Sure, we loosely use the word “antique” when ribbing someone who’s about to turn the big 5-0. Antique, in the more global sense, means more than just an old piece of collectible junk with that distinct, musky, aged aroma. Antiques are witnesses of the past, a testament to times forgotten, or silent observers of an era we may have never had the fortune to know.
Which is what makes Davenport’s so unique. This brimming bungalow of just about anything you can think of sits quietly along Highway 85 (Doniphan Drive to the locals) in Canutillo, Texas. “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it,” quips the owner, Rod Davenport, who with his wife Chris has made a living selling tangible memories of yesterday, exquisitely restored to their natural beauty with craftsmanship that can only come from a professional.
In the business for more than 40 years, Rod Davenport is himself a treasure of knowledge when it comes to antiques or collectibles. He is often called upon to lend his appraisal skills at estate sales, or to anyone who needs to put a dollar amount with something that, at one point in time, cost a fraction of what someone would pay for it today.
A good example is a table which Davenport says could cost as much as $5,000 in some antique catalogs. In his store, the tiny table sits almost unnoticed in front of a long ice cream counter, hidden under another treasure that Davenport moves to offer a closer look. “This table is something you would have found at a soda fountain inside a drug store,” he says, explaining how the store would put merchandise under the glass top so soda sippers could shop while they enjoyed their beverage of choice. Round, tiny seats swivel around each of the table’s four legs so you can enjoy the view from two sides of the glass top.
The ice cream counter itself is proof that Davenport is also a sentimentalist at heart. “It’s like the one I used to work at,” the native El Pasoan says, reminiscing of his days spent working behind the counter at Arredondo’s drug store on Alameda Street. From there, he worked at his father’s Texaco station on the corner of Piedras and Richmond, filling cars with gasoline from pumps very much like the antique ones he now sells at his store. “Those are pretty popular,” Davenport points out, adding that most of his automotive antiques are what pulls people in. They’re also some of his most profitable pieces of inventory. “A man came in the other day and bought two oil cans for $100,” he grins. “That would have bought every oil can in my dad’s station back in the 50s.”
Aside from the nostalgic service station gems are literally tens of thousands of other antique pieces. Artwork hangs on the wall inside the room behind the “gas station”, where stately antique dressers stuffed with vintage linens line the perimeter. You can also spot a pair of Windsor chairs, glassware, dishes, clocks, lamps, furniture, aprons, toasters, salt and pepper shakers and an array of Chinese pieces. It’s no wonder the Davenport’s attracted the curious attention of collectors.
It’s also no surprise they have become a haven for movie producers in search of period props for movie sets. Chris Davenport wades through a maze of old chairs, signage and a massive steel safe. “This stuff was just returned to us from a set,” she says, noting that several of their pieces can be spotted in movies like Daniel Day-Lewis’ There Will Be Blood, a story centered around a turn-of-the-century Texas prospector, and Glory Road, the underdog tale of true-life local legend and coach Don Haskins, who led the first all-black starting line-up college basketball team to an NCAA national championship in 1966.
But don’t be fooled. Davenport’s isn’t just for the wealthy collector or the budget-busting movie mogul. Anyone with some spare time on a Sunday afternoon can wisely invest a few moments just wandering around. You might just find something you let go in a yard sale once upon a time.
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