Eyyy, whaddaya think ya doin’?”
Maybe I was chosen, but the timing was messy. The lacquer beauty was still entangled with a guy who just wouldn’t let go yet.
* * *
Yvonne Vávra is a magazine writer and author of the German book 111 Gründe New York zu lieben (111 Reasons to Love New York). Born a Berliner but an aspiring Upper West Sider since the 1990s (thanks, Nora Ephron), she came to New York in 2010 and seven years later made her Upper West Side dreams come true. She’s been obsessively walking the neighborhood ever since.
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Right on —- we still cherish lamps, furniture and books rescued from the street (mostly in Brooklyn where the streets have even more good stuff than the UWS.
Uws free stuff on Facebook is a great way to find free things locally and get curb alerts!
BRAVO!! I have a found landscape painting hanging on my wall; a found sansaveria plant that I rescued and repotted and is thriving; andhave been ‘rescuing’ treasures from the streets for years.
Thank you!!
Great writing!
Congrats to the journalist.
Buynothing app is a community that gives away free items. I also donate
My best find ever: I had just started having my bathroom renovated in the 1980s. The sink countertop was to be a green marble with white striations. As I walked home on West 86th Street, burdened with dry cleaning and a shopping bag I spotted a green marble door saddle, brand new, on a pile of garbage bags. It never occurred to me to replace my grey marble one ( original to most prewarcapartments) with one to match my sink but there it was! I managed to tuck this very heavy object under my armpit and got it home. It was wonderfully installed shortly thereafter in my gorgeous new bathroom. What are the chances?
I’m with you! Street treasures are the best!!
How do I join the UWS Buy Nothing group?
It’s on Facebook – there are two, above and below a dividing line (I think 96th?): anyway, you search for Buy Nothing and pick the one for your neighborhood and ask to join. The one for my part of the UWS is lovely.
Lucky Jasmine! And, yes! I adore the findings we have on our streets, donated by neighbors to the use of the neighborhood. I’m part of a Buy Nothing group on FB – yeah, I know, not the best media, but we’re trying to use it for good stuff… The group is literally called “Buy Nothing 91st-100th St West of Central Park, Manhattan, NY”. I find the persnickety specification charming – because there are other such groups dedicated for other ‘chunks’ of the UWS. Now, I can’t say I buy nothing, but we do all post photos of “Curbside Alert” for others to see, and ISO (in search of) items for anything from borrowing hangers for a winter house party to needing boots of a certain size for children who grow out of theirs overnight, as well as people who are just donating all manner of things. But, most of all, I love the curbside alerts. Random. Fascinating. Practical. Often snapped up. Love this!
I feel for that bear. I think it might be the same one living more happily in a child’s bedroom in an earlier West Side Rag post? https://www.westsiderag.com/2022/04/14/uws-buy-nothing-facebook-group-its-not-just-about-the-stuff
Years ago, while walking my dog early in the morning, I picked up a nice bird cage left out on the sidewalk. It ended up housing a very happy budgie for 11 1/2 years!
I love this essay. Thank you!
I used to be reticent, if not ashamed, to say this, but almost half the furniture (and many knick-knacks) in my apartment is “found” furniture; from bookcases to cabinets, over the 60 years I have lived here, I have found items both simple and truly remarkable. I once found a very large china cabinet, with two sliding glass doors. And though one of the doors was slightly off the wooden rail (it was simply and quickly fixed), and one shelf was slightly warped, I now use it proudly display my collection of demitasse cups and saucers.
The UWS has always been a trove of great items. Sadly, there are now “professional” “junk” hunters wo ride around at night in large vans and take much of the “good stuff.” 🙁
Yvonne, since you really get around, and others, what do i do with used but laundered flannel sheets and ilk?
thrift shops? Fabric drop-offs at the Morningside Park (110th St) farmers market on Saturdays.
If you offer them on Buy Nothing and no one takes them, animal shelters usually do.
Great story! Some of my best street finds have been too bulky or heavy to drag home, in which case I have enlisted a friendly doorman to watch over them and warn other scavengers away until I could arrange transportation. It’s amusing to think of all those furnishings left in front of one building that find new lives down the block. And maybe in a few years are left outside again to seek a third life further along the same street.
Another great story, with perfect photos, from you Yvonne. Thanks for sharing your inspirations from our UWS streets!
So true. I love finding treasures on the curb. The thrill of the hunt. Alas, my husband doesn’t share this passion and sometimes growls when I want to bring something home from the street. I belong to a Buy Nothing group and really enjoy the exchange of goods that we know have lots to give….just not to us anymore.
I feel the same way you do!
This was way more fun pre-bedbugs, iykyk
that’s why she said no fabric items
What a captivating recollection! I too love treasures found on the street. I remembered Pipi Longstocking’s “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” when I snuck through my front door. Of the assorted gems I’ve come upon walking home from my office at night, many were left in front of brownstones at the end of a month when leases were up, and there was no room or desire to take these beauties to a new home. A longed for iron coatrack, unusual vases, muffin tins from a home caterer, a pink laundry basket, leather bound book collections, a chef’s mandolin still in its box are but a few reclaimed gems. One time a young woman sat on the stairs of her brownstone preparing to move, selling handmade pottery; I admired a piece but had only credit a card, she gave it to me. A disheveled man and I grabbed an old wood hammer from a dumpster at the same time and each said “you take it,” “no, you” until one of us finally did. Now that my office is next door, how I miss walking home from CPW to the river on 73rd or 76th street. Going out to look for treasures just isn’t the same as discovering those serendipitously placed in one’s path. Thank you for the sentimental journey down memory lane.
I used to pick up anything handwritten (still do, but with texts & emails, there’s not as many). 1 in 10 would be something interesting. I found a blank spiral-bound notebook and took it home to use only to find that there was, in fact, someone’s very personal journal on the first three pages. The incomplete story told in that journal made me very curious about what the two people’s lives described were like now, years after the tragic events transcribed.
I’m a cartoonist, so I began drawing a fictional story woven around the characters I’d read about in the journal (and including other notes and letters, all reproduced within the comic). I ended up drawing three comics in the series (called “Losers Weepers”) with a fourth and fifth written out but not yet drawn.
There’s something fascinating about other people’s cast off detritus. As you can guess, I’m a huge fan of Buy Nothing. Huge appreciation of Yvonne for shining a light on it!
Terrible how much ‘stuff’ I’ve found and enjoyed in New York … much of it ‘donated’ via ‘Housing Works’ !! So many beautiful items !
Ahhh the street finds of the city! Great article which had us looking around our place. 2 chalkboards, a high backed wooden stool, a footstool, a pipe & wood shelf, 2 end tables (one square & one round) are among our finds over the years.
We’ve also put our fair share out to live on elsewhere: multiple good air conditioners when we upgraded over the years (including a brand new one a neighbor left when she moved out but we couldn’t use), 2 chairs I restored from Fred’s restaurant, an office chair (which the garage next door snagged and still uses), a shredder, and a tall, skinny dresser.
The street ecosystem is alive and well and helps with the ever rising costs in the greatest city in the world.
Very nice article! My neighborhood Buy Nothing Group is amazingly generous and resourceful and I’ve made some lovely friends. We share not only items we declutter and find on the curb, we hold outdoor swaps and other gatherings. In a city like ours the group really makes the neighborhood.