Thrift shopping in LA is always an adventure. With prop houses practically on every corner, this town’s flea markets are packed with oddities not found anywhere else. You never know what piece of movie memorabilia grandma’s attic might hold or what’s in the basement of that eccentric neighbors crumbling mansion. The Melrose Trading Post takes place from 9am to 5pm every Sunday on the corner of Melrose Avenue and Fairfax. Entry is just $2 and well-worth what awaits inside. Handmade jewelry and clothes from contemporary local designers share the Fairfax High School parking lot with antique vendors. Last Sunday, in addition to rows and rows of beautiful junk, there was an excellent live band, a Steampunk-as-fuck grill and a cavalcade of fellow treasure hunters as colorful as the treasure itself. Also spotted: a van piled to the roof with vintage leather, a tent filled with books and enough vintage cameras and 80s fashion atrocities throughout the market to atract at least half of LA’s hipster population.
