Treasure Island Flea Market
With the master tenant moving out of our apartment, our space is in a very transitional phase. One of my roommates and I decided to check out the monthly Treasure Island Flea Market to see if there were any Antiques Roadshow-esque finds that we wanted to take home to furnish our space. I was also selfishly in the market for local artists to help with designing bits and pieces of our wedding suite.
Treasure Island sits between San Francisco and Oakland, about a 15 minute drive from our home base in Nob Hill. Normally, I would take public transportation (the 108 goes from the Financial District to Treasure Island), but since we were heading to a place with easy parking on a traffic-less Sunday, I thought it easier to make the drive in the comfort of my own car. Also, if fate were on our side and we were to return with some amazing finds, I wanted to be able to transport them.
Like many other people that live in the city, I had never actually been to Treasure Island. It’s forever been one of those places that I’ve driven by on the freeway. There’s an exit, but I’ve rarely seen anyone take it. This time, fueled by a morning jolt of caffeine, we jumped in the car and hopped on I-80, taking the first available exit to Treasure Island. Just as I suspected, finding the Flea Market was as simple as could be: signage pointed the way immediately following our exit. Presumably the market was the only thing of interest for the weekend.
Entry is typically $3, but we got in free with some discount my roommate scored (woo hoo — $3 for the food trucks!) which made the process easy. The whole place was less Flea Market and more artsy than I had imagined. Flea markets bring to mind half-used jars of nail polish and old out-of-state license plates. This place was home to local artisans peddling everything from clothing and locally produced honey, to paper goods and chalkboards.
We perused for about 45 minutes (that was honestly the extent of the market) and didn’t leave with any notable purchases. I did, however, find a vendor that produces some awesome paper goods, and am currently in the process of securing her skills to help put together our invitation suite. Score!
I don’t know if this is typically the case (though my gut would say, yes) but the weather on Treasure Island was noticeably warmer than in the city. By noon, our cardigans were off and our sunglasses were on. With food trucks lining the Great Lawn (think trucks like Curry Up Now, SF Soup Company, Chairman Bao, and something dubbed ‘Hawainese’), we each grabbed a small bite and posted up on the grass listening to local musicians.
I’ll be honest: it wasn’t as big and happening as I imagined going in. Having entered for free though, it was fun to see and experience. We were back in the city by the early afternoon, but it was a nice way to spend the morning and a good reason to get out of the city for a few hours!
Has anyone else been to the Treasure Island Flea Market? What’d you think?
