Junkologist survives cancer, shipwreck and competition Second Hand Lil's owner Hughes, 77, not the retiring type BY TAMMY McKILLIP Correspondent TAMMY McKILLIP Lilliana Hughes says her willingness to bargain with customers has been one key to her store's longevity. KEYPORT - Like so many of the antique and castaway things she surrounds herself with, 77-year-old borough resident Lilliana Hughes is a survivor. Rescued from the waters off the coast of Nantucket in 1956, the Naples, Italy, native and owner of Second Hand Lil's Resident Junkologist had been traveling with her 3-year-old daughter to join her husband in America when her ship, The Andrea Doria, collided with another ship and sank, killing 51 of the passengers on board. She jumped with her daughter 42 feet into the water and swam to a lifeboat. It was one of the worst maritime disasters ever recorded, but she has rehashed the story too many times, and to her, the details are boring. "It's a dull story," she said. "The ship sank. I survived. That's it." Hughes, who has been the subject of several documentaries and articles over the past 50 years, said she was recently approached by a publisher and asked to write a book about her experience. "I'm not going to do it," she said. "I don't think it's anybody's business. If you come here and ask me, I can tell you, but I can't re-create my whole life. It would take too long." Time is precious to Hughes, who also survived a recent bout with breast cancer. She'd much rather focus on the things that make her happy - her antiques business and the customers who have frequented her establishment since she bought a building and opened her shop at 20 Broad St. in 1980. "This store is very popular," she said. "I try to please people. I buy what people like. Some people like matchbooks. Some people buy Tiffany. I buy everything. I have $1 items, and I have $2,000 items. I even sell things to Christie's in New York." Hughes says hers was the first antique shop to open in Keyport and that it has outlasted much of the competition because of her willingness to bargain with her customers. "If you get greedy in this business, you're done," she said. "You have to work very hard for your money. People are not stupid. They know what they are buying." What people are buying from Hughes is trash or treasure, depending on your point of view. Her three-room store is filled from floor to ceiling with dusty, macabre, delicate, shiny, electronic, mechanical, ancient, modern, slightly broken and immaculately maintained things and furniture. There's a rusty wagon wheel in the front window, a chipped papier-mâché¿ Santa outside, a leather strap with sleigh bells on the door, and a plastic croaking frog that greets visitors when they enter the store. Several Charlie McCarthy puppets hang from a peg on the wall behind the cashier's desk, which is surrounded by cluttered shelves filled with porcelain salt and pepper shakers, Furbies, Halloween masks, used board games, cassette tapes, records and cooking utensils. Oriental rugs, mirrors, dressers and tables and chairs from every decade are stacked haphazardly in the back room, and antique and costume jewelry fill glass cases. "A lot of film people come here from New York," Hughes said. "They buy props for movies. They even filmed one here once - "The Big Night" with Isabella Rossellini. They transformed the whole street." Hughes attributes her shop's longevity to her know-how, strong will and positive attitude. "You're either born smart, or you're born stupid. I don't know which one I am. I could be in Florida right now on the beach, enjoying myself in the sun. Instead, I'm here," she laughed. "But I'm a very happy person. I almost died twice - once on the Andrea Doria, and then a couple of years ago with breast cancer. I refused to die. I survived everything, and I believe in myself." "If there's sunshine, I'm happy. It's nice and warm and bright. If there's no sunshine, I know it's going to come back the next day or the day after that. I've had a few ups and downs in my life, but I'm happy with my antiques, or junk, or whatever you want to call it. I'm happy." Although she has cut back on her hours and doesn't attend as many estate sales as she used to, Hughes says she has no plans for retirement. "People say, 'Lilliana, you're getting too old. Why don't you leave this place?' And I tell them, I was here when you moved in, and I'll be here when you leave. I'm going to run this business until I die. I like it, and I love Keyport." Second Hand Lil's Resident Junkologist, located at 20 Broad St., is open seven days a week, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.