Rosebowl In Los Angeles
Coming from Truckee, California I woke up early and got on the road around 6 am. Excited but nervous I headed south to LA. The forecast was showing rain but the show goes on either way. My mother and father arrive with me around 5:30 to help me set up. I love my family but woofoo it is hard for me to work with them. My business succeeds thru interaction with customers and I need my booth to shine so no dad no sleeping, even though we woke up at 4:30, no one that is dressed in sweat pants "mom" cough cough, Im sorry everything counts. If you do not have a appealing booth, its not going to happen for you. My neighbors around me were all very competitive, they would run thru my booth, check out what I had in here but not say hi, weird right. Interesting because my normal street fair is not like that. But guess what we are in La, and i guess this place is different. People actually think they are cool, they have money, all the trends are booming and people are just closed off. I left this place because of all that. I love visiting and I know that there is a huge market for me so I will drive down to work but I never want to fall in those categories of LA transplants sorry! So Sunday it is, we arrive and park and get here super early, people were walking around with flashing lights, trying to find the best prices and bargain.
My family and I set up and I am super nervous. I get a little cranky and have a hard time giving direction so if you do not know how to help, watch out I might snap. Setting up takes a while and when you have your own vision its sometimes just easier to do it yourself. Everyone is tired but I am thriving with adrenaline. I chugged a beer in my car, to calm my nerves and walked around. I wanted to see other peoples booths. I did not fit in but that is ok, I guess sticking out isn't so bad. My stuff is all tagged, fairly more higher then others. My clothes are all hanging up on racks and everyone was way more flea then me. Maybe no purpose to the normal eye but to all those antique shoppers, this place was a hidden gem.
Obviously I like more western things, denim, pearl button shirts, cowboy hats, army jackets and actually some 90's surf clothes from everywhere but I was just out there. People thought I was crazy to have driven 9 hours just to get here. Yah i didn't make as much money as I was thinking but it was a huge learning lesson for me. I grew so much that Rosebowl. Spent every cent I had with gas and the spot and barley made it home braking even. It sucks but I want to go back. I want to try it again because I really think if I could double my profits this time, then I could actually come back with some cash and imagine the rest of the journey. I love California, the weather, the sunshine and I just miss being in the city. Not the people at all they all suck, sorry but I DO want to talk about one person I did meet. He was the booth across from me. He had a black van. He was directly across from me and was unpacking this van all day and he never stopped moving. I swear it was so incredible. He had a ton on vintage for sure but somehow my pops said hi to him and he broke the ice. That guy that was probably the biggest Vintage seller in the world was actually a super genuine guy. I was like "do you have a Netflix show, and he said yep!" I was tripping because I have watched that show probably 15 times. It was such a plesaure to meet him because everyone else was v lame and not friendly. He said he was from Boise and that made all the sence. I hope I meet him again, I swear hit stuff is incredible! @junkyardjeans look him up on instagram!