Thursday, September 12, 2013

pasadena rose bowl flea market: mid-century modern what not and then some

I learned a valuable lesson this weekend on buying vintage and retro stuff. This is the pricing hierarchy that I have been long familiar with:
  • Retail stores branded vintage are usually the more expensive option due to rent, and other factors. More so in California where mid-century is SUPER hip, vs. what I have seen out of state
  • Craigslist can provide great deals. BUT it is competitive. And you have the whole annoying Craigslist factor.
  • eBay has been my guilty pleasure for many years and bargains can be had for sure. However, eBay prices are starting to seem closer to retail as most sellers are fairly savvy. 

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Turns out there is another incredibly effective way to buy mid-century modern, vintage and retro in Southern California.


Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro
From RoseBowl Flea Market
I should have known, because once a month, I hear on the radio, advertisements for the Rose Bowl Flea Market. The harmonic convergence happened of me having an anfternoon to kill last Sunday AND hearing the radio advertisement. Brilliantly, I put two and two together. "I blog about mid-century modern and there is a huge flea market one hour north of my home. Hmmmm."


Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Of course it was hot as hell. Awesome.

And awesome! The Rose Bowl's parking lots were stuffed with antique, vintage and collectible treasures. It was hard to know even where to begin. I immediately began wandering up and down the aisles, not really shopping, but assessing. Do they have the right stuff?

Old Fiesta to feast your eyes on.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

And CorningWare style mugs too. I don't love CorningWare and really don't understand the fascination.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Here we go!

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


Super trendy hister sign letters. These were everywhere. The hipsters were hauling them out by the bucketfuls.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


Outdoor stools. I haven't the foggiest who the maker is, but if I was in the mood, these would come home and get their tops redone. Perfect for ad hoc patio seating.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


Pricing was SUPER reasonable. SUPER. I was shocked over and over again, at how inexpensive everything was. I arrived kind of late, at noon. By this time, the merchants were eager to NOT take their merchandise home. Any reasonable offer would be considered and counter offered. Reasonable to me was many furniture pieces were less than $300. Many nice pieces of glass and pottery were less than $50.Most art was less than $100. Not garage sale cheap, but pretty inexpensive.

See!!
Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


Using antlers and such is a decorating trend you see nowadays. Except it is kind of gross.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Asian furniture and art could be had easily. Our proximity to the Far East helps a little I think.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


This is a GIANT Jesus, I do believe. And, I think he is a relic more or less from a church.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Glass glorious glass!!!!
Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Imagine five to ten of these hanging at different lengths on a new patio cover.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Decent end table.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Over at A Good House, Stacey was inspired by a vintage anatomy chart.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


And look, a whole box of them! Nice.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

More vintage sign works.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

I totally don't get this. A very nice lady had an entire booth filled to the brim with these purses. Vintage Coach, Dooney & Bourke, and Tijuana handbags.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

And the booth had a constant stream of young girls in their twenties laying down their twenties for what I consider gawdawful ugly purses.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Course, I have owned, at one time, many of these.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

So, lesson here is, if you are hoarding any of these purses:
  1. They are back in style so break them out OR
  2. Get thee to eBay and sell them. Now. It could be your last chance. 
This big trend was everywhere. Touched up industrial type furniture. 


Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Super darn hip and trendy. And cheap.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


I kinda dig this mailbox. But honestly, is it legal to own? What would you do with it? Pet hotel? Toddler time out?

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


Some Hey-Wake or lookalikes at good prices.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Art abounds.


Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


I bumped into some mid-century lighting. I wanted to buy these both very badly. But didn't feel quite ready yet.


Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


Lots and lots of furniture.

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro

Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market - Mid-Century Modern, Vintage and Retro


The whole thing opens at 7AM for a special preview VIP price, and typically dealers come in and take the pick of the initial litter. General Admission starts at 9AM. Merchants start packing around 2PM and entrance tickets are shut off at 3PM.

I was really on a discovery tour and wasn't doing any serious shopping. These are my

TOP TEN TIPS for shopping effectively at the massive Rose Bowl Flea Market

BRING
  1. A truck or an SUV.
  2. A friend (hopefully a strong friend).
  3. A wheel shopping cart or large bag to carry small goods
  4. Snacks and water 
  5. Cash. There were ATMs outside the entrance but a $5 fee (or maybe $10, I can't remember) and far away from where ever you find your stuff. Guaranteed.
  6. No fear of negotiating. The first price is not the best price. 
  7. Ideas of things you want. Otherwise, utterly overwhelming.
  8. A plan for walking through (can be confusing) and study the map in advance.
  9. Yourself early for the best stuff. Yourself late for the best deals.
  10. A discerning eye. I'll soon share my fabulous buy and my great mistake. Lessons learned.
I'll be back for sure.

1001 Rose Bowl Dr. Pasadena, CA 91103

Oh. I am kind of a Project Runway freak. Here is this video of Heidi Klum shopping at the Rose Bowl Flea Market with her decorator. Very cute.

And yes. I had to check it out.


I sort of owed you this shot.

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17 comments:

  1. Ive been wanting to check out that flea market for years...thanks fir the spur.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How have I ignored it? I was pretty annoyed with myself for not visiting sooner. The drive really wasn't that big a deal. And the stuff. Oh the stuff.

      Delete
  2. Thanks for sharing! Rose Bowl and Long Beach Veteran's Stadium Fleas are my two favorite places to go. We're so fortunate to be in SoCal and have all these options.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I just heard about Long Beach too. You have been holding out on me! I guess I have been under a rock. I am going to try and check out Long Beach tomorrow. I can then do a compare and contrast. HAHA!

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  3. That was the most fun I've had all week! My heart went pitter patter when I saw those brushed metal tables. OMG! Richie and I stripped one of those metal lawyer bookcases to bare metal and it was GORGEOUS! I've since sold it but would love to have a metal table. And while we're at it... I'll take those industrial lights sitting on top of them. Seriously, those would have all come home with me. LOVE IT! (of course the anatomy chart made me smile)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wondered if you would catch your chart. You made an impression on me with your blog post about the chart. I thought, "what a cool idea." And there was a box of them! I love your taste. You think of things that I would never think of.

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  4. That hanging light reminds of a whole lot of the Ikea Fado hanging over my front porch (it had a "bar" in the middle as well, but I removed it to make the light hang higher). Most certainly wasn't $125!

    http://mitchellsigman.squarespace.com/storage/porchlamp_new_110112.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I do love your porch light! That is exactly what I want to do. If you get back here, I am curious... higher or lower than $125?

      Delete
  5. I've wondered about the Rose Bowl Flea Market. Thanks for giving me a tour without my having to find parking, navigate all those aisles, and then, most importantly, find my car afterwards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll take you up next time. It is a bit of a work out. :)

      Delete
  6. That looks like so much fun! And I think I saw some of my old Coach and Dooney & Bourke handbags from the early 90s!!! When I sold them on eBay, I didn't think about their becoming "vintage." :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The bags...oh the bags. I was stunned and amazed. Who knew... And the girls buying them were young, cool and beautiful. Our old "professional" bags.

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  7. It totally sucks that we don't have flea markets - or anything remotely like them. The equivalent markety, thingies here (and I use the word equivalent loosely) are mostly full of junk - real junk. Anything with even a sniff of age about it usually costs almost as much as you'd pay for it in a proper shop. If you ever come to Australia Rebecca, you will be amazed at how expensive everything is - even seafood for example, and we're surrounded by sea! I would think I had died and gone to heaven if I ever had the chance to hunt for treasure at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.

    p.s. for interest sake, how much was the old anatomy chart?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Don't worry about my question Rebecca, I had another look at your pics and noticed the price on the box...here you would pay $250+++ easily.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Me again!
    Even the fake new copies are in the hundreds!
    See ya x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kylie!!!! Hi and I always think everything is so expensive in Southern California. Yep, the anatomy chart was like $30. I was pretty stunned at the quality, quantity and prices. I have now heard that there is one more local market I have been oblivious too.

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  10. Hi Kylie, all looks awesome.I would love to have those hangings, creative table and mid century lightening myself. Thanks, you are awesome.

    ReplyDelete

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