Brooklyn Flea

With temps in the 80s this weekend, you're gonna have to Scavenge early to win the Hunt. Go team go! (Sunday item coming soon.)
Note: The Fort Greene outdoor market happens every Saturday; One Hanson is on Sundays only—indoors and outdoors. Both 10am-5pm.
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.
From left (click to enlarge):
1. Saturday: Brass spittoon, nuff said. Vintage
2. Sunday: Coming soon! Vintage trunk festooned with flowers. Vintage

Snazzy two-page Flea feature in amNY today, with tidbits on Milk Truck, Pizza Moto, Karen + Al Antiquinaires, Blank Frames, and WrecordsByMonkey—plus this guy Michael who showed up one weekend at the market and made it into the story with a big photo! Love it.

Greenpoint's Permanent Records, an exquisitely curated Franklin Ave. shop, starts its residency at the Flea this Saturday, and we're lickin' our lips. They run the gamut from indie to international and African to blues to vintage/rare to a little techno, all of it good and selected. And proprietor Marjorie is a sweetheart. They'll be in B17 every Saturday.
Permanent joins a fine Flea vinyl contingent that includes Charlie's stash from his former Vinylmania West Village shop (W2), Alex's dollar records and more at Unbreakable Records, Phil's incredible rock and international rarities (Thurston Moore shops from him) at Addicted to Vintage (L5), Mark and Will's picker's delight (B21+B24), and the oodles of other stacks of records scattered around the yard.
Stretch those fingers, dust off those covers, and get diggin' already!
Who's that in the background of the photo from last year's record fair?!

What: Choice Market's Spinach and Goat Cheese Quiche, with a creamy yet light center and a firm flaky crust, baked to perfection.
Perfect for: The early-morning hustlers and bustlers' breakfast, accompanied by that first cuppa Joe.
How much: 5 bucks.
What else: The best real French pastries, including crumble-topped muffins, savory scones (the mushroom-and-swiss is Senor's morning staple), croissants, and everything else that butter, flour, and sugar make perfect. This summer they're rolling out a bunch of new healthy and tasty sandwiches and salads too.
Where: Every Saturday and Sunday (check the vendor layout), or at their Clinton Hill or recently opened DUMBO shops.

The Flea is getting more interactive in 2010 (it is the future after all), starting with a series of innovative "art walks" we think you're really gonna dig.
Our friend Todd Shalom has been organizing these cool conceptual walks for a few years—now launching under the name Elastic City—which are led by different artists who "design their own walks to unveil a new poetry through heightened awareness, sensory exploration and ritual-making," to use Todd's words. You stop, look, listen, and contemplate our fair city in new and unexpected ways, which we can't recommend more strongly here at Flea HQ.
Here's Todd's description of the free "Flea Walks" that artists from Elastic City will be leading every first Saturday of the month, starting this Saturday, May 1.
Brooklyn Flea is a glorious hodgepodge of old, new, found and restored. It's primarily a visual market with a beautiful palate of colors and textures. In all of the excitement, however, the sound of the market can play second fiddle to the visual feast. For Elastic City's launch celebration, we offer the first in a series of "Flea Walks." We'll walk from the Flea around the surrounding area with an attention to how sound informs our experience. During these free walks, we'll explore the colors and textures of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill through active listening techniques.
To take a Flea Walk, head to (or listen for) the Elastic City booth in Fort Greene this Saturday, space B7. Walks start at 11:30am, 1:30pm, and 3:30pm. Check the video for a little sample. And come get arty at the Flea!

What: Brother Opus electric typewriter with "Automatic Spacer Repeat."
Who: Donna and Brandi of Brady & Kowalski Writing Machines, who decided to partner after meeting as individual Flea vendors.
How much: This one's $100. Others range from $75 to $675.
What else: Bring back the clickity-clack with these Mad Men-esque refurbished, design-friendly vintage portable typewriters. This weekend B&W will have a unique selection of electric typewriters, or if you're looking for something special, let them know and they'll source your writing machine needs.
When+Where: Every other Saturday (including this week) in Fort Greene (W44) and every Sunday at One Hanson (#52) with Donna's cool Re-Surface Design lights.

Huge day Saturday in Fort Greene, and One Hanson held its own in the rain Sunday. (Sorry the food vendors were fair-weather that day.) Coupla cuties won the Hunt—from a coupla cutie vendors!
From left (click to enlarge):
1. The early bird catches the fox cup? Kristy (left) and her little girl, of Lefferts Gardens, were out early Saturday in search of Scavenger booty, and just a bit after 10 found themselves winners. Early arrival=another reason to have kids! Frequent Fleasters, Kristy came specifically for the Hunt, and she plans to use her new fox cup for espresso. Her sweet daughter celebrated their win with an equally sweet-looking (strawberry?) homemade marshmallow.
Lovely Susannah of SKT Ceramics sells her wheel-thrown, handpainted porcelain cups every Saturday in E33, and she's become a crowd favorite as a classy ceramicist since starting up over the winter at One Hanson. Her stuff is so cool and subtle, but also eminently usable around the house.
2. Nina (center) came to One Hanson from Clinton Hill Sunday, wasn't even on the Hunt. She was about to buy the crow wall hanging when friendly Phil told her she'd Scavenged a winner. Wood you believe it?!
Phil's Sheepshead Designs is a clearinghouse for everything from botanical prints on canvas to silhouette nature-scene T's to feathered friends screened on salvage wood, like Kristy's crow. If you ask us, he's one of the most talented young designers at the Flea, combining a classic design sense with modern/innovative materials and an ability to update his wares every gosh-darn week. E23 in Fort Greene and #46 at One Hanson weekly.

Despite a litte drizzle, no amount of precipitation could keep fun from these hardcore Fleasters at One Hanson this weekend. Check out their bright shiny faces.

Two lovely animal kingdom friends make the Hunt (the good kind, for them) this weekend, in honor of Earth Day (not really, just a coincidence actually). Scavenge, seek, succeed.
Note: The Fort Greene outdoor market happens every Saturday; One Hanson is on Sundays only—indoors and outdoors. Both 10am-5pm.
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.
From left (click to enlarge):
1. Saturday: Porcelain fox teacup. New/handmade
2. Sunday: Navy blue crow wall hanging, screenprinted by hand on reclaimed barn wood. New/handmade

That's the name of budding taxidermy collector Andy's blog and now Flea business. He's got that cute squirrel (above), an awesome armadillo, a pheasant, even a ptarmigan. We know that stuff (sorry) isn't for everyone, but it's definitely for someone, and we like Andy's small-scale, urban-friendly take on the tax. Check him out in booth #54 at One Hanson this Sunday.