Flea Market Adventures: 17 Things We Found At The Brooklyn Flea This Weekend

Growing up in Oklahoma, making the rounds at estate sales with my mom or thrifting with my friends were regular weekend activities. In a time before J. Crew had besieged our mall, we had to get creative. But thank god for that, because it instilled in me a love for all things second-hand. And if it came with a backstory, all the better.

Since moving to New York, I've become familiar with the variety of flea markets that crop up on the weekends in neighborhoods like Chelsea and Fort Greene. This weekend we (I wrangled our photographer Bobby into documenting the trip) hit the Brooklyn Flea. In the winter, The Flea (as it's called) moves indoors to the amazing old Williamsburg Savings Bank. Vendor stalls set up by former teller windows, as well as downstairs in the bank's massive, walk-through vault. While it's more of a "destination" market, meaning prices are higher and it's not really under the radar, there's still amazing stuff to be found at pretty decent prices (and some not so much).

We waded our way through the offerings, picking up everything from Mexican blankets to restored lighters to a sweet Norma Kamali jumpsuit. We also ate some potato chip-topped organic veggie dogs from the equally-famous food court. Click through the slideshow to see what we got at the Flea, plus a few items we had to admire from afar.