Brooklyn Flea

Wondering what to do with the fam/out-of-town guests or your own staycation this holiday weekend? There are nearly a dozen new Flea vendors to ogle and admire this Saturday--and your guests don't need to know that this is actually true every weekend. It's a special event!

Our pals from Layla, the fab Indian textiles and jewelry shop in Boerum Hill, will be setting up in Fort Greene for the first time. They have great deals on their gorgeous colorful merch, all of which is summery with a cap "s." B8/FG, Sat

Hide (HEE-day) has been scoping the markets for months now, figuring out what to bring to blow Fleasters away. He's been in the styling biz for years, and specializes in vintage furniture, guys and gals clothes, and jewelry that he makes himself out of cool keepsakes like buffalo nickels and the like. He's talking up his suitcase collection too. High hopes for Hide! V8/FG, Sat

Judi is a dealer and designer operating as Studio 357 up in Cos Cob, CT, but her heart is still in her old stomping grounds in Brooklyn Heights. Her self-told synopsis: "With a suitcase and $50 after college in my home state of Minnesota, headed for NYC with a General Design degree and a thirst for the Big Apple. Designing spaces and shopping for clients for years, the collecting bug hit hard! Every item has a story line and a past. I try to have knowledge to share with my customers--when they look at the chair they bought they can pass on the story." 100% Flea Spirit. Among her stuff on Saturday will be four chairs from the Bozo the Clown estate (above right)! B23/FG, Sat

Brooklyn Aloha is a cool next-gen newbie booth. Cutie Michi (right) collects vintage Hawaiian dresses and accessories, and also sells awesome Lauhala-style straw hats that her Aunt makes back home on the island. Abby's handmade clothing, vintage clothing and jewelry is inspired by Hawaiian style. And up-and-coming shutterbug Maori sells her beautiful photos from Japan, Thailand, and NYC, great stuff. E20/FG, Sat

Arbor Arts is a cool Brooklyny photo project. Laura takes black-and-white shots of letters and symbols that naturally appear in tree limb and branch formations, often in Prospect Park. She does single images (hearts, etc.) and also words, especially names. Check out her booth--words don't do these images justice. E29/FG, Sat

Les and Loretta are scurrying up from Estrous, PA, and they've been in the game for a minute. They heard about the Flea selling at Brimfield last week, and this Sunday they'll be taking a turn in the 81 Front St. Dumbo market for the first time. Here's what Les tells us is his specialty: vintage Bakelite, coffee pots and percolators (above left), and firemen items. C'mon! 17+18/81 Front, Sun

Stylistic Alert! Ingrid is moving and has everything "from vintage folding bikes to clothing to paintings." She must get rid of these items--help her! V17/FG, Sat

Melinda is a shelter-mag writer from Cobble Hill who's also an eagle-eye collector. She Flea'd a couple times last year, and she's back this Saturday, in her market guise as The Larkin Idea, with pal Alexis. Vintage and antique china, housewares, jewelry, stamps, ephemera, all neatly displayed and ripe for consumption. L2+3/FG, Sat

Clifford and Alisha have been in what they call the "junk/collectibles business" for just a few months now, an offshoot of Cliff's father's Hawley, PA, biz. Here's a list of stuff they hunt for: "folk primitive kitchenware, old art and photography books, small flatfiles, lamps, handcrafted chairs, depression glass collections, antique folding tables, handpicked photographs, artworks, crafts and prints, wonder-objects, like antique viewfinders, stereoscopes." Wow! Their outfit is called Chicken Dolphin--no idea why. Ask 'em! E18/FG, Sat

Arthur Strelick has gorgeous jewels and jewelry, and also all these cool Civil War artifacts (right). His glass cases are meticulously organized and browseworthy to the max. (Buyworthy too of course.) V16/FG, Sat

Buzz Alert: Old pal Melissa Lohman Wild will be showing (and selling) her new documentary about NYC's rooftop beekeeping community at the Flea on Saturday from noon to 3pm in the Groundworks booth (W30).

It'll be looping on a laptop, and you can check out the short film (logically titled "Rooftop Bees"), chat with Melissa about John Howe, the Fort Greene beekeeper in the film, and chat with Alice and Carmen from Groundworks about the bee-friendly plants and flowers they'll have for sale this week (lavender, bee balm, tomatoes).

Urban beekeeping is all the rage these days, so come see what all the buzz is about.

Heather was trying on dresses at Cherry Vintage and checking out her steez at Kimono Lily's mirror. The dress was so great I almost wanted to tear it right out of her hands. But then I thought about what Michael Corleone always taught us: keep your friends close but your enemies closer. What up new BFF!

Where are you from?

Omaha, but now I'm in Prospect Heights.

If you were going to sell at the Flea, what would it be?

Vintage dresses. Or ice cream. Or macarons--those French-style ones.

What are you doing after this?

Going to band practice. We have a gig tonight at the Bell House for popfest.

What's your band called?

Eux autres.

What did you do last night?

Went to bed early so we wouldn't be hungover for our show.

Finish this sentence. Brooklyn Is...

Always surprising.

Thanks Heather!

Gosh, I never knew the Flea would be so cool as to be best friends forever for a week with a real live rocker. Just goes to show: you never know who you are going to meet at the Flea. Until next Wednesday, y'all.

We'll be profiling our regular vendors every week from now on. They're all characters, trust us.

Have you met Long Island Eddie? He's the sweet dude in the sweat pants and beard with the old-school accent selling second-hand furniture and custom-made farm tables in a triple booth on the Clermont fence every Saturday.

For the last 20 years, Long Island Eddie has been traveling the country buying from estate sales and markets, selling at antique expos--doing the traditional vendor thing. He speaks in terms of truckloads, warehousefuls, containers, and the like. Eddie's precisely honed skill makes what would/could be a 500 dollar bench cost 175 clams for you at the Flea. Repeat customers abound, naturally.

But Eddie also does the unconventional thing. Custom-made farm tables and benches are his specialty, and he takes orders at the market--check out the samples in his booth, and in the Long Island Eddie slideshow below. By the next day, dedicated Amish folks will be working hard on getting your table delivered to the Flea within the next three weeks.

Since there is no longislandeddie.com, .net, or even .biz, check this slideshow for a snapshot of Eddie's stuff. And while your checking him at the Flea, also take the time to peruse the jewels of his pal Susan, who displays with him every week in his booth.

Reach old-school Eddie at 631.286.5564.

Kids, kitsch, kitchenware, camaraderie, kimchee--connected by ze Flea. Enjoy.

The Hunt was all up in your (tabletop) grill on Saturday, which dodged another weather bullet at the Flea. It must be spring somewhere!

Left to right:

Sara (right) is a journalist who just moved to Fort Greene and made her first Flea visit this week. Logical progression: move, unpack, buy more stuff at the Flea--or just Scavenge for a vintage electric grill. Phyllis is an OG Flea vendor whose blog Reclaimed Home about renovating her Bed-Stuy brownstone has morphed into her offline booth of eccentricities, rejuvenated household items, and bizarro trinkets. Phyl=serious hoot. She's around C6 every Saturday.

Kristin (second from left) comes on the regular from Red Hook, because she enjoys the "unusualness" of the market. Alice and Carmen (right) of Groundworks, a southern Brooklyn nursery, sweetly donated the potted succulents, which were discovered right quick. Groundworks is right up front in W30 every Saturday--for all your horticultural needs.

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

Hunt and peck for this week's items, which are a pretty nice cross-section of the Flea overall.

When you find one of the items above, which can be hidden in any vendor booth, it's yours, absolutely free! Then we post your photo with the generous vendor here on the blog on Monday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday around Noon.

Happy hunting!

From left:

1. Stainless steel tabletop electric grill. Vintage

2. Readymade succulent garden (takes hot sun and very little water). Natural/earthmade

Phyliss Asher is a Brooklyn-based prop stylist who's whittling down her collection of vases, lamps, collectibles (above)--and vintage Playboys. She does the Flea when it strikes her fancy--she killed in Dumbo in February--and her stuff is picture-perfect. B20/FG, Sat

Flea Snack Alert! Melanie and Steve, the pop-up pup purveyors beyond Asia Dog, will debut tomorrow in Fort Greene with their kimchi, banh mi-style, bbq pork belly, and more styles of tasty weiners. They got your old-school, chicken, organic, and veggie varieties of dog, which have made them a big hit at Trophy Bar in Williamsburg on Tuesdays. Grub Street likes 'em, so will you. F4/FG, Sat

Jennifer and Andrew live around the corner from the Flea, are avid Fleasters, are now ready to share their collecting acumen with you. Their booth, Gentleman's Outfitters, will feature men's vintage clothes and shoes--Burberry, Barneys, Paul Stuart, etc.--and a nice little collection of records and accessories. These local but sophisticated booths are pure, unadulterated, distilled Flea--sip them like a fine aged Rye. E17/FG, Sat

Cherry Boutique is a swanky vintage shop on 8th Ave. in the West Village, and now Randy and friends are busting their Flea cherry with top-notch mens and ladies 20th C. garb. They're bigtime, and also move a ton of Joseph LaRose shoes. B1/FG, Sat

Asya comes to the Flea from Pawtucket, RI (go PawSox!), via St. Petersburg, Russia (and the Slope), and her delicate porcelain tableware is almost painfully pretty. Butterflies, mustard-seed pods, cherry blossoms decorate her Gleena bowls, cups, and vases (right), without being saccharine and annoying. A keeper. E18/FG, Sat

Jen's totes and T's as Black Sheep Heap say things like "Beet the System" and "Avant Gardener," and although we generally eschew the pun slogan, her aesthetic and process remind of Bread + Puppet and '70s country fairs, so we "dig" it. E25/FG, Sat

In addition to releasing a Bill Laswell-produced electro-funk album as Vodu 155 in 1995, Lionel and Constant are old-school Fort Greeners who now hang at the Flea on Saturdays. They have affordable vintage lamps, housewares, and some records, and Lionel also makes these awesome painted and sequined wine bottles that are the right decoration for an artsy pad. E23/FG, Sat

David's Artisan Emporia is a cool new fair-trade online shop for stuff like colorful telephone-wire baskets, totes made from recycled feed bags, lavender soaps from Zambia, silk scarves from Laos. Proceeds go to local artisans all over the world--you know the deal--and we like Dave and his outfit and his positive outlook. E16/FG, Sat

This weekend there was some serious hotness chillin' at the Flea. It was super-hard determining who was going to be our best friend for the next seven days. But after being hypnotized by the the prosciuttorized pig thigh at Salvatore Bklyn Ricotta, I came face to face with ma girl. Meet Homa.

Where are you from?

Boerum Hill, originally from California, and before that, Iran.

If you were a vendor at the flea, what would you sell?

Dresses.

Do you make dresses?

No.

Awesome.

Finish this sentence: Brooklyn is...

Schizophrenic.

What are you eating?

One of Betsy and Rachel's cannolis.

What are you doing later?

I'm going to DC to help my sister move.

And what did you do last night?

I watched Ernest Goes To Jail.

Hot.

Thanks Homa!

See y'all next Wednesday!

Quickie update on some Fleasters in the news this week.

Justine's Nunu Chocolates (above) got some well-deserved NY Times Flo Fabricant Dining section coverage today, focusing on her snazzy new Atlantic Ave. shop (between Nevins + 3rd Ave.). She's at the Flea every Saturday in E2, without fail.

And the Flea was on the cover of the Metro free paper on Monday, with big pics of Papushka Vintage and Treasures + Pleasures adorning it. Brooklyn is now a "haven for the anti-mall experience"--but you knew that already.