PCC Flea Market

People who live in the Greater Los Angeles area have probably heard of the Rose Bowl Flea Market. Or maybe you haven’t. Who am I to say. ANYWAY, it’s at the…Rose Bowl (go figure) in Pasadena. It. Is. Huge. Like there are a ton of vendors with amazing stuff. I went a few years ago and it was overwhelming. The things I didn’t like about it were the heat (it’s in an open field and it was like 90 degrees), the vendors didn’t seem to be very “let’s make a deal-ish,” and you had to pay $10 to get in the door. All “boooooooos” in my book.

So someone recently told me about the flea market at Pasadena City College which is located INSIDE a parking garage, has the same vendors as the Rose Bowl Flea Market who lower their prices for this since their cost is so much cheaper, and it’s free to get in! Seemed like a done deal. LET’S GET READY TO MAKE IT RAIN!!!

Or not.

We decided to give it a go last weekend. Let me start out by saying that this past week in LA has been unbearably hot. Even in Santa Monica (where it usually maxes out at 80 degrees) it was 91 degrees. Move inland and it’s 100 degrees. So while that parking garage was a nice respite from the sun, it felt like you were wandering through Honduras. And even though the prices were (supposedly) cheaper than that would be at the big boy flea market, they were still terrible. Well, for everything that caught my eye. For example, these:

were $150. I would love some vintage mixing bowls like this, but yeah, no. $150 is a LOTtle too steep.

I also found a really cool vintage travel alarm clock which didn’t have a price tag, but was on a table where everything was priced at $2 and $3. When I asked how much it was, she said “I can’t go any lower than $10 because [wait for it] it’s so cool.” GAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! I think that’s the crux of it - these quasi-trash vendors know that people here in LA will pay through the NOSE for something that is “vintage.” Needless to say, I just turned and walked away from that adorable alarm clock. It was dead to me at that point.

Of course, Ryan was in heaven. I tried to keep him in sight (like you would a child) so that we wouldnt’ get separated. He was MILES behind me and my friend at one point and I told him that he should keep an eye out so that we don’t lose each other. He eventually started complaining that he was having to basically run (sarcastic much) to keep up. He, of course, was finding “treasures” (meaning garbage in my book). The one thing he actually found and pushed very hard to buy was:

A unicycle (side note - spellcheck wanted to correct that to bicycle or tricycle as they also apparently think it shouldn’t exist). Ay yi yi. I told him no. That I REFUSE to let him buy it as it is so STUPID and it would embarrass me! I said I was putting my foot down. Five minutes later, it was in his hot little hands. I’m such a sucker for a pretty face. Of course, on our way back to the car, a guy ran (okay, walked) up to Ryan and was asking him about it and said he used to be really good and doled out some unicycle wisdom. But the part that resonated with me the most was when he said ”I was really good when I was a teenager, but now I’d never try it because…I’m older and I’d hurt myself.” BAM! Out of the mouths of middle-aged stoner men…

Ryan tried it IMMEDIATELY after we parked the car. It was pretty hilarious. (You might want to turn your sound down for this because I am laughing so hard and it is, well, loud).

Right after this was shot, the following conversation happened:

Ryan: Stop laughing at me!
Me: Then stop riding a unicycle.

But I can’t bag on him too hard about the unicycle. Before we left that day, his phone gave him a reminder that I saw when I handed it to him. It said “start looking for anniversary gifts.” He was very embarrassed. HA! And awwww. Maybe those mixing bowls will be under my anniversary tree this year! They won’t, but maybe it’ll be something else super awesome.