Groovy old 1970 pic of Tower Records, San Francisco, CSN&Y "Déjà Vu "just released, only $2.88!

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Feb 6, 2013.

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  1. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    I went to Tower, Rasputins and Leopolds while living in Berzerkely back in the 70's-80's. There were some good used record stores further down
    on College Ave. (towards Rockridge) back in the day. Much of my vinyl collection was put together then. Better days...
     
  2. jmpatrick

    jmpatrick Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit, MI
    Birmingham, right? No vinyl that I remember.
     
    motorcitydave likes this.
  3. Darn, those photos in posts #211 & 212 are incredible too! I wasn't even aware there had ever been a Mod revival!

    Thanks so much for sharing that! Nowadays, everything is documented and easily. But anything pre-Internet is precious because the folks were serious about it! They INTENDED to leave memories behind! And if something happened to the photos or the negatives, there it goes...
     
  4. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Thanks Steve for sharing the cool photo of TOWER, circa 1970. Only being 9 in 1970, I had to wait until the mid '80's to get to the TOWER in L.A., which I'm sure that even by then, was a much less brilliant store than it was in the early '70's, but I was STILL in heaven. I also used to always visit the old TOWER in Pennsylvania, near the King Of Prussia mall and I could spend hours there, with my jaw on the floor at their selection, even near the end!

    As a music collector who has always been more about the shopping experience than the music itself, I find myself left with little in 2013 and it is truly sad! I still find AMOEBA as the best of what is left for guys like me and if you luck into being there on the right day, you can still find something that has long been on your "want lists". If I have a beef at all with AMOEBA, it's that their 45 rpm section always seems unorganized and not real friendly, unless you have hours to dig. Seriously, how HARD is it to just file 45's by artists alphabetically, rather than by whatever "format" that they think it should be in? Man, I love 45's but AMOEBA always take the fun out of buying them, just because of the way that they store them.

    TOWER will always be the perfect model of what a GREAT record/CD store "should" be and oh how I wish that they or someone could make it all happen again, as there is NOTHING fun or rewarding, as a collector, in pressing a button for a download!
     
    Steve Hoffman likes this.
  5. Macman

    Macman Senior Member

    I love pictures like this. It makes me so nostalgic for that period and how much record stores like that meant to me. I would walk or hitchhike for miles just to go to one, even when I had no money, which was most of the time.
     
    Steve Hoffman likes this.
  6. Same here! I had zero money at first, when I was too young to work, but I would spend so much time just "smelling" those places and gazing at the covers... Those Apple and Zapple album covers (not the nudie one; we couldn't see THAT one!), I was 12 and a fresh Beatles nut and couldn't believe those album covers... Such surrealism + the unmitigated audacity of showing the artist, or some piece of artistic statement, with no name or title in print on the front...
     
  7. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    There was a Tower Records across the street from the Beacon on Broadway, but it was about 8 blocks south of the Beacon. Beacon is at B'way and 74th, Tower was on 66th.
     
  8. moops

    moops Senior Member

    Location:
    Geebung, Australia
    OK, thanks ! I guess that must have been it. :wave:
     
  9. kozy814

    kozy814 Forum Resident

    Was that store on Woodward? The other great record retailer was Harmony House. I did a short stint there after college. I also spend 3 years at the Musicland/Sam Goody's at Eastland Mall before college. The memories are thick -- the promos, the boxes and boxes of Thriller LPs the day it went on sale, the introduction of the CD, Playing Joe Jackson's Mike's Murder OST full blast before opening the doors in the morning. Blasting Elvis Costello's Get Happy while closing out the registers.

    Experiences like that shape your musical senses.
     
    Runt likes this.
  10. Linto

    Linto Mayor of Simpleton

    When Tower opened in Piccadilly Circus, London it was very expensive compared to
    HMV and Virgin stores not far away (chart cds £14.99 compared to £12.99, but they always had the best jazz section
    and imports like no other.
    However the main reason I went there was that it was one of the only places that stocked
    Listener Magazine.
     
  11. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    This thread and photo contrasts sharply with reality in 2013. Went to one of the few chains left (Newbury Comics) on new release Tuesday this past week. Waded through the clothing, hats, ephemera section of the store to the back half where music is still sold. There were a few other customers, though sadly none were wearing miniskirts and boots!
     
  12. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    :sigh:
     
  13. Randy S

    Randy S Ibuprofen junkie In Memoriam

    Location:
    Ol' Virginny
    Imagine in 1970 attempting to explain the interwebz to the boot girl and how 43 years later a bunch of horny old men would be lusting after her! :wave:
     
    Dondy, Metralla and googlymoogly like this.
  14. ManFromCouv

    ManFromCouv Employee #3541

    Nerds, CIA and bootgirls. What's not to like about 1970?
     
  15. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Tower Records, wish I had one growing up. In Alcoa, Tennessee where my grandmother lived in the 1970's I was across the street from a major shopping center and it had 4 record shops. And there was a major East Tennessee institution, Roy's Record Shop 2 miles away. Good times, superb selection including imports. Wonderful time to be a record lover in.
     
  16. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    We must be the same age!

    What impressed me most was the dedicated, sealed classical music room. Amid two floors of CDs, the classical section seemed like a church space. And the cashiers in that room were ridiculously well-informed, as if a PhD in the subject was required. I'd go in just to listen to their conversations and scarf up the free catalogs.

    Another thing that impressed me was that the catalogs of the biggest name artists were sorted and marked by title: I think Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and the Beatles were the only artists honored with such careful filing, at least during the CD era. Prior to the eventual domestic releases of the same concerts, I remember the imposing selection of Japanese Coltrane VILLAGE VANGUARD and Miles Davis electric era double-disc sets: $50 apiece, and someone was always carefully shopping them.
     
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  17. joefont

    joefont Senior Member

    Tower Records @ Columbus & Bay, Fillmore West, free concerts in Golden Gate Park......San Francisco was a great place to be in 1970. I was seventeen years old at the time and a big chunk of my vinyl collection was purchased at that Tower. Those were good days!
     
  18. Soundman

    Soundman Senior Member

    Location:
    U.K. / U.S.
    Post no. 237 makes me cry!
    I've spend a lot of time & money at the Bay & Columbus Tower store... Very good times indeed!
     
  19. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    Oh sure, along with the Paisley Underground garage scene, it was pretty big on the west coast in the '80s, especially in San Diego. There's still a mod scene out there, I used to play in bands at scooter rallies and mod nights at clubs a lot when I lived in SF, as late as 2005.
     
  20. :D
     
  21. Wow! Did they have trouble with the rockers and all?
     
  22. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    The people who worked in the classical Tower store on Sunset (across the street from the regular store) were amazingly well-informed, yes. Not only about the music, but also about the performances and what was good (from their standpoint) and what they felt was dead weight.

    This was very helpful when looking for something. I remember I wanted some Debussy piano music that I was studying in college and I had a handful in my hand, I approached the (beautiful, young) girl behind the counter and she shook her head at me. I said "What, no good?"

    She said yes, not bad but if you really want to hear Debussy you need to hear Walter Gieseking. She showed me an import box of his stuff and just pointed and said: "The best, ever."

    I bought it and she was right. When I did my piano recital my teacher Mrs. Russell told me that my performance reminded her of Gieseking. How 'bout that?

    Thank you, Tower!
     
  23. Runt

    Runt Senior Member

    Location:
    Motor City
    Yep, in downtown Birmingham. Worst possible place for a Tower. The Harmony House store down the street was awesome...loved that place in its heyday. When did you work there? I also remember the Eastland Mall stores. Was Ross Music still there?
     
  24. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    The rockabilly revivalists didn't dig the mod revivalists, LOL!
     
    xilef regnu likes this.
  25. psulioninks

    psulioninks Forum Resident

    Location:
    KC Chiefs Kingdom
    Ahhh...Peaches...had one of those here in the KC area too. :)
     
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