Ruby Rose's Favorite Fleas

Everyone always wants to know, "where do you find your stuff?"...and truthfully, there is no simple answer to that simple question. We hit the road far and wide: from swamp meets and thrift stores to yard sales and secret spots - but our absolute favorite place to score goods is at the flea market. We've compiled a list of our favorites, put these fleas on your radar:

Alameda Flea Market 

aka Alameda Point Antiques Faire

When: 1st Sunday of every month
Where: 2900 Navy Way Alameda CA 94501
Prices: 6 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. ($15), 7:30 a.m. - 9 a.m. ($10), 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. ($5)
Details: More than 10,000 visitors visit per month. PER MONTH! 10K! We clearly aren't the only ones that are head over heels for this fabulous flea market. The Alameda Point Antiques Faire is the largest antiques show in Northern California with over 800 dealer booths, each selling items that are 20+ years old! It is an antique/junker paradise.Alameda by far is our favorite for the overall experience!The variety of merchandise and the displays are so creative. The food vendors and food trucks are amazing and delicious. Plus, for the loading the truck (my least favorite part) this market provides carts to get the large loads to your car and has an area to pull into to load.

Rose Bowl Flea Market

When: 2nd Sunday of every month

Where: 1001 Rose Bowl Drive Pasadena CA 91103

Prices: 5 a.m. - 7 a.m. ($20), 7 a.m, - 8 a.m. ($15), 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. ($10), 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. ($8)

Details:A whopping 2,500 vendors and 20,000 buyers flock to the Rose Bowl each month. This famous flea has been happening for the past 45 years and is still going strong. The Rose Bowl Flea has highs and lows for us. It is by far the best for vintage clothing, leather goods and accessories for us, and we can find what we need and what we cannot live without. The front area has some wonderful offerings, if we were shopping as consumers, this would be great, although when trying to buy for a store, we find the loading too great a challenge. The aisles are way too crowded, and loading zones are not friendly and lastly, there are not many food options, so we pack our own. Oh, and lastly, this is a great place for people watching and star sightings! This is a photo of Ty Pennington shot with one of our favorite vendors, uber chic!

Long Beach Flea Market

aka Long Beach Antique Market

When: 3rd Sunday of every month

Where:4901 E Conant Street Long Beach CA 90808

Prices: 5:30 a.m. - 6:30 a.m. ($12), 6:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. ($6)

Details: "chic, cheap, unique, vintage" is their motto. This is the flea market that started it all for me back in the 80's so it feels so familiar and easy! We love this market for all things vintage, retro, and industrial; and we love our vendors that we have worked hard to build a relationship with here. There are a few clothing vendors, but not as much as other fleas. The loading and navigating the aisles are good; but for food, there aren't a lot of options. 

Melrose Flea Market

aka Melrose Trading Post

When: every Sunday at Fairfax (and starting March 15th every Saturday at Taft)

Where:7850 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046

Prices: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. ($2)

Details: Melrose flea is easy and fun. We come here for clothing and accessories. They have great vintage, art, and trends. It is a small market, but there is great shopping and food all around. And it is only 2 bucks to get in! There is a parking lot and also parking on the street surrounding the market, watch carefully for signs and meters,...we have first hand experience with expensive tickets.

Day 2: 4th St. Retro Row, Long Beach

Before moving to San Luis Obispo, I lived in Belmont Shore, Long Beach. I loved it. I wanted to share some of my favorite places with Stacy, so this is where we went next.

When I lived there, there were only a handful of stores on 4th street. Now there are blocks of them, most specializing in mid century furniture and accessories, and also vintage clothing stores.

After all the junking we did on Saturday, were we done? Not by a long shot! Before we left, we were armed with a lot of places to check out. Kathy is pretty savvy with L.A. shopping and good food, and she told us about a great breakfast place, Urth Caffé--I believe there are 4 locations. We are already looking forward to a return visit, healthy and delicious food and coffee! Thanks Kathy!!

Steve (from the Inn Paradiso post seen here) thought we would all enjoy the Melrose Trading Post which is held every Sunday at Fairfax high school. Thanks Steve!! This flea costs $2 to get in and is a great mix of vintage and art.

This art stopped me in my tracks--it's no mystery which piece i am now coveting, the winnebego of course.

When we asked for a business card, without missing a beat, he sat down, tore the paper and took out his sharpie and drew his card simply and perfectly!

There are so many resources to get info on good places from. We now have Google, Yelp, blogs, magazines and listening to friends and locals of course. On this trip, we used them all. We got lucky on this one!