Bay Area: Treasure Island Flea Market

On a recent Saturday, we decided to brave the bridge and head over to Treasure Island for a new flea market. Treasure Island is one of those Bay Area places you tend to forget. It is an odd place to reach - you have to halfway cross the Bay Bridge and exit to the left. If you are coming from the San Francisco side, you don't have to pay the toll coming or going - but from the Oakland side you will have to pay up. The views are worth the effort though.

The city on the Bay: View from TI

The Bay Area flea market has seen a bit of a boom in the past year, growing from one major event a month to three a month. The grand-daddy of them all is the Alameda Flea Market (technically called the Alameda Point Antiques Faire) - never been, but I hear it is madness. The Candlestick Flea Market opened last year and again - haven't been. It was rained out most of last fall and we haven't made it yet this year.

The flea market at Treasure Island was an un-expected pleasure. It is still small so parking was simple at 9:30am and even getting there on the Bay Bridge was traffic free (shocking). The space between booths was wide enough that you could move freely and there was a good mix of vendors: steam punk jewelry, vintage clothes, new clothing, furniture (old and new), wine barrels and such, organic plants, costume jewelry, antique metal "stuff", and so on.

As an added bonus, FOOD. The mini-donut booth was awesome. Fresh made donuts with choices of topping. Yum yum. There were hot-dogs and a greek booth. Then there were the food trucks: garlic noodles, waffles and a few others I don't remember because I was so focused on getting garlic noodles.

The final bonus: the venue is dog-friendly and for paying our $3 entry, we received a card for free entry next time. 

And did I mention the totally awesome finds? Thankfully they even have an ATM on site. 

-- Happy Shopping!

One Day in Shanghai

On a recent business trip to Shanghai, I had about half a day to see the city on my own. Not much time so I tried to make the most of it! The night before the team had gone down to the Bund and I was able to get this video. The hotel was all the way out in Hongqiao, so going back to the Bund seemed like a losing proposition.

From my hotel, I walked to the Metro Line No. 2. Long walk but through a pretty bustling area. Construction is rampant in Shanghai right now so good shoes were critical along with close attention to traffic. Unfortunately for me, Line 10 had just opened up and would have been a shorter walk for me. Check online for up-to-date maps for the Metro - things are changing quickly!

My first stop was People's Square. Exiting the Metro, I took exit 7 to the "pedestrian shopping area". Along the way - totally overwhelming the sheer multitude of shops! I didn't have alot of time, but I could have easily done all my shopping in the metro tunnels. When I came up into the open area, there was an underpass to the shopping area. Again - just clearly overwhelming. Nike had a store, Sephora had a store, there were huge Chinese department stores and little alleys with all sorts of shops and restaurants. This area is the East Nanjing Road pedestrian shopping area - in other words, the road is closed to cars which is a very good thing. Since I cannot really describe this area, a few pictures are going to have to suffice:

Since I wasn't really in the frame of mind for true shopping, I headed back to the Metro and hopped on Line 1 to Huangpi Rd South - part of the French Concession area. I had a walking map from my Lonely Planet Shanghai guide and was determined to walk the whole thing. Unfortunately, LP let me down on this one. Much of the walking tour was along busy streets with over-priced tourist shops and high-end namebrand stores. The one big gem out of this walk was the Xintiandi district. The pedestrian area has re-built shikumen and plenty of restaurants. I suspect it is a bit of a Western ex-pat area, clearly designed for tourism, but I still enjoyed it.

In the Xintiandi district, I stopped off for lunch at Aniseed and had some lovely tea and delicious Pho. Yum! Walking further along I came across the Shikumen Open House Museum - absolutely lovely! The entry fee was 20 RMB and some of the best money I spent while in Shanghai.

 Skikumen Open House Museum

Walking further along the walking map, I came to Fuxing park. Pleasant, but nothing spectacular. The acrid fumes of cars from the busy streets even penetrate the parks, taking a bit of the enjoyment out of them.

Finally, exhausted and annoyed I had done the walking trip instead of going to the Taikang Road Art Center, I headed back to my hotel. Time Out magazine is published for Shanghai, and while the website is not in English, I found a printed  version that called out my hotel's neighborhood as a pretty happenin' area. I was intrigued by the park I could see out my window - across the freeway - and decided to give it a try. The park was nice enough, but suffered the same thing problem as other parks in Shanghai due to the heavy exhaust fumes. To make it more interesting, a Metro station was being built in the park. Not kidding. Check out the irony in this sign:

 This sign says "Everyone has duty to protect green". Except the Metro lines...

Not 10 feet from this construction was a bamboo forest:

You can tell from the haze of these pictures how the quality of air is a major factor.

Up by Loushanguan Road were zillions of shops, restaurants and all sorts of diversions. I wish I'd had time to explore, but I had a plane to catch.

Happy Travels!

Las Vegas Creepy

I love Las Vegas, but this little "show" at Caesar's Palace was WEIRD.

Vintage and Antique shopping in Columbus, OH

Things change, I know, but so many great stores have disappeared from the C-bus landscape. For me, the most lamented is Avalon shoes. We stalked up and down High Street in the freezing cold thinking we missed something - but it is gone.

Rag-o-Rama on High Street still exists and reminds me a bit of Buffalo Exchange here in San Francisco. Great for used clothes but you won't really find much in the way of vintage here.

Mad 4 Mod - despite the name - has vintage from many decades. The store is clean and well organized, though I was a bit frustrated by the rack system. They had eye-level racks and above THOSE were another level of racks, which for short people, presented a problem. The staff were happy to help get things down for you with a hook and ladder, but still a bit odd. I was able to find some really terrific stuff here and our salesperson was able to negotiate with us on the prices. Everything I found was in good condition and without odd odors, stains or needing repair work.

Across the street is the Eclectiques Antique Mall. This place seemed endless, but in the basement I found racks of vintage clothes - though not in as good of condition as I had hoped (still bitter over the chiffon dress with the stains on the front). Tons of knick-knacks, kitchen tools, furniture, brownie cameras, old photos and tons of jewelry. What books I could find were not in good condition. It was fun to browse and poke around, but in the end we didn't buy anything here.

Down in the southend of C-bus we found the Greater Columbus Antique Mall. Much like Eclectiques, this place needs time and the energy to really be on a treasure hunt. The vendors here seem to focus more on furniture and "stuff", not clothing.

Finally - the mother lode: Captain Betty's in Delaware. She keeps odd hours: Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5pm. However, this small store is packed with good, quality vintage. Feel free to snoop in the boxes and drawers and baskets for more clothes and jewelry. Betty herself is a unique lady - approaching 70 years of age, she knows her business and if she likes you, she will bring styles to you to try on and play dress-up on you. I have heard if she isn't in a good mood or doesn't like you, she can be rude - but we didn't experience this. She worked with us on prices and I walked away VERY happy. For the guys: she has a great collection of mens' suits and clothing.