San Francisco Frontiers - New Yorkers snap up discarded subway signs, seats at annual sale

In south Brooklyn, shoppers hoping to get a slice of the city's transit service waited for hours to trawl through an open-air market organized by city authorities.

Each person gets a maximum of 45 minutes to search, allowing others to come in after them.

Nori Juba, 61, found what he was looking for: a large sign bearing the name of Grand Central station, along with the numbers of the subway lines he takes every day.

The train system is "old and creaky and it's outdated," he admitted.

"But I think that's what makes it interesting. And this piece of metal is dirty. It smells like a subway station, but there's something about it that makes it real New York, one of a kind in the world."

The prices aren't cheap: a medium-sized sign cost around $500, while larger ones can run past $1,000.

The iconic orange plastic seats from the New York subway go for around $900 each.

Celebrities are sometimes spotted at the market, and this month New York resident and filmmaker Spike Lee was stopping for pictures with fellow shoppers.

He proudly showed off the metal sign he just bought, marked "Penn Station," the subway stop for Madison Square Garden -- the arena where his beloved Knicks basketball team plays.

"I don't take the subway anymore to the big games," he confessed to reporters, but recalled riding the train regularly while growing up -- noting he always paid his fare.

"I never jumped the turnstile either. Let the record state!" he joked.

- 'A piece of New York' -

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has always resold its signs to collectors but more recently opened up sales to the public, said Paul Dvoskin, the director in charge of the program.

"Five years ago, an idea was born to hold a garage sale of sorts, and to let people just come in and purchase these items" in person, he said.

"We called it a grab-and-go back then, and it just ended up being significantly more popular than we ever thought it would be."

Officials do not disclose how much the two-day sale brings in, but it draws around 4,000 people each year.

The plastic seats, sold only since last year, are the most popular items.

So are the MetroCards, the small yellow magnetic cards emblematic of the city, which have recently been retired from use -- they sell for $6.

With a budget of $70, Trinyce and Ijeoma, two women in their twenties, said they were trying to find something to decorate their apartment.

"I'd like a piece of New York to represent my living space, like as a representation of me," Ijeoma said.

Z.Phillips--SFF