Memory Bank: Englishtown Flea Market

English town Flea Market,

Today we have E-Bay, the greatest marketplace of collectibles in the civilized universe. But when I was growing up in New Jersey during the 1970s and 1980s there was a toy mecca of a different sort.

It was called the Englishtown Flea Market.

The Englishtown Flea Market first opened in 1929, more than eighty years ago.  It started out, according to the official history, as a “meeting place for farmers to buy, trade and sell livestock, farm equipment and produce.”

By the time I went to Englishtown for the first time, circa 1976 -- when I was seveneight -- it was no longer a farmer’s market, but perhaps the biggest flea market/second-hand market on the East coast.  But when I first heard we were going to spend a precious Saturday there, I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the news. 

We had to get up before the sun rose, drive for over an hour, and then spend the day walking around a giant flea market?

When I could be at home watching Land of the Lost?!

Clearly, I had no idea what awaited me at Englishtown. 

But as I soon found out, the Englishtown Flea Market of that era was an incredible place to buy second-hand toys, dirt cheap. 

Photo from Mego Museum

In the span of two years, I made some great purchases at Englishtown, from the original Franz Joseph Star Trek Technical Manual (1975), to a (bobble-head) Tyrannosaur from the Mego’s One Million BC toy line. 

One time at Englishtown, I found a Kenner Six-Million Dollar Man Bionic Bigfoot/Sasquatch figure, and paid the princely sum of three dollars for him (and he even still had his pop-off chest compartment intact…).

After the first visit, we traveled to Englishtown Flea Market in Central Jersey several times a year, and every time we went, I came home with more of these unbelievable treasures.  One indoor comic-book store not only sold Marvel Planet of the Apes magazines and comics (which I always bought for the read home…) but the latest issues of Starlog as well.

There was also a late 1970s visit I distinctly remember because a dealer was selling spanking new Kenner Star Wars toys -- the Dewback, a landspeeder and Land of the Jawas play-set.  Without me saying a word, my Dad raced over to the table, asked how much for all of them, and then bought all of the toys for eight dollars. 

I remember thinking I might faint…

Going right on into the early eighties, Englishtown Flea Market never disappointed me.  I couldn’t wait for our Saturday excursions.  During that era, Englishtown was a great place to pick up old AMT model kits, and in 1982 I found an AMT Romulan Bird of Prey for a dollar (still in its box), and the Interplanetary UFO (MIB) for five dollars. I was indeed in seventh-heaven.

Some of the sights and smells of Englishtown Flea Market remain permanently impressed upon my memory to this day. 

There was a small walking bridge leading from the parking lot to the market that, when icy, became incredibly slippery and dangerous. 

And, I remember in the late 1970s that the market auctioneer was constantly announcing over the loudspeaker an exhibit for some kind of Middle Eastern Mummy Princess. We never saw the Mummy; we were sure it was a rip-off.

There was also, the world-famous Hubcap Man, a vendor who stacked -- probably ten feet high on a wood shack -- hubcaps from every make and model of car throughout history.   I always reckoned that when we reached the Hubcap Man, we were about half-way done with the market. 

To finish the whole thing generally took several hours…but was worth it.

I also vividly recall visiting Englishtown at the depths of winter, bundled up in winter coat, hat and gloves. 

Early in the morning, my Mom and Dad would buy us bagels and hot chocolate for breakfast to help us endure the sub-zero temperatures.  My parents were good souls, too, because my sister and I would always bring our allowance to spend at the flea market, but they would always supplement it with an occasional dollar, five dollars, or ten dollars, if something special should materialize.

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Some of the weirder “special” toys I remember buying at Englishtown included a Starroid Raiders fighter ship, which was pretty clearly a knock-off of a Colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactica, and several Universal Task Force letra sets from Ideal, each being sold for around a buck.  Unfortunately, the dealer never had the one I wanted the most, “Karl the Korrector!”

I also have vivid memories of loading up so fully with neat toys half-way through Englishtown that I would walk back to our Ford van ahead of the rest of the family, unload, and start playing while I waited for the rest of the family to return.

These days, it’s nice to hunt collectibles without enduring the driving cold, without getting up before dawn, and without a long car ride through Jersey.  E-Bay and other auction sites have really made toy collecting a hell of a lot easier in some senses.  Yet the experience of visiting Englishtown Flea Market -- and the thrill of wondering what you would find there -- are ones I will not soon forget.

I last visited Englishtown Flea Market in 1990, so my wife (then girlfriend), Kathryn, got to visit it at least once.  As I recall, it was still a pretty good market at that point…but that was twenty-two years ago. 

I wonder what it’s like today…

Below, you'll see a brief collection of photos of Englishtown and the Hubcap Man.