Glendale Community College – GCC Swap Meet

I only saw at most 30 vendors today. I don’t know if it is because of the freaking high temperature or it is just as usual. Price is pretty good compared to other big flea markets. Good place if you want to buy vintage costume jewelry and vintage dolls!

This swap meet is a bit hard to find and get to. It is really small and the vendors began to pack up around 1. Not very many people seemed to be interested in the wares. Which is a shame because it has some potential to be better.

Please be advised the Gcc swap meet is at 1500 north verdugo rd. located in the Gcc upper parking lot. From 6−3pm

What a downer of a flea market.
I set up a pretty impressive booth to get rid of my gently used and outgrown clothes (yes, I still had some clothes from high school I wanted to turn into someone else’s treasure), but the customers here weren’t very impressed with my $ 3 prices. Most of them lowballed me down to $ 1 for each item (I’m nice, I agreed). With the clothes I have left, I will donate. I’ll get more back from a tax deduction than selling each garment for $ 1.
Even more sad news, there are no bathrooms but porta potties. Ew!
It’s a good place if you’re looking for junk, not antiques. But hey, give your luck a try and you might be lucky! Sadly, you won’t find me there again in the future.

One star demotion because I went last Sunday (third Sunday of the month) and though they’re supposedly open until 3pm, 80% of the vendors had already left or were packing up the majority of their stuff by 12:45pm. Lame. Yes it was a hot day, but who leaves 2 hours early? Had this been the first time I’d come here I’d totally be giving it one star and walking away appalled that they call themselves a swap meet. I did still manage to walk away with an awesome cast iron pan and lid but besides that, I was fairly disappointed.

I was there a month ago and it was in full swing.
It’s not a very big market, but I appreciate a FM that’s a managable size.
You can’t beat the price – Free! $ 2.00 for parking.
More like a FM should be. No plastic crap from China, little if any new merchandise.
Not a lot of vintage clothing, either.
Lots of jewelry, household item, bric-​à-​brac.
Enjoy.

Went to this today and I’m pretty sure they have stopped having this event. Bummed!

Location: corner of Mountain Street and the Glendale (2) Freeway.
This flea market is offered year-​round on the third Sunday of the month from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free and parking is $ 2 if you use their lot. (It’s on the top of a hill, so the parking elsewhere is very limited and involves finding small pocket of space on curvy roads with a fair amount of walking.) Their parking system allows you to buying a ticket when you drive in – you put it on your window, that that’s it. Just drive out when you’re ready. They avoid the pain in the butt parking payment system at PCC.
They call it a swap meeting, but the vast majority of stuff sold there isn’t new, so to me, it’s more of a flea market.
I like this flea market better than the Rose Bowl and PCC because it is simply more manageable. The prices are a lot more reasonable as well. You can find some really good deals here. It’s more like a big yard sale (price wise) than the others where it often seems like you might as well be frequenting an antique store.
Many of the same vendors from the other fleas sell here, but they don’t expect to get as much for things they sell here. I repeatedly have heard the dealers complain about how cheap the buyers are at this GCC sale – I guess I’m admitting that I’m cheap. But many of my favorite things in my home were bought from this flea market over the years. Friends are always asking where I got these cool, unique things.
Dealers start shopping way before 8 (I’ve heard sellers saying they set up at 4:30 a.m. for the first dealers). But, I come at 8:15 and still seem to do enough damage. By the way, on a nice day, the view from the parking lots over the Glendale Hills and Los Angeles is beautiful.
Of note, there is a plant seller there who specializes in low-​cost California native and low-​water plants. They are super popular and to get these deals you should arrive well before 8. They are almost all bought when I go by between 8:30 and 9:00.
I’ve found funky art pieces, blankets, dishware, lacquerware, jewelry and jewelry perfect for reworking, framed vintage prints, deco light fixtures, baskets from Japanese collectors, tons of jewelry and pottery from estate sales and god knows where else sellers find this stuff.
The thrill of the hunt searching for which you know you «need» is what makes this such a fun adventure. I usually leave here very happy as i’m out only $ 2 if we don’t find anything to buy. So, you don’t feel so pressured to find something like you do when you pay $ 8-​$ 10 for admission and a long walk from your car parked in a field. The others are much bigger crowds making it a bigger production (hey, you’ll even get circus music at the Rose Bowl now) you’ll need to have a lot more time, money and energy to face.
GCC IS smaller than both PCC and the Rose Bowl, but not too small. The size makes it doable in about 1 – 2 hours and then there is still time for a nice breakfast out on the town.