Looking for bottle hunting buddy in Santa Cruz County

[glassbutterfly]

Hi folks. Just new to bottle hunting and this forum. I have seen the Barbere's bottle hunting shows on TV and got hooked. Dos Mr. Barbere want to help a newbe out? Or dos some one els want a buddy to go bottle hunting with? I reserched the old Stagecoach road in regards to the big river dump on one show and now know it is next to the Soquel Creek. How do I legaly acsess this area, ware can I park my car and not have it towed. On another program Mr. Babere dug at the old modal T ford site. Any hints to help me find it? Any one want to share sites in Santa Cruz County ware bottles are not all broken?

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

reply

Hi folks. Just new to bottle hunting and this forum. I have seen the Barbere's bottle hunting shows on TV and got hooked. Dos Mr. Barbere want to help a newbe out? Or dos some one els want a buddy to go bottle hunting with? I reserched the old Stagecoach road in regards to the big river dump on one show and now know it is next to the Soquel Creek. How do I legaly acsess this area, ware can I park my car and not have it towed. On another program Mr. Babere dug at the old modal T ford site. Any hints to help me find it? Any one want to share sites in Santa Cruz County ware bottles are not all broken?

I'm in Salinas, about 45 min. south of you. I'm not personally into bottle-hunting (I'm strictly metal detecting). But I know of some S. Cruz area bottle enthusiasts, who go way back to the early 1970s. They've gone and exploited most of the obvious and easier-to-research sites, pits, dumps, etc... But to be specific, I don't know. I can connect you with a fellow from the area (north of Watsonville, or around Aptos, if I recall) who is still passionately bottle-digging around there. PM me and I'll see if I can connect you two.

 

[centralcoastpickers]

Hello, I'm Brett, lets go dig SC... I have some other ideads and possible spots. I live in Atascadero, near Paso Robles. email me and lets do it! Brett

 

[Sweetrazz]

Hi glassbutterfly, I live in monterey and I love to bottle dig. I am always looking for new places to dig here in monterey or the surrounding areas. I've wanted to go to Santa Cruz to dig but I have yet to know where some places to dig are located. Anyhow if your still looking for a digging buddy let me know because I'm down to meet up and get some digging going.

 

[galenrog]

Glassbutterfly has had no activity on Treasurenet since May of 2014. I would not expect an answer. You could try a PM, though.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Hey there Sweetrazz, How's Tal ? There's definitely a "network" of bottle hunter enthusiasts in the area, and in Santa Cruz. But the real hardcore ones are pretty tight-lipped and exclusive. One of the reasons is that bottle diggers often find and do their best sites after old-town urban demolitions. Ie.: when old buildings are torn down. And the unfortunate aspect of that is: The obligatory fences that always go up around such sites. Thus the "bottle digger" crowd tends to be the "fence hopper" caliber type. And .... go figure .... the more persons that descend on such sites, the more likely some busy-body passerby is gonna tell them to "scram". So they work in small teams of only 2, or 3 at the most. So as to stay discreet and out-of-view.

And also: Bottles can be big money. So more diggers create competition. The right type whiskey bottle can be very rare and fetch thousands. And it's a seller's market right now. Because there was a bottle hunting craze/boom in the 1960s. And that generation of people is now retirements age . So while they might not be young enough to get out and dig deep outhouse pits (requires a lot of muscle) yet they are still collectors. So they go to the bottle shows, ebay, etc.... and bid up stuff. So bottle digging is more profitable that md'ing now. I sometimes ask myself why I'm not into that, instead of md'ing, haha.

There's an old town demolition site going to occur in Salinas sometime this year. And a friend mine's company is likely to be involved in the demolition. He's a bottle digger himself, so he'll be "all over it". I'll be md'ing it. Stay in touch, and I'll get you introduced. And perhaps he can show the ropes, how it's done, the values of what to look for, etc....

 

[Sweetrazz]

Awe thanks so much....its something I starting doing and got into it really quick. Check out some of the pictures I have posted of the recent bottles I found. I don't know much about all of them but I have been doing a lot of reading. History is very interesting to me and anything old at that matter. Anyhow Dads good hes just home all the time....i tell you he needs to get out more often. Anyhow please keep informed and maybe when you guys go to that I site I could meet up with you. thanks for keeping me posted and definitely talk to you soon.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Awe thanks so much....its something I starting doing and got into it really quick. Check out some of the pictures I have posted of the recent bottles I found. I don't know much about all of them but I have been doing a lot of reading. History is very interesting to me and anything old at that matter. Anyhow Dads good hes just home all the time....i tell you he needs to get out more often. Anyhow please keep informed and maybe when you guys go to that I site I could meet up with you. thanks for keeping me posted and definitely talk to you soon.

Hey, I searched and search for your dad's email address, and I appear to have lost it. PM me through the forum PM system. Because just 2 days ago, I got permission to bottle dig at this Lake St. to Rossi St. tearout project. We are not 100% that the china-town district extended out to where the buildings just came down. The sanborn maps don't show over that far. But ..... because there were 6 or 8 apt. buildings built in about 1953 to 54-ish, we're getting lots of wheat pennies, a few silver dimes, etc....

I'm trying to get my bottle digger friend out there with his ground sonar machine (whatever it's called that detects underground anomalies in ground pack, to find outhouse pits). And he's got the probes, etc.... He's more into bottle digging that me, so I just follow him around when he does it.

So drop me a line, and when/if he does it, and decides there's bottles, I'll loop you in.

Also: Did you hear in the news that there was a major fire on Soledad St. last night ? The bldg . right on the corner of Soledad x Market St. So that building too will be coming down. And there's been buildings there, according to the sanborn maps, since at least the 1880's . So drop me a line, and we'll keep you in on that one too when it gets demolished.

 

[Santa Mountain]

Hey I live in the Santa Cruz Mountains, near Soquel Creek. If your still looking for someone I'd be down. I'd also like to know of a few dump areas around if u know of any.

 

[vpnavy]

Hey I live in the Santa Cruz Mountains, near Soquel Creek. If your still looking for someone I'd be down. I'd also like to know of a few dump areas around if u know of any.

I noticed this was your very first post - so, Welcome Aboard!