Melrose Trading Post — Sunday Market

“So I just... I just really love going to Melrose…”

You can tell the regulars from the tourists in about four seconds. The regulars walk straight past the first two rows, because they already know which dealer got a delivery this week and they did not come to browse.

That is what a market holding the same high school parking lot since 1995 builds. Sellers come back every week. Buyers come back every week. All that repetition turns a swap meet into a neighborhood ritual. Quality is honestly uneven — the hunt is the point — but the crowd is constant: creative, unhurried, unmistakably Los Angeles. Vintage denim, records, furniture somebody refinished by hand, art from people who will happily talk to you about it.

Sundays, year-round, in the Fairfax High lot on Melrose, with a small admission at the gate that goes back to the school's programs.

Bring the friend who claims they never find anything at these. Then watch how long it takes to get them to leave.