Event Coverage The Pomona Swap Meet Is Dying A Slow Death

The Pomona swap meet has always been great. Sure the last 10 years or so..the rarity and quality of stuff has been going downhill. I guess that's natural since they have them like 8 or 9 times a year...and the stuff we like here is getting older every year.

When Covid hit....LA County shut the swap meet down. Boy when they opened it up...the first one back, was gang busters. I heard there were lines that were miles long, all the way to the 10 freeway, waiting to get in. There were vendors and shoppers everywhere. Then LA County started checking vaccine status, you'd be ok to get in if you had a negative Covid test within the last 72 hours. The Pomona staff didn't want to be checking anything..they barely glanced at your "papers" and waved you in. Ive personally seen and been friendly with the same staff members for years. I heard that many people online were pissed at the Pomona staff for checking "papers". Many crowed.."F" Pomona..im never going back.

I don't know if Covid rearranged people's priorities, which is possible. Perhaps they started buying parts online more? Who knows. The swapmeets that the Pomona staff started checking "papers" and since..each one after the other is getting worse and worse. The pictures shown were taken this last Sunday the 14th. There were empty spots everywhere. Weather was brisk by CA standards..like 50 degrees..but sunny. Really great weather for mid January.

These pictures were taken from the back rows..actually they start numbering rows from the vendor/vehicle entrance. So my pics show spotty vendors for rows 1 through 12 approximately. Look closely at what is being sold as well.

Im a very positive person...but this sucks...I love that swapmeet. I don't know what is going on. Please no political rants. That'll get this thread shut down. If you've been meaning to go to the Pomona Swap Meet..you'd better go soon. Us car guys should support all our local swapmeets. I'm thinking pretty soon, they may be gone.

 

yep, a changing world. Pomona Swap meet & Classic Car Show has allowed flea market type stuff for a long time. GoodGuys swap meets are allowing more non-automotive stuff too. They have a lot of empty spaces too. coming up here in Northern California is the infamous Turlock Automotive Swap Meet, at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds January 27 - 28. It will be a real test as to how car swaps are doing. plus, rain could change everything like it will do to a fairly new Galt swap & show this coming weekend.

 

Not enough guy’s building cars anymore. Times are a changing for sure. Lots of older guys have lots of stuff to sell but are too tired to load up all their stuff for tire kickers that wish and dream. Nobody has any money to spend. All the neat rare parts are so expensive that it is hard to get your hands on it. Just look at the classifieds here. Everyone is looking to hit a home run. I have seen it deteriorating for the last ten plus years. Not sure what to do about it. Just keep on keeping on till I croak I guess.

 

I used to go all the time..Also the Long beach Hi Po swap.. Now it seems I only do Fathers Day Roadster show. The Big 3 in San Diego is history.. Sadly my feet cant do big swaps anymore, but not ready for a scooter

 

Here in Wisconsin, we have the Jefferson and Iola swap meets. Decades of swap meet history. 1000 plus vendor registries and thousands of attendees. Iola has gotten to the point that vendors start selling on Wednesday and are heading home on Saturday, and Jefferson is just a shadow of itself. I have been doing Jefferson every spring and fall since 92 except for the pandemic. I swear half the spots that are filled are by guys to park their trucks to go shopping, with a good number of stalls being just plain empty. I have seven stalls and use to come home with thousands of dollars plus a trailer full of new stuff And I always had my parts priced at if you can use it better than me looking at it level not the Platinum plated level. Now my couple buddies that still do it with me mostly sit and watch the minimal crowd walking by looking at their phones and are happy if we cover our cost and fine a few new treasures. For me that is finding one more vintage body hammer to add to the way too many collection I already have. The price of the stalls, food and spectator admission as well as a lack of nearby spectator parking because of all the residential development around the fairgrounds has also added to the issue as well as the lack of any real car parts of any era not just HAMB stuff. But if you need a snowblower or a mountain bike you might be in luck.

 

A lot of swapmeets are hit or miss now days. That and those of us who are older seem to find more excuses to not go. Bad, knees being one that I can put on my list. Right now it is bad shoulder that has to have surgery and six weeks of recovery before I can do anything. That and my list of things I need is real short. I haven't been the best buyer at swap meets for the past couple of years as I have been on the hunt for a very short list of parts and haven't been buying any "this could go on a future build" bargains.

 

It might just be the aging of vendors. Sure there are still vendors..but most of the time I bought something cool...it was from someone older than me. I've been selling at swaps off and on for 30 plus years and I'm beat. The Pomona before this last one I sold at, I sold $5 the whole day! I sell regular car stuff at swaps..not super rare or interesting stuff. But still you gotta load the stuff up at home...unload at the swap...load up again...and unload at home. Its getting to the point that id rather give stuff away to those who can use it or shit can it if noone does.

Don't get me wrong...you can still find cool stuff. All it takes is one vendor to make your swapmeet. They are getting fewer and far between though.

 

I REALLY miss the Big 3.....best by FAR. I mainly stopped going to Pomona 15-18 yrs ago, too much new vendors, too much toys, too much crap. I do kinda miss looking at the for sale cars (I would go the night before, park in the for sale area inside and walk). I stopped going to Long Beach a little after, then went a couple of years ago......what a waste, it was more weed haze and attitude then needed. I only go to club swaps and LARS.......I did go to Turlock last year, lots of stuff but not as good as the Big 3 was. I love going to good swap meets hopefully in the future I can go to more when work isn't in the way.

As far as selling, I've never sold at a swap meet, just local online (Recycler before that) and sometimes on here.

 

The swapmeets here SUCK too. I stopped going to any for awhile. I couldn't find anything I wanted anyway. If by a slim chance I did find something I was interested in amongst the late model Camaro and Mustang parts, and asked the seller if there was any room in the price, I'd usually get "Hell, I'll just take it home and put it on ebay and double my money" My response was, "then why didn't you do that in the first place." I might go to a few once and awhile just to walk around with my buddies and have lunch. I haven't sold at a swapmeet in years. Usually I'd be lucky to make back space rent. If I was asked about a price of something I was selling, I'd always come down, when that didn't work, I'd ask them what they wanted to pay, and they'd walk away anyway. Most people back here are walking around empty handed. Not many seem to buy.

 

In Australia swapmeets are dying off. The organisers have orders people from vintage car clubs. They got to old and younger people couldn't be bothered. People seem to be going online more.
It sucks. I love swap meets.

 

I also miss the Big 3...that one ending was a damn shame. I think the once a year swaps still are great..Turlock..LARS...those swaps tend to have vendors bring rare stuff out. Hope Turlock weather holds out...looks good now so far.

 

It's never really recovered from the covid shutdowns. When I moved to Temora I thought I'd be closer to more swaps. The day we moved in was the day they shut everything down. Some of the swaps now insist on you having your own personal injury insurance in case some numbnut trips over your stuff and stubs their toe. $40/$50 per day premium takes the shine off selling.

 

This doesn't help...spectators/buyers have to pay $15 in cash to get in...and $18 for parking, but for that you have to use a card.

 

It will never get better, hold on to your Swap Memories from 25 years ago, if you are real lucky the memories that are 50 years old are the best. The parts were there, but I miss the friends more. Bob

 

Guys. Maybe you should cheer on smaller swaps. Check for Model A Club swaps often they are for the club and allow others to sell. There are a couple that happen SoCal and you do find some gems. Also there are smaller car shows that have swaps.

 

People don't want to pay the parking lot fees at Pomona anymore. How much is a vendor's space this year?
Who want's to walk thru the flea market garbage? Not me.
It's mostly chevrolet car parts when there are car parts here. I was the only space selling flathead parts for almost a year and that was before covid. I haven't been to Pomona since covid but was going to start going again. Maybe not, now.
And the weather has some to do with it. It's been too cold to set up and stay the night or to come in at 3am or 4am in the morning to set up.
People have gotten to be rude and pushy the past few years. Drunk clowns being loud and obnoxious.
Too many wagons and not enough courtesy with the wagons.
Fuck it! I don't want to deal with the bullshit.

 

I think the "good old days" of swap meets are gone. I started selling at swap meets more than 50 years ago. I am now 83 years old, and I only sell at 2 swap meets per year, but, I used to sell at 20, or more swap meets per year. We had the good times, but times have changed. There are still good swap meets out there, so go to them, and support them. I still go to several swap meets to shop and socialize. Parts are parts, but the people are what is important. Hopefully some of the younger generation can pick up the slack. "The 37 Kid" and I go back more than 50 year of dealing with each other, and now I stop at his Hershey spaces to socialize.

 

Traveled from Bakersfield to the swap meet about 25 years ago to buy my wife a Tri-Five Chevy to drive. Was wanting a '57 'til we saw this '56 Sport Sedan. Had been a concourse winner the previous year, magnificent car. Bought it for $10,000, put in A/C (Bakersfield after all!!), adapted seat belts and was her daily driver for about 3 years. Had little kids and was a maintenance issue as you might expect. Hated to sell it but have great memories. Sad I never did take good pictures of it. Swap meet looks really sad nowadays.

 

Me and a friend of mine usually go to the Pomona Swap meat to walk around and kill the day. there is a lot of junk and a lot of Chevy parts. There is very little hot rod parts or flat head Earlier related stuff. we've got a running joke that the only thing we usually buy is a couple of high price beers.

 

Three things............Covid
Government Regulation and Greed (High Parking and high food prices)
The advent of buying on your computer (Facebook and Ebay)

Make that 4 things..........old farts like me who don't want to admit they can't walk several miles any more and get themselves a scooter. I decided to make it fun, so I built my own scooter out of a Snapper Lawn Mower and a Hoveround Mobility chair. When I go to the SRN, I ride it and have a good time. People stop me constantly to ask about it while many others just get a big smile on their face when it dawns on them what it is. Some want pictures, and I even let a few of them ride it. I've seen a few other guys show up with custom made scooters since then. So if being on a scooter is holding you back, roll your own and you'll enjoy it. Mine isn't fancy, done more along the lines of what a redneck would build...........but I think thats why people like it. Even had some try to buy it.

 

The local

As far as SoCal goes there is the Riverside Corona Model T club in June and Paradise Valley Model A Club in September both at the Little League Western Headquarters in Devore. The Long Beach Model T swap meet at Veteran's Stadium in July. Long Beach is $5.00 admission with free parking. the events in Devore are free admission and free parking. There is also a smaller meet twice a year at the Packing House church in Redlands. March and October? Not just early stuff but good deals. Free admission and plenty of free parking.

 

Used to be we were all building stuff and needed parts, and then had parts left over we needed to get rid of.

But it seems that the age of folks at the swap meet has always been mostly "my age" or a little older or a little younger.

Now that most of the guys "my age" are past building stuff, the swap meet has turned into a social event. Of course the pandemic screwed up social events....but even so, look at car clubs, they guys in them are mostly "my age", and they're dying off, or can't do stuff much anymore, etc.

Welcome to the aging of the Boomers....that's us....

 

To get off my creeper now I have to roll off the damn thing, take a knee, grab the bumper with a hand, take the other knee, grab the bumper with the other hand, slowly pull myself up... then rest a minute.
Ditty bopping around a parking lot is out of the question. If I did buy something, maybe my grandson could load it into the car for me.
Like @squirrel said: Welcome to the age of boomers.

 

SWAP now a days means from one garage to the other.

 

You guys on the west coast are just spoiled. We’ve never had that many swap meets around here, and the ones I knew of were 150 miles or farther away. Two or three large ones in GA every year, but I’m not driving 300 miles to one and come home empty handed, much less drag a bunch of stuff to try and sell. Occasionally there will be a small one at a show, I try to hit them up when possible, but a lot of what they usually have is antique household items, some of which is cool and all, but how many old lamps or dog eared copies of Readers Digest or Ladies Home Journal do you need to see?

I’ve bought a few parts for my car from members here but I’ve bought more off eBay. I’ve got to agree, there are fewer cars being built in my area than there were 10 years ago. Most all my friends are older than me and are content with what they have or are selling off their stuff before they take the dirt nap. The younger guys are too busy working, hunting and fishing to build cars, if they want something they go buy one of the factory hot rods on payments. I’m proud of my friend @anthonymyrick for teaching those that want to learn the old skills, it’s people like him that will keep the spark alive.

 

Money and parts, you need both, and they were around 50 years ago. I started in the hobby years before I could drive and was always the youngest guy in the club or meet I went to. Guys retired and moved to Florida, and I'd wind up with the parts they didn't need to haul South. Few people are restoring cars or building Hot Rods around here, there are few extra parts. The internet made selling easier, but if people don't have money to spend you're stuck with the parts. Hershey in October is the only meet I still sell at and I haven't had the good parts I used to be able to find and bring 25-30 years ago. Like most people I still go to see old friends and remember the good times from the past. The first LARS Swap Meet I finally got to 15 years or so ago was a let down. Found $23.00 worth of parts. No complaint about admission or parking, I'd spent the money on the round trip airfare.

 

Our local car show has no fee to sell at the swap meet. Spectators pay to get in as do the show cars. There are generally 75 vendors if the weather is at all reasonable. I only have to drive 12 miles to participate. She’s no Hershey but I can always find something to buy.

 

The last small swaps I went to I got some good deals on Y block stuff. Most of the Model A stuff I have already but nobody seems to sell Y block stuff or 57 Ford wagon stuff. If I find it they want a fortune (or what I perceive is) for it. I live a few minutes from the boarder so I am going to start looking in Canada for parts-cheaper prices

 

BamaMav got it right, we are spoiled on the West coast; but nothing like it was. I gave up on Pomona, and still hit Long Beach Hipo and the cycle swaps from time to time. Sometime you can still find something, and also manage to unload some junk- if you price it right. Even the LA Roadster swap is nothing like it was 5-6 years ago, and losing the best, the big Three in San Diego, did not help. the last really decent swap I hit was the Tulare swap o rama in 2022, but that thing is no longer. It is 2024, times change... move the F*** on.