I met this man late one night, carting scavenged items home on the back of his bike. He told me he intended to refinish the chairs and lamps he found and was going to make a profit, just like he'd seen on the Antiques Roadshow.

He told me a long-winded story of how he came to America, of a fortune lost in his youth and hard times. But he still had his dreams. All it would take would be the right investor. He'd already drawn up the plans and designed the website for his combination Polish-American restaurant, cultural center and radio empire, a triad to be housed in a three-sided pyramid on Broadway Avenue.