Sunday, June 9, 2013

A Great Day at The Rose Bowl Pasadena Swap Meet and I'm not into haggling funny situation

We got up at 4 a.m. this morning....hubby and I....and heading to a place I hadn't been to since I was about 11 or 12.  My Nephew Little Larry was down with the trip.....and we headed to the Rose Bowl Swap Meet in Pasadena Ca.   Cool place...and driving into the Rose Bowl early on a Sunday morning when there is little traffic and a lot of joggers out and about.....and the vibe is really relaxing (to me at least).  I was like "I'm digging this place already....hollah."
We had scored a rolling cart on Craigslist the night before..because no one had these in store and in stock the night before when I decided I was gonna have to have one for the trip.....and then we got inside the gate and the first vendor we encountered was selling the carts for less than the prices I had seen on-line.....and thus we bought a second cart....LOL!
We turned left and headed into the vintage/antique section......and it was like I fell into a land of "eye-candy"...where to look next???....what do I not want to miss ???? etc. kind of feeling.  If you love old things and vintage things and antique things.....it's a bit overwhelming at first.....you just don't know where to look because basically everything you see is something that you might enjoy looking at.
Now the prices for the most point in my opinion....are a different story. With the exception of the vintage clothing "white section" that is over the bridge....I don't think a re-seller would be very happy with the prices.  These vendors pretty much know what their stuff is worth and that is the bottom line.....they are going to have it pretty much "over-priced" and then might haggle with you down to "what it is really worth" and you might get a better price if you buy quantity.  
Now that is the general rule that I encountered.....but I did find some great prices on some things....for instance...I got this big rustic shelf with a bunch of cubby holes that I am putting in the craft room to store my vintage craft fabrics, scarves, napkins, etc.----I got it for $50 and I seriously think that there is at least 3 times that worth of wood alone in this wall unit piece..(if I asked hubby to buy new wood and build one like this for me).  But most of the industrial pieces.....stuff you could buy at other flea markets, estate sales, Craiglist, etc.....they were priced at about 4 times what you could find it for elsewhere in my experience....and there were a lot of "re-done" pieces that I could re-do myself and have about $50 in things they were asking as much as $1200 for.
That being said......I myself didn't mind paying the right price for things I saw that I wanted and do not intend to re-sell.  I also got some great deals on vintage crates and boxes for some re-do projects that were too hard to resist.
We were laughing and smiling a lot today in this huge diversified group of people.  My favorite moment of the day...and dang I wish I could have gotten this one on tape----We are walking by and a vendor tells her "looker" I'll go to $22 on that one ...the haggler says "Can you do any better?"...and then the vendor says "Nope..as a matter of fact..it's $25 now...I haven't had it out that long...I don't play games...I'm not into haggling....and I'm tired"....The buyer is trying to give her the money and the vendor she just waves her hand...like "I'm done here and not letting you have it now---move along"..
and I was thinking that she has probably been here for many years and has been haggled to death and maybe was on her period or something....but it was funny. You can hear and join in many of the conversations with  a lot of these vendors in this section who hang out together and visit each others' spaces-- and are drinking and sharing their brewskies out of their ice chests and it's kind of like a "vintage tail-gate party" maybe :)
All in all....there simply wasn't enough time in the day to see all that we could have seen.  And if you love vintage jewelry....I would say that this is a great flea market for you to check out if you have never been there before.   I now have so many tubs and boxes full of the jewelry things that they have laid out in piles and cases and boxes here at this swap meet.....that it was kind of like living by an airport and you don't hear the airplanes...I found myself just walking by all of this amazing mother lode of jewelry all day long---I was telling my Nephew...if I was shopping this venue 30 years ago.....I would spend the whole time just looking at all of the jewelry and vintage shoes and clothing....you can definitely create your own style walking around these isles. I also had on a couple of my handmade pieces and it was pretty cool when people would say.."Love your necklace"...."Cool bracelet" kinda thang :)
We're planning a trip next month and I told hubby that I think I'm gonna check out the "Arts and Crafts" section next time....
I was so caught up in looking that I didn't even get the camera out until we were rolling the carts back at the end of our day...



 Here's a few pics of my "stash" that I was guarding while Larry and Hubby went off to collect the bigger pieces....and we had us some fun trying to pack it in like "Tetris"....moving and twisting and not ending up looking too much like "The Beverly Hillbillies" heading back to Bako :)


Oh yah....I also got a great deal on a flat of succulents.....pretty good discount when you buy the whole flat.....hubby had it in the bottom of his cart....and kept getting asked "Where did you find those succulents?" (Uhmm....he didn't know they were called succulents) ....and needless to say...he wasn't quite sure at 1st what they were asking him about but loved pointing them in the right direction-- I told him "Dude....if we were ever to break up...that is your chick magnet...roll around a flea market with a flat of succulents in a cart that you could seat a kid in the front at the same time"...my succulent Rock star.....he was pimp daddying those plants today....yessiree dandy LOL!
Rose Bowl Pasadena Swap Meet....gotta love ya hollers! Thanks for a fab Sunday indeed :)
#Rose Bowl Swap Meet #I Don't Play Games # I'm not into hagglers #roll on #big daddy rollin with the succulents #old cart rolling #Rose Bowl Flea Market #i was the little old lady in Pasadena today # I fell in love with Pasedena all over again today #fun in the sun #gone swap meetin' # a great day

2 comments:

  1. Do you remember the name of the vendor you purchased the succulents from?

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  2. Hi Cara Ann no but they are in a white van and when you enter the meet....and turn left into the vintage section....they were 2 rows up off to the right. They were in the same spot when we went back the following month :)

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