Growing up in Freehold, when some one says "hey, we're going to the market" it only can mean one thing, the Englishtown Flea Market, officially known as the Englishtown Auction. It is where you went for food, cameras, fruit and veggies, cheap tee shirts, cheap gold, junk, junk, junk, junk, junk and more junk. There are 5 building housing stalls that sell everything from food, to bras, to musical instruments, to records, to books, to really anything you could want. There are food stalls everywhere, some so, so, so good and some not so good. You can eat your way through the market with burritos and funnel cakes and snow cones, and mini doughnuts and sausage and peppers, don't forget the pizzas. and the bagels, the bagels are oh so good. There is fresh fruit and veggies, there used to be a butcher, and a fish market, not sure if they are still there.
There is Walt's Camera's. When I was younger and still in college, Walt's was a place for me to buy gear. My mom bought stuff from Walt all the time and he carried just enough top level gear to keep me interested. He had great prices and some interesting used gear. He would have 100's of lenses and camera bodies stacked up on the shelves behind the small counter, you had to push thru the crowd to get his attention. But when you did you had it. He would talk for hours about cameras. I stopped by his booth when I visited the market over Memorial Day weekend, it was just a shadow of what it once was. some old musty gear, a few busted up enlargers that would work if you can find the chemicals and the paper to make prints, a board of filters with 1/4 inch of dust on them, a display case with only a few used obscure items in it. Just a victim of the times Walt says, not as much traffic through the market these days and no one wants the old gear anymore.
While you can get everything you need at the market, from your groceries to your clothing, it is the stuff you don't need that makes the market the best. Outside there are what seems like 1000's of tables set up, acres of sellers, think garage sale on a city level. Some are in the same spot every week, but most of the tables are first come first served. You get there at 4am, pick out a table and put your junk out for sale. Sometimes you have sold it all by 7am other times your still looking at it all at 4pm, packing it all up just to bring it back the next weekend.. These tables of junk are where the real treasures are. You probably are not going to find any 'steals' here as they were all picked up at 4am by sneaky dudes who then resell that stuff at their own table, but you find all kinds of stuff that you didn't even know you needed. Toy's, lamps, tires, tools, all kinds of tools from air powered drivers to socket sets to antique hand tools, tools that aren't made anymore and you won't find anywhere else, knobs, nuts and bolts, hubcaps, fishing gear, old sporting equipment, boxes of makeup and toothpaste that 'fell off a truck', clothes from vintage to new, shoes, antiquated electronics that are 4 generations old, memorabilia, baseball cards, old ads, really anything you could think of is there. It is crazy. I have spent the whole day there making 4 or 5 trips to the car with arms full of stuff. Glass 5 gallon water bottles! Old cameras by the box load! Old magazines that might be worth something some day! Just too much junk to remember.
So it was over Memorial Day weekend that John, Sue, the boys and I headed over to get some veggies and some burritos from the burrito lady. I took a bunch of photos, really it was hard not to. I had never really took any there before and I can't remember why I didn't other than our interests and taste in photos change and evolve. I took these pix thinking I could put them up here on this blog. I have never really had a place to show photos like these before. I mean they are not portfolio material, but they are 'good' photos. These days it seems I am taking photos for the joy of it again, not just for work. I like that.
Disks, do any of you even have a computer that can use these?
how long have these been here?
nothing for me in this booth!
Who doesn't need a Perry Como 8 track tape? and where else would you get one?
Just randomness.
Old pipe wrench.
not sure what is in those boxes
fresh green beans
need one for your Toy Story collection?
this is a detail of a box of old keys, maybe 2-3 thousand of em.
If you had an old TV that needed a knob (yes, they used to have knobs to change channels and volume) where else would you find one?
High fashion!
I love me some cherries!
good stuff
Wish I had bought these old fisherman lamps.
