Neighborly Neighbors: Dan Treiber

Neighborly Neighbors is a series of posts in which we stop random people, ask them a few random questions, take their picture and posts the results here. We took a different approach to this Neighborly Neighbors post. Let us know in the comments what you think.

Dan Treiber
Age: 33
We met Dan at his booth at the weekly Fort Greene Flea, which has become a mecca for vintage tchotchke lovers.

The name of his business, Dan’s Parents’ House, was literal when he began it – Treiber bought his childhood home in City Island, and to help pay for it he sold some of the toys and knick knacks he turned up in the attic. For the first six months, Treiber sold only items he already owned. But as Treiber’s business grew, people began offering to sell him items similar to the ones in his collection. Treiber has been selling at the Fort Greene Flea for three years and now boasts the market’s largest array of figurines, baseball gloves, letter press, dice, skeleton keys, and myriad other odds and ends.

Though Treiber sells a rich variety of items at Dan’s Parents’ House, they do have a unifying theme. He generally prefers selling items that have a history of some kind.

“I like selling things that have been used,” Treiber said. “For me it’s not about the money – it’s about the object. So I really like things that have been used or worn or lived with.”

Running Dan’s Parents’ House has become Treiber’s full time job; he sets up shop at flea markets every Saturday in Fort Greene and every Sunday in Williamsburg, and spends the rest of the week shopping and sorting through inventory. He stores it all in the basement of his house, and he lets shoppers come by a couple times a month to make purchases. At the flea market, customers of all ages come to his booth to explore his boxes and bins of memorabilia, and to buy little (and large) pieces of history.

Out of all his wares, Dan has a few favorites. “I love selling letterpress,” he said. “I just think historically it’s important. It’s tactile.”