LOOKING BACK

Young Chang

COSTA MESA -- When Bob Teller cleaned out his closet and sold his old

shirts in 1957, he made about $300 and knew immediately that the stranger

in Phoenix, Ariz., was right.

The man had been painting the words “swap meet” on a sign. Teller and

his then-girlfriend Rita had stopped to ask what a swap meet was. The

stranger explained he sold each space for 50 cents and that vendors

gathered to sell used things.

“So I figured it was a very successful business,” Teller said.

Today, he is the president of Tel Phil Enterprises Inc., which has

operated the Orange County Market Place in Costa Mesa since 1969.

Though the Orange County Fair recently left the grounds, about 1,500

vendors set up shop there and almost 50,000 visitors look for bargain

finds every weekend. Every year, the Market Place draws 2 million

attendees.

“I’m very happy, but I want it to continue,” said Teller, a Newport

Beach resident. “I feel that the whole fairgrounds is an underutilized

asset.”

About 100 vendors came on the first weekend the swap meet opened more

than three decades ago. Most of what was sold then was trash -- the meet

was even called “Treasures and Trash.”

“People would clean out their closets and turn the trash into

treasures,” Teller said.

Today, he rents spaces for $65 each, which he says isn’t much

different from the prices in those days. The Phoenix man who inspired him

eventually sold his spots for $4 each a year after Teller first met him.

The used goods are now new merchandise, as the public nowadays expects

new products.

Teller’s son, Jeff, works as director of marketing for the company. He

grew up with the swap meet and even played vendor when he was 3. After

collecting throwaway tricycles from neighbors, he sold them for about $3

to $5 each. The duo plans to open a market place in Las Vegas in October.

Jeff Teller said he likes the job because the influx of people every

weekend is “always changing and always new and always exciting.”

* Do you know of a person, place or event that deserves a historical

Look Back? Let us know. Contact Young Chang by fax at (949) 646-4170;

e-mail at o7 young.chang@latimes.comf7 ; or mail her at c/o Daily

Pilot, 330 W. Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627.