“Everything here has a story behind it,” said Nick DiMola, walking through the trash-picked treasures at his shop at DiMola Brothers, a garbage removal company.

“I’m the biggest garbage picker you ever want to meet,” said Mr. DiMola, who specializes in cleaning out homes after people die.

Whether hoarders or neat freaks, most people leave behind pieces of their lives, he said. Much of it goes to the dump, but some of it catches Mr. DiMola’s eye and winds up in his garage on Summerfield Street, a quiet residential block in Ridgewood, Queens.

The staggering collection of salvaged items he has amassed over his 30 years in the business is an open secret in this neighborhood on the Brooklyn-Queens border. Every time Mr. DiMola opens his garage doors, passers-by gawk at the explosion of artifacts in his shop.