David Gonzalez
Staff Writer
Vendors embraced the past as they sold antiques and crafts dating back to as early as the 1900s on Saturday at the Antique Row Collectors Street Faire in downtown Pomona.
Consumers of all ages walked throughout the booths, viewing the different items up for sale of each vendor.
Among the vendors selling their antiques and treasures, some also sold handmade items.
“I enjoy selling my wares and meeting new people,” Liz Valenzuela, owner of As Time Goes By Boutique, said. “It’s a hobby and I make money.”
Valenzuela was selling vintage jewelry, lamps and furniture dating back to the 1930s.
Valenzuela’s hand-crocheted tablecloths, bed linens, doilies and kitchen towels were crowd favorites.
“A lot of the people who come to this flea market enjoy hand-crafted things,” Valenzuela said.
One hand-crocheted item can take months to make, said Valenzuela.
“They are handmade by a dear friend of mine that has recently moved,” Valenzuela said. “She has made them since she was a young girl. She’s 88 now.”
Valenzuela said her friend requested the items be sold, to which she accepted.
“I’ve known her since 1989, we were neighbors,” Valenzuela said. “It’s a lifetime of friendship. We’re like family.”
Roberto Vivar, owner of Vivart, also sold handmade items.
Vivar makes sculptures out of what he called junk, like tools, screws, bolts and trash.
“We sell junk,” Vivar said. “We’re repurposers… Stuff people would typically throw away is what we’re looking for.”
Like other vendors, Vivar also sold antique knickknacks along with his sculptures.
Vivar said he has been sculpting since January, but has been selling antiques for five years.
However, not every vendor on display sold handcrafted items like Vivar and Valenzuela.
Katt Pulido sold vintage toys dating back to the 1960s at her booth in front of Persnickity Antiquity.
Pulido sold items like Disney toys and packaged toys that often came in kid’s meals from fast food restaurants.
“I get toys from estate sales, yard sales and even other vendors,” Pulido said. “I find that toys sell better than most of the other antiques.”
Pulido said she has been collecting antiques for 25 years.
“They like Disney,” Pulido said. “Disney is selling.”
Sylvia Weeks, another vendor at the faire, sold a plethora of Disney merchandise. She said the collection she was selling was called “Carolyn’s Collection”.
“There was a woman by the name of Carolyn and when she retired… Her and her husband had some money,” Weeks said. “And she liked to spend – a lot.”
Weeks sold items like stuffed toys and rare, expensive sculptures with a price tag up to $750.
“I’ve got my reasonably priced items that everyone can afford,” Weeks said. “Then I’ve got my higher [priced items] that everyone just loves to look at.”
The street faire takes place on the last Saturday of January, March, May, September and November.
David Gonzalez can be reached at david.gonzalez9@laverne.edu.
David Rafael Gonzalez is a senior journalism major and LV Life editor of the Campus Times. He has been a three-time editor-in-chief and has also served as editorial director, LV Life editor and a staff writer.