The Tamesis
While there are real estate sales all over the country, Los Angeles is a particular hotspot. On any given weekend, there can be up to 100 sales in the city, Champagne explained, adding that she and Warr currently live in Las Vegas but frequently drive to Los Angeles to shop for the plentiful merchandise.
The pair are understood to be reselling their items on live auction site Whatnot, making 15 sales in one day. “I don’t dawdle. I get in and out quickly,” Champagne said firmly. She uses EstateSales.net, EstateSales.org, Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist to track activity, adding that while many sellers use credit cards or Venmo, cash is king when it comes to haggling.
“People who work in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles tend to be so absorbed in their work that they don’t have families or children,” she points out. “When they died, their property was often seized by the state and liquidated.” It turned the city into a treasure trove for collectors.
This is also a place where appearances can be deceiving, so don’t write off a listing just because a house looks unremarkable in online photos. With so many properties belonging to those in the industry, it’s not unusual to open a wardrobe and discover a collection of glittering Bob Mackie garments left behind by colleagues of the legendary designer.
We staggered under the weight of the harvest to the next estate sale at the producer’s home. Printed television and film scripts, including mad Men The pilot, signed by its founder Matthew Weiner, was placed on the front porch of the cold log cabin.
“I’ve been to estate sales outside of Los Angeles, but there’s really no comparison,” Val said as we thumbed through a dusty stack of Technicolor lifestyle magazines from the ’60s. “There’s a lot more history here, so you’ll find all these time capsule homes.”
Each neighborhood in La La Land has its own unique charm. “Echo Park and Silver Lake have a lot of older musicians, so it’s a great place to learn an instrument,” Wahl said. Beverly Hills? This is the place to find antiques from the 1930s and earlier. Orange County is filled with Disney memorabilia, while the San Fernando Valley is where movie studio workers live. Celebrity auctions often take place in Bel Air or Malibu, and in 2025, fans of late singer Tom Petty can stroll through his Mediterranean-style estate and snap up everything from bath towels to a casserole dish once used by the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.
