Tye Rabens

Aaron Johnson proudly sorts through a crate of zines.

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Photos by Benjamin Leatherman

Phil Smithers and the wealth of Green Bay Packers memorabilia in his garage.

It isn't hard finding someone who's a fan of the Green Bay Packers these days, especially since the NFL powerhouse is in the midst of one of its best seasons in history (and is currently riding a 14-1 record into the upcoming playoffs).More >>

https://www.nativeseeds.org

​If you're looking to expand your garden or want to soak in the essence of our natural landscape, you'll want to check out the brand new library at Native Seeds/SEARCH. More >>

Photos by Benjamin Leatherman

A glimpse at Renetto-Mario Etsitty's various teapots.

​Space is at a premium inside the historic Garfield district home of Renetto-Mario Etsitty. Racks of dishes and stacks of chairs dominate his living room along with numerous long tables and shelves filled with knickknacks, a library of books, and plenty of DVDs. More >>

A sampling of what's inside the Scottsdale Beer Museum.

​After finishing an ice-cold can of brew, standard operating procedure for most beer drinkers usually involves tossing it away, either over your shoulder or into the trash. (Of course, it you're a manly man, it might also mean crushing that bad boy while unleashing an thunderous belch for added effect).

Bradford Whicker, however, does things a bit differently. If the brew is a rare import, microbrew, or of the exotic variety, its can will be gently rinsed out and placed in the garage of his south Scottsdale home. The 41-year-old isn't hoping to get some cash in exchange for the aluminum, mind you, but is simply adding to his growing collection, what he calls the Scottsdale Beer Museum.

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www.teresavillegas.com

Teresa Villegas in her home studio.

​When Teresa Villegas took her first trip to Mexico in 1985, she discovered something that would become a major motif in her future art works: Loteria, a Mexican card game similar to Bingo.

Since then, the Phoenix artist has visited Mexico dozens of times, created a series of paintings of Loteria cards, and accumulated several different Loteria decks.

Loteria decks contain 54 cards, often accompanied by an image and a piece of poetry or prose that describes the image.

Villegas owns several copies of the traditional Loteria deck, which Pasatiempos Gallo, S.A. de C.V. (or Don Clemente, LLC in the US) began manufacturing in 1887. But Villegas also has some unique artisan decks, similar to her own "updated" version of Loteria, which Don Clemente manufactured until 2008.




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photos by Colin Lecher

A few of Staltari's machines. (Staltari asked not to be pictured for the article.)

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Marky Staltari's affinity toward all-things pinball isn't difficult to explain. The punk rock guitarist of local band Janitors of Anarchy cites pinball's controversial history; the game spent a large part of its history banned in major US cities and was a symbol of rebellion in classic Hollywood movies.

Marky Hellspite, as he's known in the band, says he started collecting pinball machines and memorabilia in the '90s out of nostalgia: "[The machines] are the ultimate toy."

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photos by Colin Lecher

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In 1978, Gary Fox moved to Arizona from Wisconsin, and brought his car and license plates along with him. He needed to switch over to Arizona plates, though, so he headed over to the Motor Vehicle Division.

One problem: The state workers wanted his old Wisconsin plates, and Fox wanted to keep them as souvenirs. He was handed a screwdriver.

Fox begrudgingly turned over one, and then slipped the other behind his back. The MVD employee didn't notice that Wisconsin law required a front and rear plate. Fox still has the one he hid, which is now part of his collection of about 1000.

See some of Fox's vintage license plates after the jump...

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Video game collector Jeff Jimenez holds up rare Nintendo game cartridges.

​Local video game arcades have nothing on Jeff Jimenez.

As a lifelong fan of video games, Jimenez probably has any game in any platform you can think of. His collection of video games includes around 2,500 titles, and he has all gaming systems dating back to Atari.

Jimenez, who works in gaming and merchandising at Best Buy, loved to play Atari and Nintendo games as a kid, with his favorites being Miner 2049er, The Legend of Zelda, and Ninja Gaiden.

These days, he works at maintaining his massive game collection, which has its own room at Jimenez's west side townhouse.

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