Hotel Bel-Air holds a garage sale

04.12.09

Robert De Niro slept there. So did Elizabeth Taylor and Cary Assign.

But the crowd that gathered Thursday morning to buy up a piece of the Hotel Bel-Air, a longtime playground of the rich and prominent, was hunting for bargains, not souvenirs.

Closed Oct. 1, the Los Angeles landmark is getting a two-year, multimillion-dollar expression-lift. Its owners are selling off beds, rugs, lamps and other furnishings. About 100 people lined up facing a Santa Monica storefront where the items are on display, hoping to get a little stardust on the cheap.

"We are looking for deals," said Charles Frye, who came with his fiancee, Christine Hsieh.

The Pasadena span need to furnish a new home. Times being what they are, this high-end garage sale seemed just the place to start.

"I'm in the final analysis excited," Hsieh said. "I think this is going to be our ticket."

Organizers of the liquidation sale declined to say how much they expected to do from the sale. But the inventory

Source: Los Angeles Times