Brooklyn Flea

The Good, The Bad + Ugly was longtime collector Judi's East Village and Nolita vintage shop, which she's reviving at the Flea, starting this Sunday. Mostly awesome '70s clothing, some cool furniture too. E22

Horman's Best Pickles (right) is our latest pickler. (Rick's Picks and McClure's will both be at Gifted all 4 Sundays for the sour (or dill) puss in your life.) Nick (aka "Nicky Pickles") is a philosophy grad student by day, and student of unpasteurized (i.e., old-school) pickling by night. His Long Island family are longtime picklers, and Nick is carrying the torch for Essex St. and Brooklyn legends like Guss', serving pickles out of the barrel for maximum freshness. Queue up for his cukes! E3

Crazy Old Bags is the excellently named 9-year-old vintage-bag business of cousins Danielle and Kerri, who have literally hundreds of stylish bags and some cool jewelry, scarves, that type of thing. Well-edited, nice gals, worth a gander for sure. E10

The Rise and Fall was a groovy shop in Williamsburg, which Joshua and his wife are bringing back at the Flea. Their beautiful handprinted pillows make excellent gifts and come in styles like a peacock (above), skull, and spider web. E11

We met Dino last week through groovy Jean-Paul from Rue St.-Denis (merci!), and he'll be making his debut with mid-century furniture this Sunday. He's an old-school dealer, welcome him warmly! L11

Habib Wani, a Kashmiri rug seller, magically appeared in our inbox this week, and we're looking forward to checking out his handmade Indian wares on Sunday, just like you. L13

Erin's Shorthand Press features greeting cards, T's and more festooned with the elegant and designy craft of, yes, shorthand. Rly gd lkg! E9

Swell Foop is husband and wife team Otto and Anne's organic/sustainable line of T's (and onesies of course) featuring endangered animals. They're out here from Montana for awhile. Cute stuff! E13

Tom and Marushka have great vintage kids winter jackets and snow suits, which they'll be availing themselves of over the next few Sundays at the Flea. Local flava! B19

Black Friday? That seems so scary!

Instead, spend your hard-earned duckets in your community this Sunday, spreading the wealth around to folks who collect antique clocks and design objects, make yummy chocolate and cookies (gift boxes!), paint beautiful pictures, knit cozy hats, print pretty cards--all of which you'll find at Gifted, the fab new holiday market we're launching with Time Out NY this Sunday at the Masonic Temple, across the street from the Flea. (The gorgeous hall alone is worth a gander.)

The outdoor Flea was awesome last week--not too chilly, lots of sun, great vibe with hot cider/cocoa and scarves aplenty--and it's gonna stay that way until our last day of the season, Dec. 21. (Stay tuned to the website for exciting future plans around the corner!)

The regular vendors are braving the elements to serve devoted Fleasters like you, and their awesome wares know no temperature. So check out Gifted inside, cross the street to grab a spiced hot chocolate or coffee, and find a gift with a history at the Flea. It's like Broadway, only without the cheese, horrible music (Senor and Hermano Flea will be providing fun tunes at the Masonic), grime, noise, and annoying people.

The Flea--your eco, 21st Century, local, friendly, interpersonal, feel-good, economy-helping one-stop shopping spot. See ya there!

Sunny day brought out early Hunters this week. A friendly couple of Brooklynites took home the prizes.

Check back Friday at noon for this week's items.

From left:

Matt Cliszis (left) comes from Carroll Gardens to the Flea most Sundays, and as a license-plate collector he was on the lookout, and by 10:33am he had spotted the '64 World's Fair plate. Sydney from Baxter's Bazaar had found a bunch of license plates in a recent house clean-out he did. He's in W20 most Sundays.

John Pomeroy (left) just moved to Brooklyn, to SONYA (South of the Navy Yard), and snagged this pretty scarf (it's tied nicely around his neck) for his lady friend, who happened to be ill in the hospital. Susan Steinbrock was happy to have her creation go to a good karmic connection. She's usually on the Vanderbilt fence around V12.

Really nice items for Hunters this week. Scavenge on!

For newcomers, when you find the item, which can be hidden in any vendor booth, it's yours, absolutely free! Then we post your photo here on the blog on Monday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday at Noon.

Happy hunting!

From left:

1. 1964 World's Fair New York license plate. Vintage (One of several license plates this vendor will be bringing.)

2. Handpainted crepe de chine silk scarf. New/Handmade

So it's gonna be a little nippy on Sunday...so wha? This is the time of year to find awesome bargains and get to know the hardcore regular vendors who are as dedicated and resilient as your local mail carrier (rain, sleet, etc.). Or to meet the new vendors who are so psyched to Flea that a forecast of sunny skies in the crisp 40s means nothing to them. Senor and Mr. B are similarly undeterred by such beautiful fall days--so come say hi, share a brick-oven pizza or a mushroom-swiss scone, and find out what's in store for the Flea's future with them. We'll be there, warmin'. Which is like chillin', but different.

On to the newbies:

Kaffeine + Kitsch is an awesome antiques and coffee shop that Amy and Patrick operate down in Milford, PA, and they're taking their show on the road this Sunday. "Mid-century furnishings (boomerang tables, vintage lighting, iconic chairs), kitschy artwork (including paint-by-numbers), fun barware and ashtrays from the '40s to '60s, souvenirs from off-the-wall destinations (above), Atomic Age kitchenware"--you get it. And you want it. L17.

Eliza Pister is a vintage buyer for fashion designers (many of whom frequent the Flea, we hear), so she specializes in pieces with great detail, fabric and rarity, especially Victorian clothing. She's gonna have great stuff, only with us for a few weeks though. L11

Rebecca and her pal are magazine editors--one classy, the other kitsch--cleaning out the house at their Stoop Spot. Everything will be $1, $5 or $10! From the classy side: porcelain plates, vintage Johnson Brothers serving pieces, hand-blocked stationery, decorative silk and linen pillows, vintage frames and artwork, fabric remnants (ginghams to fine silks), cookbooks, and entertaining books. Kitsch: vintage clothes and shoes, Toreador velvet art paintings (right), '50s TV lamps, ceramic log planters, jewelry baubles, TV trays. Go Gadget go! B7

Itzy Bitzy Patisserie is Mitzy's brand spankin' nouveau macaron-making operation. Not macaroons (coconut, Passover), but macarons, the delicious crunchy and smooth French sandwich creme cookie (right). She studied with French master pâtissier Pierre Hermé, and churns out delish-sounding varieties like chestnut with green tea creme, pistachio, and chocolate caramel pecan. Bon appetit! E5

Plan B Basics is the new venture from Amy and Chuck, whose Brooklyn catering biz Loud Food NYC is 20 years young. "After countless affairs at the Picnic House in Prospect Park, cocktail parties in DUMBO and dinners in the Heights, we are listening to our clients and taking 3 of our most popular items on the road." They'll have caramelized onion relish, tomato-ginger chutney, and mushroom ragout, each an option when dinner "Plan A" goes awry. Yummy. W1

The time has finally come to announce our holiday market, which has turned out to be way awesomer (and more work) than we imagined when we concocted it--all of a few weeks ago.

The Flea has partnered with Time Out NY to present Gifted: A Holiday Market, featuring 40 vendors curated by Senor himself along with TONY Seek Editor Erin Wylie. Gifted will take place inside the historic Brooklyn Masonic Temple--the amazing building with the columns across the street from the Flea--on the 4 Sundays Nov. 30, Dec. 7, 14 + 21, from 11am to 6pm. (The "regular" Flea will of course continue on at the schoolyard during this time, with Dec. 21 remaining our last date of the season.)

We curated the mix of vendors at Gifted to be sort of like the Flea: stuff you can only find there; folks selling beautiful, unique items they made themselves; vintage/antique objects that are distinctive and affordable; snazzy jewelry; cool, quality art; and of course yummy foodstuffs. Our goofy tagline is "Edited + Eclectic for Everyone."

Here are some highlights: Layla, the gorgeous jewelry and Indian textiles shop in Boerum Hill; Acorn, the classy toy shop on Atlantic Ave.; Els Walleyn's beautiful mohair teddy bears--all the way from Belgium!; Flea regular David Sokosh, who will be featuring amazing antique clocks ("the gift of time for Christmas"); Jezebel Stationery, Moontree Letterpress, Perch! Design, and Mollie Dash's Brooklyn-made cards and goodies; Ornaments + Objects' mid-century jewelry and design pieces; I Lampe's lamps made from recycled Saarinen designs and the like; Pop Judaica's "Shlep" totes and menorah subway-map cards; The Flubber Gallery's vintage toys; Reiter8's totes made from recycled sails; and Fine + Raw's scrumptious raw chocolate gift packs. (Click here to see the full lineup; we'll have a proper Gifted webpage up later this week.)

We're really excited about this addition to the Flea, and hope that it becomes a sort of local one-stop holiday-shopping alternative to, say, big boxes or, gasp, Manhattan. Make a connection with the person you're buying from; support someone who lives in your neighborhood; give a gift there's only one of. That's what y'all wanted, right? Right.

Gorgeous flyer design by Noel Claro.

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Blustery day at the Flea, but that did nothing to stop Fleasters on the Hunt.

Check back Friday at noon for this week's items.

From left:

Megan Myers (middle) hops the G train every Sunday from Williamsburg to do the Flea, so she was on the ball at 10:30am for the "recycled bombshell bangle" earrings (made from 155mm bombshells dropped on Cambodia during the Vietnam War) from Lotus Jayne. She's sandwiched between LJ's Katie (left) and Jill). Lotus Jayne is around W35 every other Sunday.

Denise Siebe (middle) visited us (and her Brooklyn pal, right) all the way from Knoxville, Tennessee! She checked the blog that morning for the first time, and by 11:01am she was the winner of the snazzy German porcelain birdbath vase (which evaded Senor's lens somehow!). Peter (dba Anodyne) was pleased as punch to be part of the Hunt. He and his cute family sell inexpensive tchotchkes and clothes in W47 every Sunday.

Rick of Rick's Picks is a master pickler, and we were tickled to see this average guy (Rick the Pickler spreading the brine around?) side-by-side with none other than Martha Stewart on the TV.

Here's the segment, titled "Spears of Influence," which is the name of one of Rick's award-winning jars of love. Rick's at the Flea somewhat randomly, but you can always check his website for fresh picks, not to mention gift ideas!

If you happen to be upstate near Rosendale this weekend, don't miss the 11th Annual International Pickle Festival, featuring Rick and fellow Fleaster Bob of delicious McClure's Pickles. Pickle on!

A more traditional tabletop item joins a piece with a great backstory (read below). Eclectic, like ze Flea.

For newcomers, when you find the item, which can be hidden in any vendor booth, it's yours, absolutely free! Then we post your photo here on the blog on Monday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday at Noon.

Happy hunting!

From left:

1. German porcelain vase, trimmed in gold. Vintage

2. Recycled bombshell bangle, fashioned from 155mm bombshells dropped on Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Hand-cut by silversmiths in a Cambodian fair trade collective. New/Handmade