Swap Meet of Ventura College

Literally the only good thing about living in Ventura.

The guy selling incense (I think his name is Ron) was awesome. He very knowledgeable and extremely honest. His prices we at the wholesale level so I bought a bunch of stuff.

I came and they had all these cheap things, from food to clothes. It was in a college so it was interesting!

This is the closet you can come to going to one of the a bizarre s in Tijuana… without the drive.
The stuff here is so cool and not what I expected however it is a heavily Hispanic swap meet. The sheer amount of culture here is amazing.
The Ventura swap meet has more «swap meet stuff. like tools and old stuff like remotes and cables for different appliances and computers.
I have never seen Birds for sale at a swap meet before, Cockatiel’s, finches and love birds
Oxnard is only different from Ventura because it has all new stuff; from food, to dresses, household supplies and shoes. less food trucks too.
The crowd was ridiculous, the sub culture here was amazing and the social aspect of the Latino community was very well represented on all fronts.
I think i will need to brush up on my Rosetta stone before I return.

I’m a local-​yokel at heart, relative newbie, retired to West Coast after lifetime in Great Lakes, and really like to cook ~ longer i’m here, more Local the shopping appeals.
Ventura College market outdoor [never rains, not to worry] ~ plenty of parking and aisles are wide = handicapper friendly … adjacent to public campus and assume appropriate public facilities inside.
Regular weekend market blessing to any local Foodie, but to one trying to get familiar w/​Mexican cooking technique & style is probably worth pilgrimage w/​list & culinary questions firmly in hand ~ every kind of dried bean & chili imaginable available, as is plenty of ‘free advice’ …
Language not a problem.

Update: I got a message from the organizer of this event who clarified that the «no sale of pets» was not intended to apply to birds. I do not agree that this is a good policy and still will not revisit as long as live animals are sold here.
I stopped in briefly to check this out because I’d heard good things about it. Most of the booths I saw were cheaply made new products from Mexico or China rather than garage sale sort of items. It looked pretty typical for a modern «flea market» with lots of commercial vendors. The reason I’m giving this one star is there was a booth with live birds for sale and one of the cages full of parakeets was hanging in direct sun with no shade for the animals. For one thing, animals cannot be sold as pets in the market (per organization rules), and vendors cannot bring their personal pets. Beyond that, it’s not acceptable to leave animals in direct sun with no access to shade.
I will not return to a market that conducts itself this way.

Update! I went today looking for a small black backpack purse… found a beautiful one for 7 bucks. I LOVE IT

This is the best Swap Meet in the Ventura area that I have found. The vendors are all extremely reasonable and there are at least 100 different booths. The first time I went I was just expecting produce and maybe some junk I don’t want, but there are vendors for housewares, bedding, children’s clothing and toys, tools, jewelry, hair and makeup products and every kind of clothing product you can imagine (there are a lot of nice shoes, handbags and accessories new in the box and deeply discounted). The parking situation is pretty good so you don’t have to walk too far, and you can bring the whole family as there are pony rides and treats the kids will like such as kettle corn and snowcones. If you are from elsewhere and making a trip down for the Swap Meet, the beach is just a short drive down Telegraph to Seaward street, so you can take the cute new beach things you find at the Swap Meet and have fun at the Beach with them.

Never know what to expect. Stoked on the location but hard to park and the items are tough to find. Will keep checking it out though.

There is a vendor there that makes these really cool necklace’s from common and random materials. They are priced really good about $ 4 bucks each, Killer deal for some simple jewelry!!! I got a necklace with small wood beads and a tigerseye stone on it! definetly coming back again!!!

If you are ever in Ventura, CA and you’re an early bird, you have got to check this place out! I came here on a Saturday morning. There are rows of vendors selling tons of stuff for cheap. And if it’s not cheap enough, don’t be afraid to barter with them! And even if you don’t plan on buying anything, I think that this is a great experience for the tourist non-​Californian — in particular, a Washingtonian (since we never have nice enough weather to hold events like this on a regular basis).
I actually bought these really cute necklaces for $ 3 a piece and a pair of fishnet gloves for $ 1. They also have tons of cheap knockoff purses and apparel. My family mainly comes by here on weekends for the fresh produce though (which you can also barter for). They also have shaved ice, churros, cotton candy, and — get this — PONIES!
Please let me ride the pony! D: