CHIGAGO (AP) — The auctioneer slides the steel door up, and a small crowd at the storage facility steps forward for a peek.
They are here to bid on possessions left behind when the people who rented the storage unit on Chicago's West Side stopped paying for it.
The bidders are barred from entering the garage or touching its contents, so they stand on their toes to see as much as possible. Some shine flashlights inside, hoping to catch sight of a plasma TV or maybe a leather recliner.
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HARRISBURG - There's a bumper crop of pickups and trucks in the parking lot at Storage Depot, and their drivers are standing in front of Unit 226, smoking, sipping coffee, hunching their shoulders against the cold, and stamping their feet to stay warm. Whenever they speak, the vapor of their breaths floats from their mouths.
There are perhaps 50 people here, and they cast long shadows in the early-morning sun. Some grip flashlights. Their pockets and purses bulge with padlocks. At precisely 9 a.m., auctioneer B.J. Jennings steps in front of the unit. A breeze rustles her long, blond hair as she brings the wireless microphone to her lips.
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Their Lives In Storage
The tan overstuffed sofa in the self-storage office has become what Crystal Valenzuela calls "a therapist's couch."
This is where customers sit and tell the young office manager about the parts of their lives they have had to peel off and leave behind in a StorQuest rental unit situated near the Riverside-Corona border.
They tell Crystal about their children's photo albums, their kids' bikes, their restaurant equipment.
"The things that have helped them build their lives are being stored here."
Crystal listens as they tell her about "the sheriff's knock at their doors." She listens as if she has welcomed them into her living room and invited them to sit a while on her couch.
I phoned Crystal's office at random after I began noticing the fine print tucked into the reams of foreclosure ads: notices of storage-unit auctions. People who couldn't pay the rent were losing their possessions.
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