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MANTECA, Calif. — As the classified ads put it, everything must go. Socks.
Christmas ornaments. Microwave ovens. Three-year-old Marita Duarte’s tricycle
was sold by her mother, Beatriz, to a stranger for $3 even as her daughter was
riding it.
On Mission Ridge Drive and other avenues, lanes and ways in this formerly
booming community, even birthday celebrations must go. “It was no money, no
birthday,” said Ms. Duarte, who lost her job as a floral designer two months
ago. The family commemorated Marita’s third birthday without presents last
week, the occasion marked by a small cake with Cinderella on the vanilla
frosting. They will move into a rental apartment next month.
An eternity ago, people in this city in northern San Joaquin County braved
four-hour round-trip commutes to the San Francisco Bay Area for a toehold on the
dream. Today, Manteca’s lawns and driveways are storefronts of the new
garage-sale economy — the telltale yellow signs plastered in the rear windows of
parked cars Friday through Sunday directing traffic to yet another sale, yet
another family.
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