Flea Market Finds #99: Dirty, Disgusting, and Ghetto

I've been told a few times just how lucky I am to have cool flea markets in my neighborhood.  And to a certain extent, I probably shouldn't take advantage of my situation.  There's the monthly, middle class, community college flea market that takes place on the first Saturday of every month.  Then there's the small, yet cozy high school flea market that takes place once a month.

And then there's the Capitol Drive-In Flea Market.

The actual drive-in theater has been around my entire life and was a pretty popular place to go watch movies on Friday and Saturday nights when I was younger.  The last movie I watched there was Casino Royale close to a decade ago.  To put it gently... it wasn't exactly how I remembered it from my youth.  But then again... I'm sure the number of drive-ins around the country have slowly diminished over the past couple of decades.

As for the flea market itself... I figured I'd let a few of my friends and family describe it to you.  I asked seven people to tell me the first word that comes to mind when they think of the Capitol Drive-Ins.

Four people called it "dirty" or used a synonym for that word.  My mom called it "disgusting".  My buddy who sets up at flea markets on a regular basis, said "junk", because there's rarely anything of "quality" out there.  The last word that came to mind was "ghetto", which is pretty much how I'd describe this flea market.

How ghetto is it?  It's so ghetto that people who attend need to use The Club on their late 80's Honda Civic hatchbacks.

Oh... and it's not out of the ordinary to find a jug of urine sitting next to your car in the parking lot.

The good news is... if you're looking for a stolen bike, broken VCR's, headless Barbie dolls, or stained wash cloths, then the Capitol Flea Market is the place to be.  But don't get the wrong idea.  I'm not complaining.  It provides excellent people watching and a great place to take your Sunday morning walk.  And as you've seen in prior posts... every now and then you can find something to buy.

I haven't gone in a few weeks, because it's been either too wet or too cold, but I managed to go out there during my Thanksgiving break.  Here's some "junk" I grabbed...

Purchase #1:  1991 Conlon Collection Set  $3

These cards aren't exactly going to help me retire early, but if you love the history of baseball... than this is a pretty awesome set.  It's filled with guys who played in the early 20th Century and it's an affordable way to add some hall of famers to your collection.


Purchase #2:  1991 Space Shots Series Two Set $1

I've picked up a few of the Series One sets in the past and was pretty excited to find a copy of the Series Two set.  After doing a little research on this series of space cards, I discovered there was some controversy behind them.  If you're interested you can read about it... here.


Purchase #3:  1989 World Series VHS Tape $1

Don't laugh.  I was actually pretty stoked to find this.  Oakland A's fans don't have much to celebrate these days, so we live in the past.  Now all I need is get my hands on a WORKING VCR.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!