The Long Beach Flea Market was a disaster…

(Here is the old beater Dodge piled high with our loot.)

We left the Brick House at about 3am in order to get to Long Beach at 5:30am. There was no hope of sleeping the night before so we just stayed up…I was surprisingly chipper and peppy when we arrived – ready to wheel and deal.

Above is the gypsy caravan of vendors all lined up getting ready to set-up for the day…it was still dark out and dealers (or just extreme collectors) were going through peoples truck loads with flashlights looking for deals. Before we even parked we had five or six people try to unpack and unwrap our stuff to get a better look – it was so weird!

Some shots of the booth.

It pretty much looked like this ALL DAY. We didn’t sell crap – like about 5 things and only made $90 – we didn’t even break even. The big ticket items that sold were a lamp at $40 and a 1940’s tanker chair for $30. Some little ceramic things sold as well…

Lots of people stopped by and looked at things and touched things and asked prices and said they would come back – which they never did. No one haggled. It seemed like everyone was a sort of just browsing the market without actually buying anything. All day visitors were empty handed…

It was a weird long day – all of the vendors were doing AWFUL. Nothing was selling…no one was a serious buyer…and there were some great things at really reasonable prices! It was discouraging.

Across from us was this booth of vintage “Euro” linen – they had like a thousand signs that said “Euro”. They did pretty well selling $3 cotton bags and $2 tea towels – so as we drank more beer and got more discouraged I wanted to say that everything I had was “Euro” to make it sexier or something.

We drank and gossiped with our vendor neighbors all day.

Now I have all this stuff and I would like to clear it out of my house – but no more flea markets. It was a total waste of time and you have to get up way way way to early.

This Sunday – August 17th – is the Long Beach Outdoor Antique and Collectible Market!

Details, details…

5:30 – 6:30AM : Early Admission, $10
6:30AM – 3:00PM : General Admission, $5
Children under 12 are Free

Free Parking

I’m so f*ing excited.

The Brick House booth will be located in the “White” section (cause everyone hates whitey). I guess that’s the middle area – I don’t know what exact space I will be in until we show up to check in at 5:30AM. I’m usually going to bed at 5:30AM – and defiantly not being awake to “work” – so I have a feeling this is going to be a long and caffeinated day.

If you come you can get your hands on things like these…

Look for my scary umbrella!

This is my first time ever doing something like this – I think I’m going to suck at it!

Question.

Should I price out everything beforehand with like stickers or something? Do you guys like having the price available on each item or do you like asking the vendor for pricing? Does it seem like I won’t haggle if its all priced out (because I totally will)? Any tips or suggestions?

On Sunday I went with my sister to the Long Beach Antique Market for the first time. For years I’ve been pretty reticent about going to flea markets (well you have to get up so early) and I imagined them to be stuffed with overpriced shabby chic crappiness.

I am an idiot. There was a ton of great stuff there, and the prices were unbelievably cheap and reasonable. Now I am addicted and see a future of uncontrollable shopping.

I purchased a black sculptura “donut” phone ($20), a pair of mid century lamps with fiberglass shades (big ticket $75), a mid century secretary ($40 – that will eventually be a bar), and a short knoll tulip table with a marble top and metal base ($25!).

Pics coming soon…