COX Newspapers Washington Bureau

Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2006 > September > 12 > Entry

Garage sales in a gated city

By Jeremy Schwartz | Tuesday, September 12, 2006, 02:55 PM

One of the more head-scratching trends to hit Mexico City in recent years is the rise of the garage sale. It might not sound significant, but in a city where most everyone lives behind locked gates, the idea of letting strangers into your home represents a sea change.

Walk down many streets in Mexico City and the one thing you won’t see are houses. Like most residents, my wife and I live in such a place. From the street all you can see are imposing green wooden doors, a half-foot thick, topped with a chain link fence. It’s only once you pass the initial barrier that the house opens up. A favorite Mexico City pastime is catching glimpses of homes when the garage doors swing open.

Being new to the city (and in desperate need of furniture), my wife and I checked out a few garage sales when we arrived in May. At one garage sale in the posh Polanco neighborhood, the owner conducted what felt like a quick personality check on the intercom before she let us in. At another, the owner kept all the valuable stuff in the back of her house and only brought potential customers inside if she felt she could trust them.

In some ways, the garage sale is another example of cultural influences bleeding into both sides of the border. But in another way, it’s the quintessential Mexico City activity, fit for a place where you can buy or sell almost anything, anywhere.

It’d be nice to be able to say it represents a defiant neighborliness in the face of an out-of-control crime rate. But the real reason is probably less warm and fuzzy: People need the money.

Permalink | |