Things you will need to bring to the Rose Bowl Flea Market: A hat, a water bottle and sunscreen. It gets quite hot and sunny in Pasadena, California. Everything else you have ever wanted to purchase, own, collect, is already there. And we mean EVERYTHING.
It's almost impossible to not find something you've always been looking for. Or something you never knew you wanted. Until you saw it at the Rose Bowl stadium, of course. The reason for this is because there are over 2,400 vendors at the Rose Bowl, separated into four sections categorized as antiques, merchandise, services, and arts and crafts.
“You can find the unimaginable here,” said R.G. Canning Enterprises Inc.'s Chief Operating Officer Dennis Dodson. R.G. Canning Enterprises is the parent company that operates the show. He also happens to be one of the Rose Bowl's founders. “It's so fun to just sit at the gate and watch what goes out. And wonder to yourself, 'What are these people gonna do with that?' as they walk out with an old wagon wheel or something.”
But if there's anything Dodson has learned over the years, it's that everybody has a use for something.
Why else would 15,000 to 20,000 people come to the Rose Bowl each month? The Rose Bowl Flea Market, or aka Pasadena Flea Market, obviously has something for everyone. People even travel from China to meander through the vibrant, eclectic crowds of shoppers and booths, searching for that special something. Something that can only be found at the Rose Bowl.
“Attendee of the Rose Bowl Flea Market pursues through hundred of vintage belt buckles that you probably won't find at your local Kohl's.”
“We call it the flea market fix,” explained Dodson. “You have to have the passion for it. You want to be up at the crack of dawn, go shopping with a flashlight. You want to find that treasure before somebody else finds it.”
The thrill of the hunt. The enchantment of not knowing what – and who – you will end up seeing when you arrive.
It was that “flea market fix” that started the Rose Bowl back in the 60s. Two guys, RG Canning and Bill Thunnell, were acquaintances who possessed the “flea market fix” back then, said Dodson. The three of them, including Dodson, were doing car shows, involved in show promotion, dances... But it was antiques that they really had a passion for.
They'd travel to Brimfield, Massachusetts' world famous flea markets each year to scratch that ‘flea market itch’. But soon they were thinking about how they could have a Brimfield of their own. The three of them were show promotion guys after all. It's what they did. And they did it well.
It started with flea market swap meets at the Orange County Fairgrounds. But that just as quickly started to dwindle, since the fairgrounds “thought it was degrading to their facility.” You see, some people can't see the magic in flea markets. The excitement of the pick. The uncovering of something spectacular. The negotiating. The bargains. The splurges.
So, eventually the team found the perfect locale. Since November of 1968, the Pasadena Flea Market has been happening at the Rose Bowl Stadium on the second Sunday of every month. Always.
“Becoming a seller at the biggest flea market around is a big deal. Customer service representatives assist vendors to get them started in a great new business.”
Of course, it wasn't always as big, said Dodson. In fact, the Rose Bowl Flea Market started of “really, really low key.” They had “just enough sellers” to go around the Rose Bowl's perimeter. About 400 vendors. Nothing to scoff at. But no Rose Bowl Flea Market as it is today either.
“We knew the potential was there. Because of places like Brimfield,” Dodson recalled. “But we had to wait and see.”
And it slowly grew and grew and grew. And it blossomed into what it is now.
“We're proud of it,” said Dodson. “We're proud of our market. And our vendors. We hope people find a treasure they're looking for, or at least have a great shopping experience. That they saw things they don't normally get to see when in the marketplace. Because you can go to a thousand stores and still not find what you'll discover at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.”
And that's because the vendors work hard to dig up these treasures. It's because Dodson, Canning and Thunnell make it so. They've worked hard and long at it. They've produced over 10,000 events over the years.
Said Dodson: “This is what we do.”
And the location itself doesn't hurt anything either.
“It's an amazing location,” said Dodson. “The Rose Bowl just has this charisma... It's the granddaddy of them all. It's a beautiful place to have it. There's a romance to it.”
What better place to have a celebration of antiques or vintage clothing than at the classic Rose Bowl? And what better way to keep “America’s Stadium” alive than with new inventions, new products and new crafts? It’s like a romance between old and new.
Dodson himself loves flea markets for the ‘old’, the vintage items. He's into 50’s stuff. Some 60’s stuff. The era he grew up in. He's always on the lookout for old phonograph records at the Rose Bowl and beyond. To Dodson, it's that sense of nostalgia. But it's also about quality.
“IKEA has no romance to it,” he pointed out. “You buy it, you put it together, it falls apart, you throw it away… Antique furniture lasts forever. For most antiques, as long as it’s preserved, it'll last forever.”
And with it, those antiques share so many stories. Stories of past owners. Of past businesses. Past creators. Past trends and cultures. It's a physical reminder of parts of the past that may otherwise be forgotten. Things that may only be remembered once again at the Rose Bowl.