I've had a bad habit most of my life - I love junk. My junk, junk, their junk - I don't care whose junk - I'm a junkie!
I'm getting excited. The last week of May. I leave for my annual vacation in Florida. While there, I venture down to what I consider Florida's number one attraction. Disney? no. Epcot? no MGM? no Sea World? heavens no! Where is it I drive almost 1000 miles to spend 3-4 of my precious vacation days every year? Swap Shop!
What is "Swap Shop?" I asked the same question the first time I heard the name. Three Jewish guys selling incense at a booth at a convention we attended in South Florida first told me about it. In their heavy Brooklyn accent, they described it as "absolutely the biggest, most incredible flea market you have ever seen." Well, I took their definition with a grain of salt, for as a life long junkie, I had seen many flea markets described to me as being the "absolute biggest" You know,  everyone seems to have the biggest flea market near them, almost as much as people now brag about their Walmart Super Center being bigger than that of any other town.
Well, I had time to kill, and I figured I would check out this "biggest, most incredible flea market had ever seen." To be honest, I didn't have real high hopes since by the directions I was given, I already knew it was in a very thickly populated area of Fort Lauderdale, just about a mile off of I-95 on Sunrise Blvd. I mean, flea markets, especially big ones, are usually in  the boonies, and almost always right at an interstate exit. But anyway, my curiosity had been aroused, so here I went.
As I got within a block or two of where the Swap Shop was supposed to be. I could see ahead a gigantic pedestrian walk bridge high across the seven lanes of Sunrise Blvd., with the big words "SWAP SHOP" printed boldly on the side. My heart began to pound wildly, and my mouth went dry

Florida Swap Shop

- maybe this is it - the ultimate flea market - ultimate source of everybody's useless junk - what I have spent years looking for! As I got up to and joined the long line of cars waiting to turn into the parking lot. I began to realize that in fact I had arrived at the Mecca of flea markets.
As you go into the fenced parking lot, an attendant greets you, takes $1 from you, but in return, hands you today's copy of the Miami Herald. After parking, you see literally a sea of vendors - not selling cheap, new Chinese junk, but real junk -I've just cleaned out my basement junk.
Swap Shop consists of three categories; Outside, vendors pay $8 per day to bring whatever junk their car or truck can carry, and they just spread it on the pavement for people to see. On a good Saturday or Sunday, there are probably at least 1000-1500 of these vendors. In the rear lot, there are three tents that are each about 100 yards long. Each tent has three rows of vendors, about 50 or so in every row, selling new imported junk - everything from clothes to electronics. The main building, which is two stories with about 500,000 sq. ft on each floor, has more upscale jewelry, electronics, etc. But wait - there is still more! Swap Shop has it's own food court (even a McDonald's) which surrounds a large

open area where every two hours, a free live circus with elephants and the whole bit performs. While dining in the food court, a live Mexican manachi band walks continuously through serenading you as you eat.
Back in the early 80"s. I used to go to Road Atlanta and watch European style road races. Many of the race teams who had cars there also raced some of the big European races such as Lemans, as well as stateside races such as Sebring and the 24 hours of Daytona. In about 1983 or 1984, a Porsche team dominated almost every race in the world. One thing always puzzled me about that car - printed in bold letters across the hood was "SWAP SHOP." Years later as I walked through Swap Shop for the first time, I round a corner and sitting in front of me was the exact Porsche race car with a big sign overhead which read, "SWAP SHOPS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PORSCHE RACE CAR." Cold chills ran up and down my spine as I viewed not one, but several Porsche race cars owned by a FLEA MARKET who had drivers on their team named AJ Foyt and Bob Wollock just to name a few. Also on display was the Ferrari convertible Don Johnson drove in the TV series "Miami Vice." Sitting beside it was another Swap Shop Ferrari which had won first place in the Pebble Beach concurs automobile show of its type in the world
On the outer perimeter of Swap Shop, there are other booths featuring window tinting, car stereo installation, flower arrangements, laser eye surgery, and hair transplants - all of course, at super swap shop discount prices! After all,  where but at Swap Shop can you get laser eye surgery for only $595 per eye? Of course, not only is there junk, elephants, cars, and a three million dollar walk bridge to their parking lot, there is culture - and many kinds of it. South Florida is a melting pot of immigrants, and Swap Shop offers a good sampling of all of it, selling goods and food representing most every corner of the earth.
What do I buy at Swap Shop? What Haven't I bought there! One year, I found an antique VW pedal car, and last year, I bought a 6' long wooden prop from a 40's vintage Cuban fighter plane, while one of the other booths tinted the windows on my van. What am I looking for this year? It's a secret - but when I return with more hair and no glasses, you can guess!