Sanchez 1

Nalleli Sanchez
English 113B
Professor Spitler-Lawson
Project Space Final Draft Revised
May 11, 2016
Word Count: 1,246
San Fernando Swap Meet
The smell of the handmade churros, the fresh made tacos, and the sound of the vendors
echoing towards this place, is a typical day at the Swap Meet. Located on the first cross street of
Glenoaks Boulevard and Arroyo Avenue, in the San Fernando Valley, is an outdoor Swap Meet
that is diverse and filled with a variety of merchandises and food concessions. It is also known as
a flea market. It has mostly everything people need, from new to used, yet, in good condition,
merchandise. The San Fernando Swap Meet is a community of individuals from different
cultures who come to sell, buy, or trade merchandises for a good and convenient price. This is a
place where the community brings together a variety of cultures through the different
merchandise, sometimes even items imported from different countries, that is sold at a suitable
price.
Consistently open, rain or shine, this space, measuring about four acres, is made up of the
different tarp tents workstations that each vendor sets up. These vendors must have a license
from the city that allows them to sell their merchandise both on the space they set up on and to
the people. No illegal merchandise, such as imported medicine, weapons, or anything that the
San Fernando Swap Meet Policies state is not allowed to be sold (SF Swap Meet Policies and
Rules pgs. 4-5). The Swap Meet is open every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

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from 6:30am to 2:00pm. They open this early because the workers need to set up their stations
and their merchandises.
When entering this place, one can see how enormous it is and that it rarely has any shade.
Since it can take a few hours to stroll down each of its aisles, it is best for people to wear sun
block, a hat or an umbrella to protect them from getting sunburn. By the entrance, there is a
ticket booth where people purchase their ticket to go in the Swap Meet which only costs one
dollar and fifty cents. Once inside the Swap Meet, you can practically find about anything you
are looking for most of the time. For example, most of vendors sale items such as home
supplies, construction tools, clothing (even brand clothes), imported items (only legal items),
jewelry, and even small food stands. These food concessions sale a variety of things from
homemade food such as tamales, fresh cut fruit, ice cream, tacos, dried mangos, and many other
delicious foods. When walking around the Swap Meet, one can notice how this place attracts a
variety of people of different race, the majority of them being Latinos because it is located within
a Hispanic community.
When strolling down the Swap Meets isles, you will always hear the salespersons
shouting in Spanish, Pasale, todo barrato, which translates to, Come inside, everything is
cheap, or Ropa puro de marca, which means, Clothes of different brands. When people go to
the Swap Meet, they feel very welcomed by the vendors. Many can relate with them in many
ways because of the shared culture many of them might have. Each vendor tries to make the
customers feel welcomed and show them their merchandise to try to sell those items. If a price
might not work well for them, they can negotiate with a convenient price to the vendor and
themselves. The Swap Meet brings together the community in many ways, as mentioned by
negotiating their items to sell at a convenient price for both the vendor and its customer. Anyone

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is welcomed to the San Fernando Swap Meet. The Swap Meet is defined mostly by the Hispanic
community, especially the people who are immigrants and of low-income, because of the
affordable shopping many can do (The Starlite Swap Meet pg.2).
The imported merchandise items are one of the many reasons people of different ethnicity
go to the Swap Meet. For example, items that can be found in Mexico may be found in the Swap
Meets. Many of these imported items can range from home decorations to party supplies,
especially the Mexican candies. They may have supplies that one can also purchase in the Los
Angeles allies. However, if the vendor is willing to do so, many people can place orders in which
the vendor is willing to make a trip out of the city or country to import back what they would
like.
The Swap Meet is mostly surrounded by Hispanics, including the workers; because the
communitys populations who live in the San Fernando Valley come from a Hispanic descent and
many times only speak Spanish. The workers, the people, and the Swap Meet represent culture
because everyone in this place socially interact with one another and communicate by trying to
sale items. Culture can also be known as people who know places without asking any questions.
These people are called insiders; they know what goes on and what the cultures background to it
is. Insiders who come to the Swap Meet tend to be more comfortable in this place. For example,
Mexicans and Latinos are insiders from the Swap Meet since they are more common to visit the
place and purchase things. Mexicans and Latinos ethnicity are spotted everywhere in this place.
They are more recognized than other ethnicities because the common racism in the San Fernando
area is Latinos living in the community.
People who are not from the same culture, but share cultural traits are known as
subcultures. At the Swap Meet, subcultures are very family-oriented as a worker there as well as

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visiting this place. Different ethnicities from subcultures people tend to see in this place are
Asians, African Americans, and White Americans. These people are from outside the community
and view the place as a low-income community because of its low prices it provides to anyone.
These people are known as outsiders. Outsiders who are not familiar with a place tend to ask
questions. Such as people who come to the Swap Meet for the first time may ask in what aisle do
they sale the kitchen pots or ma. Outsiders do not know the type of items they sale there at the
Swap Meet and also, the type of food they make there. They are not aware of this place because
they dont live around the community and in their culture they have different perspective about
the place.
Overall, instead of going to the mall to pay for an item that costs more, the Swap Meet
may possibly have the same item. People go to the place to look at merchandises and see if they
are interested in buying anything they see there. Most likely, they will find a merchandise that is
worth lower than fiver-dollars rather paying twenty to twenty-five dollars at the mall. People in
the area whom are mostly Hispanics, socially interact well with one another because they come
from the same background and culture. The San Fernando Swap Meet is a place that brings
people together from inside and outside communities that come from different variety of cultures
to sell or buy merchandises for a great low price.

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Works Cited
San Fernando Swap Meet Policies And Rules. 1st ed. San Fernando: N.p., 2012. Web. 4 Apr.
2016.
The Ephemeral Anatomy Of The Starlite Swap Meet. 1st ed. Los Angeles: Jennifer Renteria,
2009. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.