The Other Melrose Place

Forget the Rose Bowl’s sun-scorched aisles and dizzying crowds. The Melrose Trading Post is fast becoming the coolest place to find junk in town.

There is nothing better than shopping for a good cause, and at this weekly antiques market in the parking lot of Fairfax High School you can do just that. In one year the event has raised $100,000 to support the school’s extracurricular activities, clubs, uniforms and trips not covered by the school budget.

“That’s more than any other single fund-raising event for an L.A. Unified School District school,” market manager Pierson Blaetz explains.

Blaetz says it was tough in the beginning to get students involved with the market, which is operated by the school’s Parents and Friends Assn. and the theater group Greenway Arts Alliance, another beneficiary. But now there is a waiting list for students to help out. “That’s been the best thing about the growth of the event, seeing the students get used to supporting their school.”

But besides being a good cause, this market is a manageable size (120 vendors), there’s live shopping accompaniment from two jazz bands, and a cappuccino cart.

The crowd is a mix of Melrose hipsters, older folks and yuppie couples with strollers. And the goods are just as eclectic. Our haul on a recent Sunday? A 1964 edition of a reservation newspaper, the Navajo News ($3); a 1950s glass cocktail shaker decorated with drink recipes ($20); an eggbeater with a painted red wooden handle ($8); and a silver-plated pineapple-shaped tray ($3).

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Melrose Trading Post, Sundays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fairfax High School parking lot, 1040 N. Fairfax Ave. at Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles. $2; students, $1. (323) 655-POST.