LONG BEACH FROM PORT TO FLEA MARKET

The Long Beach Flea Market, or Antique Market, occupies twenty acres of Long Beach City College once a month.

It’s a full house of everything you’d ever want to see, just maybe not all in your house.

The exciting part, like shopping any flea market, is the big score.

If it’s not something you’ve been looking for, it’s something the grabs you, holds you, and you can’t leave without it.

Paul Revere silver? A Rembrandt hidden behind a framed picture? Yes.

By the end of the day one question echoed in my brain: where does all of this stuff come from?

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a smaller scale it comes from the garage, the crawl space, the attic.

Yours and mine.

Mid-century modern, Middle Ages, Roman, and Native American, a river of material flows in on a high tide, and leaves on a low.

My group included an ace shopper with a Terminator eye for value, hey Lisa, someone compelled to buy something, hello dear, and me taking an inventory of everything.

I can report with precise accuracy: Everything was there.

But the question remains: Where does it all come from?

Where will it come from in future flea markets fifty years from now?

One answer came on the drive out.

 

Long Beach Port

Long Beach and San Pedro are the biggest ports of entry on the West Coast, the busiest in North America.

How busy?

The busiest in the Western Hemisphere.

It looks like this, moving north from Long Beach to San Pedro in what looks like the same port.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The scale is immense, and one question asked is, “What’s in all of those containers?”

The best answer is the same as the answer for the flea market: Everything.

No one can predict what will make the journey from shipping container to flea market in fifty years, but based on quantity it will be a lot.

Look at everything made in China, then consider the biggest shipping ports in the world.

#1 is in China. Four of the top five are in China.

With so much coming in, how much will make it to the Long Beach Flea Market?

 

Fifty Years In The Future 

If you start collecting now you’ll have a good show set up for later.

Not everything is built for the long term, so that narrow the scope of things.

In the museum world an ordinary thing like a bottle used in cooking gains value if the original packaging is intact.

It’s like having matching numbers on all of the parts and pieces of a ’63 Corvette. (Hey J)

Will the hot items be Pokemon cards? Beanie Babies? Hot Wheels?

Or, something else?

Check the top toy manufactures in China for ideas.

Then check your storage.

The younger generations need to get started.

I’m looking at you Alpha Gen, Zoomers, and Millennials.

You’ll want to get there before Gen X and Baby Boomers run the table with your childhood memories.

In other words, Follow That Truck.

 

 

PS: Is everything a collectible?

PSS: Trust your instincts, kids. If you have any doubts, ask Ma and Pa. Good luck.