The public sale of anything and everything once found inside the famous Watergate Hotel, which is currently undergoing a massive renovation, began at 10 a.m. this morning, and by 11 a.m. it was already a circus of people rushing through the different floors, grabbing anything they could get their hands on while hundreds of other hopeful buyers stood waiting out in the hot sun. More than 300 people have already been let inside, and many more than that number are already in line. If you're planning on heading down to the sale today, which goes on 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays Mon.-Sat. and 12 to 5 p.m. Sundays for the next 45 days or until every item is sold, don't go with expectations of getting in and out quickly. Consider taking the rest of the day off, in fact.

The mood inside the sale, which features everything from TV sets and fine china to bed frames and mirrors, was a bit mixed this morning. In several rooms one could hear someone complain, often loudly, that the bargains weren't that great, that the $10 entrance fee was too steep, that the wait wasn't worth it. But for Chris Burroughs of D.C. and her friend, who patiently waited in line to pay for an elegant silver soup tureen and a nice glass-top end table (only $65!), showing up a little after 8 a.m. to stake a claim in line was about more than just saving money. Despite the warnings of the sale's organizers that nothing for sale would bear the old school, official Watergate logo (no sweet Watergate ashtrays, for example) Burroughs actually found a stack of official Watergate stationary hidden inside the drawer of a desk.

"Sometimes the best things are free. I get to say I was there for the end of The Watergate," Burroughs said.

So should you go? If you're in the market for a ton of flatware, some cheap lighting fixtures, and a used vacuum cleaner, it might be worth it. But noting the relative ugliness of the available furniture and then heading outside to listen to a security guard tell expectant line-waiters near the front that it would be at least an hour and a half before they would be let inside, you might want to think about how badly you're in the market for any particular item before committing to the sale. More photos after the jump.