BeatRoute Magazine B.C. print e-edition - June 2016

EASTSIDE FLEA
oddity marketplace gets a roof over its head
Behind the discreet door a few
feet down from the entrance to
the Ivanhoe pub is a three level
celebration of all things artisan and
weird. Eastside Flea is the three-year
labour of love. Previously operating
out of various locations from the
Biltmore Cabaret to the UBC campus,
they have now finally found a permanent
home in the Ellis Building at
1024 Main Street.
The Eastside Flea team, alongside
Ezra Kish and Morgan Ellis (owners
of the new building, as well as The
Cobalt) have renovated and developed
the cavernous 10,000 square
foot space into a multi-level showcase
for local artists and collectors
to peddle their wares. The result
is a vibrant and inclusive spot to
support local artists who are trying
to develop a business model in a very
competitive and expensive city.
“We have people who are running
businesses and we also have people
whose closets are too full and they
want to come and unload some of
their amazing pieces,” says organizer
Alberta Randall. “A lot of our vendors
found out about us by coming to the
market and getting stoked on it.”
As you enter, a labyrinth of around
55 booths and artists are at your
disposal. It is the perfect mix of
lovingly curated pieces, which run
the gamut from gently pretentious to
astoundingly well made. But this isn’t
a movement you could just chalk up
to being a hipster gathering for hipster
delights — this is a new wave of
commerce promoting recycling and
trade of goods, as well as the support
of the community.
Randall sees the recent embracing
of such a model, particularly by
young patrons and artists, as boding
well for a future of a local and sustainable
marketplace. A place where,
for example, you can pick up a second
generation Darth Vader figurine
(Owen’s Oddities), a book of F. Scott
Fitzgerald’s pre-Gatsby work (Massy
Books), a muskrat skull (Salamander
Salt Curio), a long-sleeved Fubar
t-shirt (Dead Union Vintage), and a
jar of Mexican-style pickled onions
within steps of each other, all for the
bargain admission price of $3 (or $5
for a weekend pass).
Yes, that was my exact experience
and, yes, I plan to start an Instagram
account involving the Vader and the
skull.
Eastside Flea will take place the third
weekend of every month for the rest
of the summer. The next market
is held on June 17 to 19 at the Ellis
Building, located at 1024 Main Street
by Jennie Orton
photo: Lindsay’s Diet
With 55+ vendors and a new space on Main St., Eastside Flea is not just for hipsters.
OUR WILD ABANDON
two friends wander the earth together in search of adventure
Join Jill Mann and Kyla Trethewey’s adventures.
In the spring of 2013, Jill Mann and Kyla
Trethewey ended their respective longterm
relationships and impulsively drove to
Salt Lake City to watch the sunrise. Before
that, they were merely polite acquaintances
because their boyfriends were best friends.
Over the 24-hour drive, they realised they’d
both been harbouring the same dream: “Leaving
forever.”
“We came home, started selling our shit,
bought a trailer, quit our jobs, and left a few
months later,” says Mann. And that’s how their
travel blog was born. At Our Wild Abandon,
you’ll find magnificent photography alongside
poetic narratives. Browse through the
treasure trove of their posts and you’ll find a
prison rodeo in Louisiana, colourful walls in
Nicaragua, and shots of foggy Montana. From
Arizona, to Britain, to Italy — the list is long
with no end in sight.
An art history major at Langara, Trethewey
worked in real estate. “I spent all my time
helping people rent out really expensive
homes while knowing I’d never be making
enough money to buy something for myself,”
she jokes. Vancouver’s unaffordability
nurtured her dreams of wanderlust. Mann
dropped out of Emily Carr wanting to be a
photographer, but wasn’t sure how to make
a living off of her whimsical tastes. She was
working at Budgies Burritos before embarking
on the adventure.
Mann, inspired by photographer Ryan Mc-
Ginley (“the king of capturing the kids-on-therun
thing”) snaps most of the photos while
Trethewey, who digs “anything that captures
eternal youth or constant motion,” pens the
words. But, they equally influence each other.
“Sometimes when I look through our photos,
I can’t remember which one of us took them,”
Mann says. “A lot of the writing stems from
conversations between the two of us about
our shared experiences, too.”
When picking their destination, the girls
by Prachi Kamble
admit to always chasing something, “Often
the weather (sometimes boys) and always our
friends,” says Trethewey. “We plan our route
by connecting the dots between familiar faces
and drive routes we’ve never been down. A
lot of the decisions we make are influenced by
the photos we want to take or [have] seen.”
What’s next? Last winter they got into
an accident that destroyed their trailer, but
they’re fixing up a new one that’ll take them
on a two-year stint around the U.S. When
asked for travel tips, the experts provided
four: talk to locals, drive instead of fly, Airbnb
or camp rather than hotel, and plan around a
concert.
“For as long as I can remember I’ve been
trying to find a way to keep moving,” Mann
says. “Staying still makes us unsettled. Kyla
and I were born running.”
Keep track of the adventure at
ourwildabandon.com
June 2016 CITY
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