While the new flea market in Fort Greene has shoppers and churchgoers at odds, things are relatively peaceful at the Hell’s Kitchen flea market. Dealers from all around the Northeast come to this stretch of pavement on 39th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues. When the “Garage,” the market’s two-floor annex in an indoor parking garage on West 25th Street, closes this fall, the former garage-based dealers will join the gang on 39th Street. But even that is likely to be a smooth transition: The weekly gathering has expanded into a nearby open-air bus depot, providing additional space for more vendors.

Known for its sophisticated but laid-back atmosphere, this flea market attracts shoppers with eclectic tastes who have money to burn. “I couldn’t do what I do back home in South Jersey,” a dealer specializing in mid-century Modern furniture, Len Griffen, said. “People there are more frugal. Here I find every type of customer, and most of them have apartments they need to furnish.”

Mr. Griffen and his wife have been coming to the flea market for several years. They said that they troll eBay and make full use of their Web-based business to anticipate which items to bring with them to Hell’s Kitchen each weekend. On a recent weekend, they displayed Danish chairs and clear Lucite end tables.

“People in places like Litchfield aren’t interested in Modern furniture like this,” Mr. Griffen said. “And when people here in Manhattan go to the fancy stores, they realize it’s a better option to come see the antiques dealers.” Another advantage of the flea market over pricey retail furniture stores: Mr. Griffen will be selling his Jersey tomatoes and silver queen corn this summer.

Maggie Rose, an accountant by training, had her first exposure to the world of antiques when she did taxes and bookkeeping for auctioneers in her small New Hampshire town. “I’d always heard them say how much they wanted to get to the flea market in Hell’s Kitchen. So when I started dealing antiques on the weekends, I knew this was the place to be,” she said.

The flea market was established by Alan Boss about three decades ago in Chelsea, back when an open lot was easier to find in the now upscale residential neighborhood. “Some give Alan the credit for putting into motion the gentrification of Chelsea,” a spokesman for Mr. Boss, Kristina Ratliff, said. “Now that same gentrification is starting to hit Hell’s Kitchen, too.”

Vendors, some of whom say they recall selling antiques to Andy Warhol in the 1970s, pay to set up their tents along the street. The market is open all year ’round. “So long as it’s not snowing or a downpour, they’re all here,” Ms. Ratliff said. “There’s not a lot of arts and crafts stuff. I found an obscure book published in the 1920s recently.”

Ms. Rose of New Hampshire’s Vintage & Venerable, who was selling at the market for the first season, said that there’s a different atmosphere in Hell’s Kitchen than at the New England fairs she used to attend. “About 80% of our business in New England is to other dealers. I like it better in New York City, when the things I sell are most likely bound for someone’s house or apartment,” she said.

Ms. Rose said that most of the antiques she sells in Hell’s Kitchen come from the estates of people she knew in New Hampshire. Hearing about an item’s history makes New Yorkers feel they’re inheriting something special. “I have a mirror that two friends chipped in to buy. It belonged to a lady named Millie who taught the deaf for 40 years in our town. She’d be happy it’s going to a good home in New York City,” she said.

On Saturday afternoon, Ms. Rose was showing customers a Gray’s Candy Case Cooler from the late 19th century. The contraption has many holes on the top and sides, and holds a block of ice that rests in a tray. The tray collects the condensation, and the holes give off the cool air, which was a handy trick in the days before air-conditioning.

Another interesting 19th-century item is a needle and shuttle case used by proprietors of general stores. Ms. Rose said that shuttles were pieces of equipment used for machine lace-making. She priced the case at $300.

Nearby, two self-described “collecting addicts” were talking with customers about one of Thomas Edison’s original recording machines. Even though Jim Pollock and Peter Wilson of East Islip, N.Y., specialize in antique phonographs, they’re known to buy and sell anything old and mechanical. “I always tell people that we’re all about boys’ toys: swords, musical instruments, mechanical instruments, you name it,” Mr. Wilson said.

The duo was selling, for $125, one of the most remarkable items at the fair: a New York magazine trophy from 1970. It’s cast in the shape of a large pizza pie, and is inscribed with the following: “The Underground Gourmet’s 1st Annual Pizzarama, First Prize to Larry Goldberg of Goldberg’s Pizzeria.”

They make sure that they’re hawking some wares aimed at women. They had a bin of Lucite bracelets from the 1960s (two bracelets for $20). “There are a lot of tourists here this time of year,” Mr. Wilson said. “The locals go to the Hamptons and Fire Island and the foreigners come here looking for flea markets. They’re the ones who like to bargain.”

After hours of scouring the market for the right antique, some bargain hunters turn up empty. That’s when one of the ladies in the information booth on Ninth Avenue, Suzie, suggests buying an official flea market T-shirt. “At least go home with something,” she said.

jakasie@nysun.com