Down in the Dumps

Places like Pick Your Part, Jack’s Foreign and U-Pick-U-Save aren’t found on a typical road map, but they are certain destinations for virtually every car. These auto wrecking yards are literally--and figuratively--the end of the road. Behind high, corrugated metal fences on land tucked into corners of sprawling industrial zones, junk cars are stacked and lined up, waiting to be picked over by hobbyists, mechanics and auto restorers hungry for parts that go for up to 80% off retail prices. In a given year, a large-scale wrecking operation recycles more than 225,000 cars or about a quarter of a million tons of scrap metal. And all across the Southland, the junkers keep rolling in, full speed ahead.