It's Always Sunny in LA: February 2012

Monday, February 13, 2012

#45: The Rose Bowl Flea Market

I have become a recent fan of flea markets, in particular the weekly one near my neighborhood called the Melrose Trading Post. I've been about 7 times and have always come home with new treasures. But you can't become a flea market fan without eventually hearing about the Mother of all the flea markets - the Rose Bowl Flea Market, held once a month in the giant parking lot of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Loyal and die hard flea marketers have been flocking there for over 40 years!

The market only comes around once a month on the 2nd Sunday, so Barbara, Lana, Dan and I planned a trip for February. Lana and Dan are getting married in May and wanted to find inspiring vintage accents for their wedding decor. Barb and I were looking for cowboy boots for our impending trip to Nashville, as well as a few other things. And of course, we were all open to uncovering any of the many treasures the flea market had to offer!

After suffering through 30 minutes of traffic just to park, we walked through the gates, paid the $8 entrance fee, and headed into the sea of vendors. There are over 2,500 vendors that come monthly to the market, and tens of thousands of patrons. It was overwhelming to say the least! We veered to the left as we had heard that was towards the vintage vendors. To the right was apparently all the new and hand-made crafts vendors, but we didn't have time to even peek at that side.

It took us a while to get going. The place was a maze of booth after booth of mostly overpriced vintage/used goods. As it is with any flea market, you have to hunt for the good stuff. I made the first purchase of the day when I saw a table covered in a massive tangle of gold jewelry, and some hipster girls digging through it trying on different bracelets. I noticed a very thin gold bangle, and fell in love. I began to dig through the pile and found 9 bangles, all about 2 millimeters thick, and all with different etchings in them. They are now my new favorite accessory, and all together cost $10. I had to hunt, but I found a treasure!

After my initial find, we were on a roll. Barbara found a berry-picking bucket (adorable), Lana and Dan found three fantastic shabby-chic frames (I'm going to help them make chalkboards), I found a gold-filegree mirrored tray for $5, then Barb and I found our biggest prize. We wanted to find the perfect vintage boot for our Nashville trip, so as to not look like tourist posers in brand new boots. After trying on boot after boot that didn't come close to fitting (apparently cowboy boot sizing is different than normal shoes and is completely incomprehensible) I found the perfect pair. A warm shade of reddish brown, with a slight heel, they fit like they were made for me! I was ready to drop some cash on the boots, and the seller told me they were $15. I could hardly believe it! Barb found her own camel colored beauties only a few minutes later, for $20.

By that time, the market had gotten super crowded, we were hungry, and our shopping bags were full. We meandered towards the exit, and were out of the Rose Bowl in minutes.

The Rose Bowl Flea Market was a BLAST. It was overwhelming, sensory overload, inspiration galore, and overall a fairly inexpensive way to find beautiful vintage found objects. I can't wait to go back - and to go earlier! Admission is more expensive in the morning, but the crowds will be lighter and the goods will be even better!

They give $2 bills as change!

Lana and me - showing off our flea market fashion!

#1 most over-priced items at the flea market - vintage books. You can find these at thrift shops for $1. The cheapest ones we found at the flea market were around $10. Ridiculous.

Lana perusing vintage books before she saw the price tags.

These jars were beautiful and inspiring, shining in the sunlight!

Perfectly worn shutters gave me lots of craft ideas.

Trying on my fab cowboy boots!

The flea market definitely had a carnie feel - complete with carnival music as we entered and exited!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

#43: The Grammy Museum

You can't walk far in downtown's LA Live Plaza without seeing the huge grammy plaques inlaid in the sidewalk.

I figured they were the musical take on the Hollywood walk of fame, but only when I actually read the plaque did I realize that it was advertising the new Grammy Museum, tucked on the north-east corner of the LA Live complex.

Even though I work in the film industry (and LOVE to participate in our office Oscar prediction pools), I have always loved the Grammies the most of all the awards shows. I was never as interested in the winners as much as I was in the performances, the fashion, and the outrageous stage crashers... soy bomb, anyone?

We headed to downtown, found parking on the street (!!!) and paid the $12 admission fee. The museum is 4 floors, and they tell you to start on the top floor, which is dedicated to exploring and learning about all genres of music. As you could imagine, dedicating a single floor of a museum to all genres of music must have been a very overwhelming undertaking. However, they did a really good job. The majority of the exhibits were interactive, where you could read about a type of music and hear a clip of that genre through headphones. There were several stations with 5-minute videos on genres like classical, pop, gospel, and folk. The highlight was the station in the center of the room, which used touch technology to explore how all the different genres are connected. For instance, my station started on Rock n Roll. I read a paragraph about rock n roll, heard a few clips from famous artists (Elvis and Roy Orbison), and then had the option to select several other related genres - country, rockabilly or progressive rock. I selected country, then honkeytonk, then folk, then cowboy, then roots, then blues, then jazz, then freestyle jazz, then classical, etc etc etc. I stood at the station for at least 30 minutes, absolutely enthralled with all the visual and audio information.

For as much information as I was faced with on that single floor of the museum, it wasn't overwhelming. It was easy to absorb, and we headed down to the third floor with our heads spinning with musical knowledge.

The third floor is dedicated to the Grammies in general. There was a gallery of all the different Grammy trophies through the years, famous outfits worn at the Grammies -like JLo's green dress, Katy Perry's fruit outfit, etc (see below), and a small theater playing a loop of the best Grammy performances. It was fantastic! And definitely got me pumped for this year's Grammies.

There was another room dedicated to Michael Jackson, with videos of his several Grammy acceptance speeches and performances, and a row of all his fabulous, glittery military jackets. Up close, they were breathtaking. So fancy and fit for only a performer like MJ.

The 2nd floor, and a main reason why I wanted to go to the museum, is for the changing exhibits. Now through the end of March, the museum is featuring George Harrison: Living in the Material World. It featured artifacts from every phase of his career - handwritten lyrics, guitars, sitars, photos galore, and clothing. The most interesting thing I learned from that exhibit (since I already do know a lot about George) was how TINY he was. His suits were no taller than me, and the pants were the size of twigs! It's hard to imagine that such a larger-than-life person really was so small in "real" life.

Overall, the Grammy museum was a great experience. As a lover of music, I very much enjoyed seeing all the "greats" from over the years being recognized. Learning how all the different genres of music connect was fascinating, and I wouldn't mind going back just to explore the top floor again. Most of the time, interactive museums are exhausting, but this one was done really well, and the interaction was essential to the experience. I highly recommend spending about three hours and checking out this museum!