Rose Bowl Flea Market — Attraction in Pasadena

This is a tourist-attraction disguised as a flea market ... If you're looking for a place to bring visiting family or meet up with friends to hang out (and are willing to spend LOTS of money,) this will work.

But, if you're looking for a traditional flea market (where people are selling their interesting/unique wares and are willing to bargain,) this is NOT the place for you.

The pros: This is, by far, the largest collection of sellers/venders in the LA area (probably the state.) Variety of goods. You'll find a good mix of new stuff, old stuff, vintage stuff, weird stuff. Lots to see here. You'll get your steps in if you're going to exercise. (LOTS of walking here.)

The cons (which, unfortunately, outweigh the pros): Shoppers are REQUIRED to register for Eventbrite account just to buy a ticket -- TO. A. FLEA MARKET that occurs MONTHLY. You can't pay cash to get in. You can't buy an annual pass online, so you have to go online and buy a ticket every month (like paying a bill every month.) If you're elderly and not computer-savvy, this may hinder you from getting a ticket unless you have someone you can ask to help you get online. It's a flea market, not Coachella. It's the only flea market that does this. I'm sure this pays off for the organizers, but some (like me) might find it to be a pain in the azz. That ticket is $12.72 EACH ... just to get in -- TO. A. FLEA MARKET. So, whatever you plan on bargaining to buy, just remember to add $12.72 to the cost if you want to break even. I guess they gotta pay Eventbrite for using their website to sell tickets. This is the highest-priced flea market in the area. Vendors don't/won't bargain. I assume vendors pay a pretty penny to sell here, so you'll find very few want to bargain. (Find the same vendor at one of the other, free-admission, flea markets in LA and they'll be more likely to make a deal.) VERY crowded. You will not be able to leisurely stroll slowly and browse-n-stroll. Instead, you'll constantly be saying "excuse me/pardon me/oops, sorry 'bout that" as people accidentally bump into you, block your path or step on your shoe or push their baby stroller into your heel. Think Disneyland-type crowds with narrow walkways. (This is slightly better if you go in the morning, I assume. But during normal hours, it's so crowded, the shopping experience is not peaceful at all.) If you're worried about COVID, be sure to mask up-- even though you're outside --because it's inevitable that someone will accidentally breach your personal space bubble. Horrible food concessions with amusement-park prices. All the food is horrible, and ridiculously over-priced. $8 for lemonade ... AT. A. FLEA MARKET THAT YOU ALREADY PAID $12.72 to enter. All food options tasted horrible. But, they know you're not leaving, so, they've got you if you're thirsty/hungry. Parking is a LONG walk from the venue ... But this isn't really a fair complaint, because this would be true no matter what event was taking place at the Rose Bowl stadium. (Still, if you've bought something large/heavy, make sure you have a plan for getting it back to your car.) TIRING (which can be a good thing.) There's so much to see, you might get tired before you see it all. My legs hurt from so much walking ... then, when I was done, it was still a LONG walk back to the car.

Wear a hat if it's hot outside. You'll need it.

This isn't the flea market as intended. It's a tourist attraction for the masses disguised as a flea market. It's a one-n-done kind of place ... Like the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- You won't want to go back on your own voluntarily.

If you want a less stressful, cheaper, more authentic experience, go to one of the many other (smaller) markets in the area. Like Disneyland, save this one for when family...

Had a very bad first time experience today due to a cheating and lying seller (at lot Z2), but with a somewhat good ending: Thanks to my insistence on a refund and also the market manager's objective handling of the matter, I was refunded for faked amber stuff I bought after 1 to 1.5 hours of arguments.

In short, 10min after I purchased fake amber from the woman seller, I realized it with other's help. All through the buying process, the seller kept saying they are real good amber, but when I came back ten minutes later, she changed her face and lied in my face that I bought them "2 hours" ago, and told you "all selling are final".

If I still had some suspecions or guilty feelings at all, they evaporated immediately after I heard her lies in my face.

When I left trying to find a police and eventually the security and market manager, she came to the booth to stop me from doing so, offering me to refund part of the money. I refused and told her: even if you refund me in full, or I lose all the money, I am still going to report your fraudulent business behaviors! The manager came and evetually she refunded me in full (she still wanted to kept at least 10%). The manager is a nice man, telling me this is expected at any flea market and her behavior like I explained is unethical but legal. I do not know the legal part, but I thank him for his help, and I can not rate this market very low because of this and because I indeed met more good honest dealers here. I do have my own share of responsibilities, but below are what upset me the most:

First of all: She indeed lied about her fake stuff, while honest dealers would say "those are not real (sterling)", or "I do not know. You have to make yoir own judgement", or orally warning buyers "all sales are final" if not showing a sign as such pre-posted. They do not intentionally lie about their stuff. I had similar refund experiences twice before with honest dealers at the Long Beach flea market, and the sellers did not hestitate to refund me nor lied to me as this woman.

Second: she lied to me in my face when I requested politely for a refund just 10 min later, which literally confirmed she is a truly lier! She initially left to "find the security or police" given my insistence, then came back only with a paper sign of "all sales are final" --she then posted it and claimed it was always there. In reality she never mentioned to me during the selling. She upset me so much that I was determined to have her exposed to the public, or at least to the Flea Market management, if they do care about the market's general reputation.

Third: when she tricked me earlier, she claimed most liers are mid-eastern or Chinese like me (I did not argue because I indeed admit some fellow Chinese cheated on me), definitely not Europeans (like her as a Russian Jew, as she claimed). And her stuff was so precious and real that she had a lot of trouble to get then out of Russia!! I had so many good Jewish friends that I easily believed her.

A good lesson. Yet if everyone fights with those ugly people rather than gave up easily, we can make the society a...

The flea market is rad. Anything you can think that you might want to have for your home you can there. Vendors are all super friendly and there’s clearly a good strong community going on between the sellers and the sellers and the regulars.

I will only mention this as a warning to anyone who wants to eat at the main food part: DO NOT GO TO THE WAFFLE HUT. Wow, the amount wrong with this place is astonishing. There was no line, gave the cashier my order which was a waffle sandwich. The person cooking started to move to make my food and the cashier cuts him off and goes “no no, I have one here already” and grabs a waffle sandwich that was sitting on the counter already. I asked him how long it had been sitting there and he said not very long. The other cashier made eye contact with me and shot me a look that screamed “he’s full of shit” but I stupidly continued with my transaction. The cashier rang me up for $24 to which I told him that the menu said it was $18 (which is already painstakingly expensive, but it is the Rose Bowl) and he told me that the chicken it came with was extra. No where on the menu did it say the fried chicken it came with was extra with the waffle sandwich, but the waffle plate (a separate dish) did have a notice saying fried chicken was $4 extra. I think the cashier was confused when I asked about it and he immediately got super defensive and said “I don’t make the prices.”

I got my meal and took a bite and it was ice cold. As soon as I started walking back to the counter to tell them, the person cooking met me and I didn’t even have to say anything before he told me he would make me another. I appreciate the guy cooking and the other cashier, but god damn, someone needs to train the other cashier because he needs to learn food...