Treasure Island Flea

You probably already know this about me but I love to shop flea markets, thrift stores, garage sales, antique stores, junk stores, pick up stuff off the side of the street, etc.  I live in an area with some AMAZING sales that I’ve never gone to.  After some encouragement from a couple of different people at our Room With a Past sale last week the Music Man and I decided to try the Treasure Island Flea.   Mapquest says it’s only 43 minutes away from our house so I’m not sure why we haven’t gone before.  And after this visit it makes me a little sad that we haven’t gone before.

Treasure Island Flea is in an amazing location.  Treasure Island is a man-made island built in the 1930s for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition.  This world’s fair was held to celebrate the completion of the two largest bridges in the world (at that time), the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge.  The flea is held in and around the World’s Fair building.

Parking is free and there was a lot of it but it was a little crazy.  There were no lines on the parking lot so people just lined up their cars.  Didn’t see any problems.  Looked like they were all used to it.  We just followed the car in front of us.  There was an AMAZING view back to the new Bay Bridge from the parking lot.  BTW, this was my first time across the new bridge.

We came in at the back of the building.  The plaza was a junk-loving vintage-buyer’s dream!  Tables and tarps were lined up and overflowing with junk.  Little stuff, big stuff, lots of man stuff.  The Music Man found trains, knives, pipes, old radios (we’re researching those now to find the style we want to buy), and more.  I sorted through old jewelry, military medals, metal letters, and new and vintage clothes.  Food trucks were lined up around the back edge of the plaza.  Anything from burgers, to tacos, to chowder could be found there.

Then we headed inside the building.  Again… packed!  There was lots of jewelry – new, vintage, and handmade.  Talked with several of the vendors.  They were all really friendly and helpful.  I’m not even sure we saw everything.  As a sidenote, one of my favorite parts was inside — bathrooms with running water!  I usually hate using bathrooms at flea markets.

While the Music Man was distracted by some NFL jerseys I snuck out the front and saw another of my favorite things about the flea –mobile fashion trucks!  I’ve never seen any in person before and they were soooooooo fun!  It was like walking into a closet on wheels.  There was even an old school bus full of vintage clothing.

The front plaza of the building was also full of vendors.  Besides the trucks and the bus there was handmade & vintage furniture, new sports team clothes, one of our old RWAP vendors – Restore and Rework, more jewelry, more food, and lots of other vintage goodies.  And the view on this side of the building was even more amazing.  Across the bay you could see the whole skyline of San Francisco.  My iphone photos don’t really do justice to the view but maybe you can get an idea.

I think I was so overwhelmed by everything that I had trouble remembering what I was shopping for.  I did find some beautiful vintage rhinestone buttons for future jewelry projects.   And I’m SURE I’ll be back for more.  If you love flea markets as much as me please share your favorites with me.  Thanks for reading!