Big Daddy’s

The Rose Bowl Flea Market was on Sunday, but Sheila and I arrived in Los Angeles early Saturday morning. Our first order of business was to go directly to Big Daddy’s Antiques Warehouse. If you recall, I found out about Big Daddy’s from Vignette Design and it was the first booth Marissa, Dave, and I visited last month at the Alameda Point Antiques Faire.

Big Daddy’s not only participated in the Rose Bowl and Alameda markets, but they also have warehouses in both San Francisco and Los Angeles.  You may also remember that I was coveting the Turkish olive baskets in Alameda and then found one back home in Arizona. Well, the same baskets line the steps up to the front door of the LA warehouse. I took that as an excellent sign that there were more good things to come!

I can honestly say that I did not see more than a small handful of things in the massive warehouse that I would not love to call my own.  Big Daddy’s did not disappoint when it came to inventory, but when it came to prices…. ouch!!!

We spent well over an hour and a half in the store but walked out empty-handed and pretty darn discouraged and disappointed.

I was on the verge of purchasing the gorgeous HOWE scale above, but I could not justify the high price tag and ended up passing it by.

We got a bite to eat and drove on to Pasadena to find Silverlake Architectural Salvage. The merchandise was nothing like what we’d seen at Big Daddy’s but then again neither were the prices.  I found a few little treasures here and our anticipation for the flea market in the morning was restored.

This was purchase number one – a bank of brass mailboxes… keys and all!

I also found a vintage folding shopping cart.  Sheila has one just like it at home and wanted to bring it along for the market but was afraid it would be too big to carry on the plane, so she had to leave it behind. See it there with the vintage grain sack? We used that to line the basket and hold all our finds as we strolled through the market on Sunday. I also found the window pane and the glass door knobs at the salvage yard. I’m thinking of using the knobs as tie-backs for the curtains I made last month from drop cloths on the patio.

As for the window pane – here is a little sample of my plans for it!  Stay tuned for more finds and market stories coming up tomorrow…