Sunday, October 9 the Rose Bowl of Pasadena hosted its monthly Rose Bowl Flea Market. This event happens on the second Sunday of every month and starts at 5:00 am for early bird admission or 9:00 am for general admission, and ends at 3:00 pm. The price of a ticket is $20 for an early bird ticket and $12 for general admission.

The Rose Bowl Flea Market is an event where many small businesses can set up posts, to not only supply customers with one-of-a-kind items, but to also have a great form of promotion for themselves there. At this event, you can see everything from thrift clothing and cameras for sale to artists sharing copies of their artwork with the world.

The main attraction for most however is the clothes. At the event, you can meet many new businesses and meet the owners of current places you love shopping at. Some of my favorite pop-up shops were hosted by Joy Dreamers, Dead Fresh Crew, KNOWNAME, and Resolve Los Angeles. 

The Fashion

Joy Dreamers

Joy Dreamers is an athleisure brand that sells a variety of clothes like shirts, shorts, hoodies, and more. Their quality is great and the designs are refreshing and unique. Their price points range from the middle of the pack to being on the higher end for streetwear. While their shirts cost around $40, which is decently priced in their market whereas their shorts go for $65 and hoodies go from $125.

Dead Fresh Crew

Dead Fresh Crew is a black-owned business with some of the most unique clothing pieces you can find. Their quality of clothing is top notch and designs come along as well. One piece that stood out was their ‘86’ Moments Shorts.’ These shorts feature some of the larger-than-life black icons of generations past such as Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, Bo Jackson, and Aretha Franklin. Once again though, these shorts do come on the pricier end, at around $110 for a pair of shorts. The quality and originality of the shorts do speak for themselves, however.

KNOWNAME

KNOWNAME is a streetwear brand that specializes in graphic tees and shorts. Their shirts often display pop culture icons and overall legends of their respective fields. They have pieces featuring Kobe Bryant, Barack Obama, Kendrick Lamar, 2-Pac, and many more. Their shorts have unique patterns and come in many colors so they’ll have something for your wardrobe. Their graphic tees are going to be coming at $55-$60, so it’s around the average for custom shirts from small businesses.

Resolve Los Angeles

Resolve Los Angeles is a student-run non-profit which looks to target the issues that LA County is facing. They bring awareness of these issues through their clothing. They mainly have shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, and hats. Resolve Los Angeles just finished a collection featuring the LA river, in which proceeds of the collection were donated to help fund the cleanup of the river. Their current collection seeks to provide funding to the Planned Parenthood offices of LA. The design of this collection features a person’s hand holding a clothes hanger reaching into a hole, alluding to the unsafe abortions happening all over this country. Their prices are affordable, at around $25 a shirt and the pieces are well worth it.

The Food

Along with the clothes, the flea market made sure to keep everyone happy by having food and drinks available to purchase. The flea market had pizza, chicken tenders, and peanuts for example. The star of the food lineup is freshly made popcorn. The popcorn came in many flavors: caramel, cheesy, jalapeño, and the favorite, kettle corn. They had a decent selection of drinks as well. They had water, soda, lemonade, and alcoholic beverages for those of you over 21.

If you’re sitting at home on the second Sunday of the month, consider going down to the Rose Bowl. The admission is only $12 so it’s a cheap way to discover new brands and pieces. From furniture, plants, jewelry, and realistic images of your eyes, to leather jackets, pottery, cameras, shoes, and more the Rose Bowl Flea Market is guaranteed to leave you smiling and with a bag full of a new wardrobe.