Flea Market Finds: An Endangered Species?

Visitors to my home sometimes remark on the interesting objects I've gathered over the years. Unintentionally, I've amassed collections of - among other items - radios, lighters, flashlights, knives, paperweights, electric fans, etc. I'm not interested much in simply adding to these collections: what usually draws me in is the appreciation I feel for well-made items from America's long-gone manufacturing past.

Yes, a few of the previously-mentioned items were found on eBay. But the bulk came from flea markets. I've been trolling them since I was 9 or 10. A cheap family outing on a Sunday meant driving one town west to Copiague, visiting my grandmother and then heading to the Johnny All-Weather Drive-In Flea Market. The Johnny All-Weather (because it had an indoor theater, too) was - supposedly - the largest drive-in in the country, so you can imagine the size of the parking lot. I'd rummage up and down the rows, scrutinizing every folding table piled high with other people's junk in search of anything that took my fancy, sometimes something practical - a toolbox - more often something utterly without utility: a stuffed squirrel. It was all the same to me because it was all A) a bargain and B) to be pressed into service somehow.

The toolbox is long-gone, since replaced by other flea market tool boxes, but I still have the squirrel, nick-named "Mr. Nibbles" by a friend. By his mere presence he once convinced a real, live squirrel - who had fallen through a shoddy suspended ceiling into the front room of my crummy Hoboken railroad apartment - to jump out the window I opened for him.

But where will tomorrow's stuffed squirrels come from if the flea markets go away? One of my favorite, the Sixth Avenue flea market in Manhattan (it was actually several markets, stretching from 25th to 28th street, on both sides of the avenue) is long gone, replaced by condo towers. Now I hear my favorite (and nearest) flea market, the open-all-year Meadowlands Flea Market, might also become a victim of development.

Located in one of the parking lots for Giants Stadium, it's been rumored the flea market will go away when:

1. The Giants finish construction on their new training facilities.
2. The Giants and Jets begin construction on a new stadium.
3. The hideous eyesore known as Xanadu is complete.

Xanadu, for those of you who haven't been eagerly following its history, is supposed to be an "entertainment destination", with an indoor ski slope, Formula One racetrack, the country's largest movie theater, a giant Ferris wheel, etc., etc. The project was to be completed by now but has been mired in controversy and shady business dealings. Whatever it ends up being (and the surest bet is "glorified mall"), Xanadu will certainly gobble up any available parking at the Meadowlands. Which is why you should start patronizing the Meadowlands Flea Market now. It's open Saturdays, 9 AM to roughly 2 PM, has an ATM machine and bathrooms and plays a nice selection of 50's, 60's and 70's oldies over the PA system.

On our most recent visit, this past Saturday, my wife and I picked up a nice metal bistro set (two chairs, a small, round table) for the backyard for $35 (bargained down from $40) and I replaced the small Swiss Army knife that disappeared from my keychain for $4. Here's some other temptations:

This guy's got Frye boots cheap. I can't figure out if they're factory seconds, discontinued styles or really good knock-offs. But you'll save at least $100 on any price you'll find elsewhere.

You see lots of these box vans fresh from someone's basement/attic/estate sale, disgorging its contents for you to pore over.

At $5 each I was sorely tempted to snap up these vintage Radio Shack (a Tandy company) Walkie Talkies in their original packaging.

One of several "glove men" who are in attendance each week. Who doesn't love cheap glove?

My least favorite kind of vendor: someone who can't be bothered to buy some tables. Hey pal, I ain't hunching over for this crap!

Every week I see old guitars, amps, accordions, DJ equipment, saxophones, etc. Why pay those high retail prices?!

This guy's always got interesting cast iron stuff, some of it is actually old!

I've seen these Ion USB turntables in stores for $100 to $200 but at the Meadowlands Flea Market? $70, the nice price.

Avoid the "new stuff" area unless you really need counterfeit handbags or tube socks.

I wonder if one of my favorites is in there...

I hope to see you in the Meadowlands this Saturday, weather permitting. And I'd like you to tell me about your favorite flea market, so it doesn't become extinct. While you're at it, share a favorite flea market find - and remember: flea marketing is recycling!

Comments

[zombot]

does anyone here know about the show Junkin' that used to be on Turner South cable? I guess it was a regional thing. Dave Byrd and Val Meyers would travel to flea markets and buy things to sell on ebay, as well as talk to the local yokels. it was painfully beautiful to watch Dave and Val's wit fly right over the heads of the podunks. They never really insulted anybody, but it was painful all the same. It won an emmy and then Turner south went Kaput.

god i miss that show.

[linden]

i work at the garage flea market on 25th btwn 6th-7th, and watched the demise of the outdoor market on 6th ave a few years ago with much sadness. apparently the garage has been bought and is going to be knocked down sometime in the future. my boss talks a lot about how the antique business is dead and it's unfortunately too true. in 20 years the last people with legitimate enthusiasm for the antique(rather than the vintage) will have disappeared.

[The Original Larry]

Up here in the Pacific Northwest (betwixt Bellingham, Seattle and Tacoma), we have lots of GREAT flea markets up here. But somehow, the East coast ones ALWAYS rival OURS...

DAMN!!

[Listener James from Westwood]

There's a monthly flea market in the Westwood park during the warm seasons. My big find there was a $10 Smith-Corona portable typewriter. Still fully functional. I feel like I rescued it from some horrible fate; most of its kin are probably staving off beach erosion as part of an artificial reef off the Eastern Seaboard.

[bartleby]

I can't imagine flea markets or similar venues would become extinct. People will get over the cult of the new that has accompanied the culture of purchasing consumer items for the last 15 or so years. There's got to be an outlet for people doing circuit bending and other kinds of hardware hacking. After years of deskilling and outsourcing, people with skills and knowledge or access to goods will be looking for a market either to makes ends meet or just to keep themselves sane. Short of teleportation, shopping on line is basically the business of jpegs at the speed of UPS. As for artificial distinctions made between antiques, vintage, collectible, etc. - neither an antique nor a vintage chairs are, in terms of functionality, likely to become obsolete anytime soon. Similar outlets for goods will come into existence.

[Dale Hazelton]

Sweet! I've been a flea market/Goodwill/Salvay/stoop-yard sale junkie for almost 30 years. And as I look around my kitchen while sipping coffee just about everything came second or third or fourth hand. Even the old cast iron kitchen sink, the kind where the water comes out of the tall splash, came from my local scrap metal yard (as well as the clawfoot tub upstairs). My kitchen cupboards are an old Napanee Hoosier-type cabinet (yard sale) and an old maple possum-belly bakers cabinet (my dads garage work bench, since refinished in shellac by me. The table lamp is made from an old Mirro percolator with a blown heating element. I have a shelf unit full of old Griswold griddles, skillets and waffle makers as I went through a fast phase of buying the old iron. The only things not old are the refrigerator and stove, but I started out with a 40's Westinghouse fridge (too small for my wife and required constant defrosting) and I had a 1930s Magic Chef six-burner range from a junk shop that needed restoration and parts, and after 10 years it was apparant I wasn't going to get it refurbished/insulated so I resold it for a bit of profit. On top of the Napanee is a box of a gross of canning jar rubbers from the 1930s that I got at the Salvation army in Jersey City. I planned on Dutch auctioning them on ebay, but they look too nice there. My wife said she doesn't want to live in a museum, but I point out the prices of things in shops and let her know when I die that all that stuff will bring a tidy sum.

I've always wanted to do that longest yard sale thingy....

http://www.127sale.com/

...but it's always either the time or money that becomes an issue. Never did Brimfield and I don't think I'd want to pay the prices anyway. There used to be a couple of nice small markets on Canal Street in the 80s, when Art Deco and midcentury modern stuff, along with vintage clothing, was big. One of the best flea markets I've ever been to was the one in Pasadena - quality stuff, but prices to match (I guess for the Hollywood stylist trade).

I did some selling at a market only once, in Brooklyn on 7th avenue at a school yard. You have to be thick skinned to ward off the insulting low-ball offers. What makes it worse is those people tend to insult your merchandise if you don't accept their "generosity."

Now Craigslist is the repository for free/cheap stuff (ebay/paypal fees are getting out of hand) and curb alerts. But I miss taking a walk after dinner with my lady on a warm summer night before the morning of bulk collection pickup looking for old furniture, tube radio sets and Electrolux tank vaccuums. How romantic.....

[zombot]

i just bought a truck primarily for dumpster diving and carrying what i couldn't on my scooter.
i'd whizz past so much good furniture and lumber it was driving me insane.
of course now that i have the truck, i see nothing, or maybe miss the things i'd notice at the scooters pace and level.

as long as dumbasses throw away perfectly good stuff, or things that require a nail to fix,there will be crafty people taking it and reselling it.
the downside is, as we become more and more of a disposable society, there really is less and less stuff that is salvagable. stuff just isn't made with much quality or craftsmanship..

[trouble]

There is a new, much talked about, flea opening in fort green brooklyn come april! Be hardy my fellow travelers. But I do agree the demise of the 6th street flea (some of the dealers de-camped to the hell's kitchen sunday sale, but it lacks the street traffic) is one of the bleakest moments in contemporary NY's real estate orgy.

[bartleby]

Folks know that the Barnes & Noble in Chelsea is also closing. I understand the Astor Place store to be already gone.

[illlich]

It seems like in the last 5 - 6 years the flea markets have been getting pretty depleted, or at least changing drastically-- fewer old pieces of treasure, more crappy Chinese imports and slave-labor bootleg MLB hats.

And I know what's causing it-- ebay and The Antiques Roadshow. I have actually heard flea-marketeers use ebay and The Antiques Roadshow as justification for their prices : "I won't take less than 80 bucks, cause I saw one just like it on Antiques Roadshow." I even saw a guy with an ebay printout, showing the same model bass guitar selling on ebay for $150, so naturally he wanted $150 for his (ignoring the fact that the printout he had was for a NEW bass, from a chain store, and his bass was used).

[Dale Hazelton]

Yeah, the irony of collecting stuff from the 70's, 80's and 90's is lost on me because most of the stuff is so poorly made or plain ugly. Except for electronics I can't really pinpoint anything else I'd want from the era except maybe certain vehicles (cars are a whole different thing -- I just sold my 85 Cadillac Fleetwood that hasn't run in 6 years and had a creamed front end to a guy who fell in love with it and promised it'd be back on the road soon. I have sellers remorse, bigtime).

Whatever happened to all that "Memphis Style" furniture that was huge in the 80's? I never see it in shops or on the street- has it maintained it's value?

[Doug]

The last comment by illlich struck a chord:
"collecting stuff from the 70's, 80's and 90's is lost on me because most of the stuff is so poorly made or plain ugly."
The poor quality manufacturing (design and engineering) means most of this stuff won't have a life beyond it's initial purchase. People are not spending on things that last. You rarely see older ikea stuff second hand because it self-destructs.

[ebay skip mcgrath]

Flea markets are probably my least favorite place to find stuff to sell on ebay, but last month I did find a set of 10 Folk music CDs in perfect condition for $10. sold them on eBay for $165

[peter kenneth]

Flea markets are incredible , i love them