Shopping and Nibbling at the Treasure Island Flea Market

Vintage doorknobs
Photo by Madeline Horn

                                         
Vintage dresses, Bob Marley brand sandals, gourmet food trucks, handmade soap and Pendleton coats can all be found at the Treasure Island Flea Market on the last weekend of each month. The trip to Treasure Island, which is officially part of the city of San Francisco, provides a refreshing vantage point of both San Francisco and the East Bay. Treasure Island's dramatic location right in the middle of the bay is accessible through an exit off the middle of the 8-mile long San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The flatness of the manmade island gives the sensation of being nestled in the water as you gaze across at the Transamerica building.

Giant dancing woman sculpture on Treasure Island
Photo by Madeline Horn

A variety of vendors sell at Treasure Island, including vintage dealers, clothing designers, artists, and junk hawkers. As flea markets go, Treasure Island is fairly small. You can wind your way through the vendors in about an hour. Clothing and jewelry are in abundance. I would have liked to see more vendors selling jumbles of random old junk, which are my favorite booths for finding hidden treasures and oddities at most flea markets. However, you can buy new socks and stylish hand printed T-shirts, which kind of makes up for it. This market is good for gifts.

Vintage delights
Photo by Madeline Horn

The Chairman Taiwanese bun food truck
Photo by Madeline Horn

Food Trucks: Adjacent to the vendors sits a sizable row of food trucks, from gourmet doughnuts to giant sausages. Winery booths offer wine by the glass and bottle. We ate at the Chairman truck, which was delicious. Andre, my boyfriend and flea market date, and I ordered the exact same thing, coca-cola braised pork bun sandwiches with savoy cabbage and preserved yellow mustard seeds and coconut waters to drink. The bun sandwiches come steamed or baked, and we opted for baked. The juicy sandwiches were prepared with attention to every detail. The buns are fresh and slightly sweet, filled sandwich style with moist flavorful pork and a cabbage cilantro slaw and giant mustard seeds. Yum!

Fashion truck!
Photo by Madeline Horn

Mobile food, mobile fashion, mobile libraries, I love them all! I was tickled to spot my first fashion truck today. My favorite mobile memory is of the California Department of Forestry trucks that would set up at county fairs in my childhood. My dad is a forest fireman, and has been known to don the Smokey the Bear outfit, so we would spend lots of time at the "Smokey" trucks, set up like a home inside, where kids could practice stop, drop, and rolling. Part of the exercise was touching a door that heated up, as a warning that there was fire on the other side. 

View towards San Francisco
Photo by Madeline Horn

Treasure Island History: Treasure Island was built as a Works Progress Administration project in the 1930s for use as San Francisco's first airport, but it never ended up as an airport. Instead, the island hosted the 1939-40 World's Fair, with international pavilions and light shows. Post-World Fair, the island became a naval base, until it was sold to the city of San Francisco and made accessible to the public in 1997. Despite feeling like the abandoned military base that it is, the island now has residents. We love urban decay, so two highlights were a shut down bowling alley and decrepit tennis courts.

An the Go garlic noodles food truck
Photo by Madeline Horn

Andre was hungry for more food after a waffle with whip cream and strawberry appetizer, then a pork sandwich, so he ordered a combo from An the Go of garlic noodles and a lemongrass beef skewer. Both were quite tasty. He pondered ordering some gourmet doughnuts, but thought better of it and purchased some very stylish boots instead. 

New boots
Photo by Madeline Horn

With views, gourmet food at affordable prices and excellent shopping, for tourists and locals alike, Treasure Island Flea Market is a delightful way to spend a Saturday or Sunday. Admission to the Treasure Island Flea Market is $3. Parking is free and the market is accessible by MUNI bus 108 from San Francisco. Visit the website for a list of show dates. The market takes place on the last Saturday and Sunday of each month from 10am-4pm.

                                           
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