Tom Fox's Treasures Tom Fox's Treasures (August 01, 2003)

From gas pumps to privies - this is a back yard full of surprises from the past
by Dolores Fox Ciardelli

The old gas pumps hit you right in the eye. They don't make 'em like that anymore - bright colors, rounded edges and big white numbers that rotate as the gas flows.

The back yard of Tom and Susie Fox is a mixture of natural beauty and eclectic collectibles from another era: metal bath tubs, an old Coca-Cola cooler, an Ex-Lax sign. The artifacts are displayed on the spacious deck, on the hillside and among the trees, with a windmill presiding over them.

"We started with antiques in the house," said Susie. "Then some got to be 'marginal.'"

Perhaps she was referring to the outhouse, which is now situated on a level lower than the deck where it cannot be seen from the house. "It's a two-holer," Tom explained proudly. To complete the picture, he bought a mannequin from Nordstrom and a corn husker to position nearby. He placed a Sears & Roebuck catalog inside.

Tom hauled the outhouse to Pleasanton from Bend, Ore., in a trailer, and the strain burned out the engine in his car, at a cost to State Farm of $17,000. In the Foxes' move from Montevino Drive to Smallwood Court several years ago, the company took a photo of its movers carrying the outhouse to use in its advertisements: "We move anything!"

The Foxes are from the Midwest - Susie from Chicago and Tom from Michigan - and much of their backyard collection has been found in trips back and forth across the rural countryside.

Some of the items are one-of-a-kind, for which the inventor procured patents but whose optimism never paid off. For instance the "Heart Saver Snow Remover," purchased in Brevard, N.C., is pushed under the snow and then levers on the handle flip the snow to one side or the other. Never caught on.

A lawn mower looks more like a heavy duty rake, smaller than most home mowers - but does it really cut grass? "Someone got the patent on it, but they didn't get rich," said Tom.

A bathtub bought in Lexington, Neb., folds up to be stored in the closet, plus has a kerosene heater. It's one of several tubs scattered about the lot. A big red one on the hill among the bird feeders has a seat and is designed for the water to run back into the trough.

There is also a large tin tub. "It's the type of bathtub you might see Clint Eastwood in, in an old movie," noted Tom. Another is a small oblong, made for a child.

Susie teaches English literature at Cal State Hayward and Tom is a Realtor, which lifestyle allows them time to travel, always with an eye to their collection. This year they are bicycling from Prague to Vienna.

On a bike trip last summer in France they purchased an old street sign denoting "Rue de Plaisance" - Pleasanton? Crossed signs showing "Tom & Susie's Place" intersecting with "Fox Lane" they admitted ordering from Walter Drake, but the sign on the hillside reading "Fox Ridge" was a find.

The windmill was made in Gustine. "It's not an antique, but we just like the look," said Tom.

He is forthcoming that he paid $800 for his first gas pump in 1985, which he says would be worth $2,500 today if he didn't keep it out in the sun.

And how much was the outhouse? With a nod toward Susie, he declines to state, saying, "I never did tell her what I paid for it."