.Highest-Stakes Retro Shopping Experience

On the first Sunday of every month, the Alameda Point Antiques and Collectibles Faire rolls out both the East Bay’s finest and — at eight hundred vendors — most jaw-droppingly large display of vintage furniture, housewares, clothing, electronics, books, and category-defying bric-a-brac. This is no Sunday stroll along the beach — antiques hunting can be highly competitive, and this is one of those rare events in which the price actually increases if you get there early. (Admission is $5 during the rookie hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., $10 for the semipros who get there between 7:30 and 9 a.m., and $15 for the most aggro crate-diggers who will get the first shot at the very choicest finds by arriving at 6 a.m.) It’s also a truly cross-generational shopfest, pitting candy-dish- and antique-lace-hunting little old ladies lugging rolly-carts (a must-have accessory for dedicated shoppers) against pointy-haired hipsters cruising the aisles for Napoleon Dynamite-style moonboots and vintage lunchboxes. Game on, retro shoppers!