I recently spent a few days in L.A. It was my first visit to the U.S. and I soaked it all in, curious to see if the movie cliches would come alive - and they did: the nutjobs preaching in the corners, luxury houses and the people sleeping in their cars, the palm trees and the waves, the stars on the pavements of Hollywood Boulevard, surfers in Malibu and bodybuilders at Venice beach (although the beach does attract all kinds), billboards advertising legal services -apparently if you have an accident in America, you don't call an ambulance, you call a lawyer. What else? Oh yeah, taxi/uber drivers are all foreign and speak broken English, and waitresses in diners will refill your coffee endlessly - of all the legends about America, that was the most unbelievable, yet it's true! On the other hand, there are many more hispanic ladies than blond bimbos, the sun doesn't shine all the time, there are way more tourists than in the movies -especially in Hollywood- and I did not see any evidence of gang activity even in places known from rap mythology like Compton and South Central (nowadays plain South L.A.). Not that I hanged around there much, mind you. Just long enough to switch buses on my way to do touristy things like visit the movie studios, take a guided tour of the city center, or embark on my doomed quest to visit as many record shops as possible; doomed because of the sprawling nature of the city and its lack of center.
Travelling from one place of the city to another and back may take half a day, so I only got to visit those shops that didn't take me too far out of the way. During my first days in the city, I lodged in West Hollywood, a neighborhood I found quite agreeable. On the first night of the trip, right after dinner, I visited my first American record store. It was past 10pm and restaurants were closing while people gathered in front of the night clubs; yet there is one record store in town that stays up late, and that's The Record Parlour on 6408 Selma Ave, one road down from Hollywood Blvd. I enjoyed the relaxed vibe of the place and appreciated the huge variety - thousands of used LP's of all genres; soul, rock,country, alternative etc. A lot of good LP's for $7,98, some of the covers were a bit worse for wear but mostly in very good condition inside. Also a few random pieces on offer for $1,98, but I'd say the median price was about $15. From here it's just one block to "the world's largest independent record store" Amoeba Music (6200 Hollywood Blvd). This makes the notion of "independent" a bit hazy to me: Amoeba owns two more large shops in San Francisco and Berkeley, how many shops constitute a chain? Anyway, it's true: Amoeba is huge - and I mean that as in "the elephant is a huge animal" which nevertheless is less impressive if you've lived through the Jurassic Period. So, yeah, pretty impressive but still way smaller than the old Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street London, Fame Megastore on Dam Square Amsterdam, or even the multi-storied Metropolis in Athens Greece. There's a huge variety of ultra-cheap used CD (around $2) as well as some rare or new CDs in regular prices. Concerning vinyl, all kinds of music are amply represented: pop rock country soul international etc. New LPs $22-40, used mostly $8-15 but also some offers $1-4. Among the latter one can also find some good titles in below par condition. Furthermore, one can find all kinds of music-related merchandise including DVD's, T-shirts, books, posters etc. In-store performances by famous artists are a regular event; only last week Slash gave there an acoustic performances, while on a memorable occasion Sir Paul McCartney himself played Beatles and solo hits for an audience of lucky shoppers. Just don't go there on Record Store Day; there's a huge queue lining around the block for RSD special items which are also available in smaller record stores without all that fuss. Unless, that is, one wants to be able to brag to their friends that they stood in line for two hours to get a limited edition Fleetwood Mac picture disc. The story just makes it sound like a much more precious item than it really is. Another, much smaller, record shop on Hollywood Boulevard (no. 6727, near the world famous Chinese Theater where all the stars leave their hand/foot prints on cement) is As The Record Turns. Real easy to miss, as it's located in a small yard at the end of a narrow walkway. Despite its small size, it holds a great many records, all original issues. Especially good in R&B, but also rock jazz soundtracks exotica etc. Prices begin at about $30, going up according to collectability.
Supervinyl (900 Sycamore Ave) earned nation-wide fame when Beyoncé took it over in order to launch her latest vinyl release with a record signing. She chose well; the shop is roomy and clean, and carries only selected titles in quality new vinyl as well as some hi fi equipment. Going further away from Hollywood towards Melrose, one finds Revolution Records (7305 Melrose Ave.) featuring mostly pre-owned vinyl (all genres, especially classic rock/ Latin/rock en español). Prices range from the very expensive ($40+) to the very cheap (crates $1-5). Also CD's ($3-7). A bit further down the road (7706), Headline Records is a punk rocker's paradise, a whole shop dedicated to punk music and fashion. There are CDs and LPs ($25-40) from bands from across the world representing a "wide" variety of musical genres: punk rock, ska punk, garage punk, hardcore, and even -surprise- metal! Now, I remember that when I was young there was a TV soap opera called Melrose Place. Never watched it, but I always assumed it was about "glamorous" people. Which is only partially true: Melrose Avenue does have a lot of fashionable shops, but that's mostly street fashion rather than any exclusive designer stuff. A pleasant place overall; on the day I visited (a really sunny one) there were a lot of young girls walking up and down the street with shopping bags, as well as some young boys giving an impromptu rap performance.
Still on Melrose Ave. (7809) one can find one of the worst-reviewed businesses ever: with more 1* reviews on google and yelp than any other I've seen, ladies and gentlemen it's The Record Collector! Now, apparently this is a legendary establishment, but I didn't know it at the time. I was working off a list of "the 46 best record stores in and around L.A." published recently in the L.A. Times, and was in Melrose to check out Headline from that list, then noticed on google maps that there were a couple of other shops in the neighborhood, and decided to visit them. Of course I saw the reviews before I got in, and steeled myself to face any abuse that might be thrown my way. Immediately as I entered the shop, a really old guy at the door asked me what my pleasure was. Now, I didn't necessarily go in to buy records, I was there to map the record store situation for my blog. Google reviews had warned me that I had to know exactly what I was looking for but I nevertheless replied "nothing in particular, 70's rock mostly". The old guy then shouts to his assistant somewhere deep inside the place (imagine a row of corridors packed floor-to-ceiling with vinyl) "Henry, show this gentleman to pop, section 5" or something like that. An even older guy emerges from the back and takes me to a corridor, getting down on his creaky knees (unnecessary, and painful to watch) to show me where the relevant section started. Browsing there quickly became quite uncomfortable: first of all, it was the bottom row, adjacent to the floor. Secondly, the records are so packed that one cannot flip through them. Thirdly, most of the spines are worn and unreadable, so that one has to take the album out to read the title. None of the records have prices on them, but despite worn album covers most of them are relatively clean inside. Under these circumstances, I only spent 10 minutes in the shop before leaving. I bade the owner goodbye and he gave me a nod. That's it! The man was almost courteous, belying everything you ever read about him. Apparently he is the terror of customers, people make "I visited the Record Collector and lived to tell the tale" videos on youtube. To be fair, this establishment is famous for more than its grumpy owner: the older surviving record store in the city (50 years going), sporting a selection of half-a-million albums, apparently unparalleled for jazz, classical, and even old 78 RPM records, and the only one that never succumbed to the digital age: even when vinyl was supposedly dying and CDs accounted for 96% of music sales, the Record Collector faithfully dealt only in vinyl. If only the guy knew I sold off most of my classic LPs in the early 00's to re-buy them on "deluxe" remastered CD, I bet he wouldn't have been so patient with me!
After West Hollywood, we moved to Venice Beach for a few days. Again most of he cliches were right, though not all of them: the sand and the waves were there, as well as the tall palm trees, but the sun only shone intermittently; in fact, the temperature was always a few degrees lower than downtown. But I did enjoy the relaxed and festive atmosphere. Like Hollywood, Venice was also full of touristy shops, but in this case it didn't strike me negatively. What else are you going to do at the beach than eat, drink, shop, buy stuff - and maybe play beach volley or surf? Well, we did everything except for the sporty bit. And the waterfront isn't the only attraction: there's the gorgeous and quiet Venice canal district, as well as the bustle and hustle of Abbot Kinney; my friend swears by the coffee at cafe Intelligentsia and burgers at the Win-dow, and we had great tacos and margharitas at the Tocaya; the tastes were much more sophisticated than the place looked, especially on the inside. For records, one has to take the road towards Santa Monica: Angel City Books and Records (218 Pier Ave, Santa Monica) offers a great selection of used books, and a slightly less impressive one of records (rock/jazz/folk for $5-45, depending on condition and collectability), 7' singles, CDs ($6-7) as well as a few cassettes. A long way from the pier, on 12346 Santa Monica Blvd, you can visit a big shop called Record Surplus.
Legend had it that it had an "attic" full of stuff for $1 or less. It must have dried up, though; nowadays, "the attic" is confined to a corner of the (ground level) shop; everything still costs $1, but that's mostly CDs and very little vinyl. I didn't find anything of interest there, but there was plenty at the rest of the shop: lots of used CDs around $5, used LPs (rock, folk, jazz,classical etc) mostly under $10 (I got some nice country LPs for $2-5), some new items at the usual prices, box sets, books, and singles. It's in the middle of nowhere, but there's a convenient bus stop right in front. Speaking for me, it was worth going a bit out of my way. The last neighborhood we visited in L.A. was downtown where we had a walking tour. Part of that tour was The Last Bookstore, a shop absolutely worth visiting. Housed in a huge 100-year old bank building (there's even a vault!) it's a paradise for the bibliophile as well as a must stop for record collectors: there's a random collection of used LPs (mostly under $10) as well as a bunch of new ones (around $25). A second guided tour I took on LA started from Little Tokyo - I slipped out for a bit to check the record stores in the area: Going underground is one of those shops one delights in: spacious and clean, with a curated collection (used LPs $5-15, new $25-40) centered on alternative, punk and indie, including some indie metal labels. Also CDs, cassettes, and books. Among the Japanese shops, there's one that supposedly carries a lot of Japanese vinyl, Ginza Gifts and Music. That sounded promising, until I realized that it only imported Japanese music (LPs mostly $20-30). Was it pop, folk, rock? Impossible to guess from the covers. I never felt so lost at a record store in my life; out of hundreds of titles, I recognized only a couple. That concludes my firsthand report on L.A. record stores; you will have to ask a real Angelano for a fuller presentation.
I will add some others that seemed interesting but I didn't have the time to visit: Counterpoint Records & Books (5911 Franklin Ave.,Hollywood Hills) "vinyl and cd's cover all genres but with particular strengths in Classical, Jazz and Rock." Sick City (1381 Sunset Blvd.) "Tucked inside an Echo Park strip mall...specialty is 20th century alternative and 21st century indie artists. Band t-shirts and related merchandise...there’s a small barbershop in the back of the shop...opens at 13:00." Cosmic Vinyl (2149 Sunset Blvd) doubles as a vegan cafe "We carry a wide array of new and used vinyl records of all genres...hi-fi turntables, receivers, speakers etc...T-Shirt’s, Coffee Mugs and much more." Rubycon Records and Tapes (4850 Santa Monica Blvd) "a go-to spot for lovers of synth-pop, industrial and techno" Permanent Records Roadhouse (1906 Cypress Ave.,Cypress Park) is a music label/ record store/ bar/ live music venue. Arroyo Records (5132.1/2 York Blvd., Highland Park) "outstanding selection, fair prices...listening station" "heavy on the classics...hefty bargain bins" Estuario (5403 1/2 N. Figueroa St.,Highland Park) "ambitious music from across Latin America and the global south" Gimmie Gimmie Records (5810 N Figueroa St.) "excellent selection, condition, prices and variety"..."post-punk, hip-hop, classic rock" Mount Analog (2217 Hyperion Ave.,Silver Lake) "hub for techno, goth and experimental LPs" Sonido Del Valle (2108 1st St. Boyle Heights) "cumbia, mariachi, and other hot regional Mexican and Latin genres" Freakbeat Records (13616 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks) "Half the store is filled with new and used vinyl from all musical genres...The rock section is largest, but we're very aggressive about filling the jazz and soul bins too" Atomic Records (3812 W. Magnolia Blvd, Burbank) "A crate digger’s paradise, Atomic deals entirely with used records" High Fidelity (4765 W. Adams Blvd) "classic soul, rock and jazz records" Music Plaza (928 S. Western Ave., Koreatown) "biggest K-Pop shop" Record Recycler (17312 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance) "the real joy is in finding a cheap, used and rare treasure somewhere way off the path". For more, try the L.A. Times article mentioned earlier. P.S. for visitors from abroad: Prices in California are always exclusive taxes and tips; record store clerks, however helpful, do not expect a tip from you, but the price you'll pay at the counter will be higher than what the sticker denotes - about 8%-10%, depending on the current sales tax rates of each city/county.
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