The Scroungers Center for Reusable Art Parts in San Francisco: A Review

The Scroungers Center for Reusable Art Parts is found at 801 Toland Street in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, though that's just the street mailing address. The actual entrance is tucked away in the Newcomb alley between Toland and Selby. The hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday, 9 in the morning to 5 in the evening.

What they do here is basically cull all sorts of donations of scrap art, craft, hobby and general utility parts from who knows where, and sell them piecemeal at a very steep discount. The location also holds workshops sporadically, usually two to three per month, covering a wide variety of craft and hobby topics. For example, this month they have one on crocheting, and one on building and converting frames.

A more complete list of the stuff you can expect to find here would be leather, plastic, mylar, various banners and flags, old maps, scraps of rubber, odd pieces of wood, plexiglass, fabrics, yarn, millends, pattern samples, various types of paper including mural paper, felt pens, non-toxic paints, art brushes, matte board, poster board, foam core, drafting tables, tile, scraps of carpet and throw rugs, feathers, wire, candles, wax, buttons, beads, bottles, and small pieces of glass. This isn't a totally complete list, however, as frequently all sorts of other random odds and ends show up.

Prices are usually well under a dollar for each individual item unless it's something unusual. Little scraps of things, individual pencils and pens and suchlike are usually a matter of pennies. There's even a freebie section where you can frequently find cardboard boxes, loose paper and school binders.

The neighborhood that this place is in is the old area known as Apparel City. This area is only a few blocks from the violent Hunter's Point ghetto neighborhoods, but it isn't quite in them yet - the immediate area is all warehouses. It's fairly safe, but don't be dumb. The Muni #23 bus has a stop right nearby on Toland, that line originates near where the L line starts just north of the San Francisco Zoo, travels down Sloat, goes up over the hill and passes by the Glen Park BART station on the way there. It also passes by the Oakdale/Palou Station on the T tram line, that stop is actually close enough to walk to and from if you're in decent shape, or you can transfer onto the 23 from there. I write all this because I remember hearing someone say this place was "inaccessible to public transportation" and they're full of it, they apparently just didn't bother to pull up a MUNI map and look.

If you like this concept there's a couple of other stores like this in the Bay Area, check out the East Bay Depot for Creative Re-Use on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland , and Resource Area For Teachers in San Jose (if you happen to be a teacher.)