Los Angeles area record stores

Yeah really, $1 CD's are $1 CD's.

 

In this day and age, $1 CDs are 10 cent CDs.

 

One of my favorite stores in the Southern California area - Rhino Records in Claremont - will be relocating this summer…

Rhino Records announces move out of Claremont’s Village – Daily Bulletin

 

That's a shame, I'd hit it on the way back from L.A. to get to Vegas for the night. Hopefully it will be off the 210....that 10 area is terrible traffic by Claremont.

 

The new location will be in the Ontario Plaza, right off the 10.

 

I hate that 10, too much traffic. Rhino Westwood was a parking mess. Arons on Highland was worse "here come the L.A. tow trucks folks, move your cars".

 

Haha! I remember that tiny parking lot they had but could usually find street parking not too far away.

 

Too many drug fiend yoke artists on side streets....I stayed on Highland.

 

I went to CD Trader out in Tarzana the other day (will be moving out there this summer into a new house) and was pretty disappointed. The selection remains really good and the new vinyl prices are competitive (used DVD and CD prices were still great) but the used stock was a lot higher than I remember. I didn’t see a single good deal unfortunately. I suppose part of it might be that this is just the new vinyl market, but even taking that into consideration I thought it was across the board jacked up just a bit too much.

 

CD Trader I'd put on my list of go 2's years back. Too many nothing to buy trips there eliminates them now. I just use eBay for new vinyl picks. Used DVD prices are cheap about everywhere...especially Freakbeat...the 99cent selection is great.

 

The landlord must have priced the ownership right out of its beloved five-decade-large structure. The Village is such a nice hangout (for lack of a better word). I hope Chuck and his crew make the new store as epically cool as possible. Rhino Records' reputation is quite a muscular one!

 

I love Rhino. Been going there for over 20 years.

This is yet another example of money > community. I don’t know the specifics of why the landlord has to raise the rent (maybe there’s a good reason). But on the surface this looks heartless.

I’ll still go to the new Rhino location. But I’m sure they’ll take in less business without the college foot traffic.

 

It’ll be interesting to see what the landlord does with that property.

Supposedly, the new Rhino store has more floor area.

 

Early-80s for me, and that was when I was living on the west side of LA. Pre-pandemic, they used to do book signings (e.g., John Densmore).

 

It looks like nuRhino will consist of the current store and sister Video Paradiso under one roof. I'm sure it will look great, but there's just something about pulling up stakes and moving a few grid squares east that seems iffy (like Amoeba Hollywood).

But you can bet I'll be there! Support is critical. (We already lost Mad Platter, which I visited even earlier than Rhino.)

 

No foot traffic is a big problem.

 

Same here. I hope they bring back the lp and cd listening stations.

 

Rhino Records' new address will be 5458 Moreno St. in Montclair. The last day in the Village is June 26.

FWIW, the new location looks like it will be able to accommodate Rhino's and Video Paradiso's inventories.

Montclair, California - Google Maps

 

Has anybody been to the Deadly Wax?

https://www.yelp.com/biz/deadly-wax-chatsworth-2?osq=Records

 

Their last parking lot sale at the current location will be on May 30. I dropped by the store today and walked out with Electric Flag’s debut, Van Morrison’s Moondance, and The Who Sell Out (original UK pressing w/ “psychedelic poster inside” sticker, but sans poster).

 

The ad also states there's no *in-store* shopping that day!

 

Yep. Preparing for the big move.

 

There are a few stores in L.A./Orange county called Book-Off. They sell lots of CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, books, electronics, games, and consoles. CDs start at $1 each. That's mostly what I look at. They even have a small section of vinyl records.

 

I still have never been inside Book-Off!

 

I recently made a trip to the new Amoeba Music in Hollywood and thought I'd offer some observations.

This was my third visit to the store in its new location. I was familiar with the previous version of the store in Hollywood just a few blocks away.

Some people are down on the new Amoeba. I really am not one of those people, although I do acknowledge that the new store is a lesser version of the old one. How could it not be with significantly less space?



-- I am a CD collector primarily (I collect vinyl as well but not to the same degree), so that certainly influences my opinion of the store. I still believe Amoeba is a really good, probably elite store for finding used CDs and has a pretty strong selection of new, still-sealed CDs as well.

I spent five hours (!) in the store during my recent visit and still did not have time to see every area that I would have liked to have seen. I collect in a variety of genres, so I worked my way carefully through some of the sections -- R&B/Soul and Oldies in particular got a lot of my attention. The Pop/Rock section is huge, and even the Jazz, Blues and Country sections are quite large. Other categories (Soundtracks, Folk, Pop Vocals, Hip-Hop/Rap, the list goes on) receive ample space as well.

Many out-of-print CDs still can be found in the bins, and even with a large personal collection I can easily spot items to help fill in gaps in my collection. Are there the same amount of rarities in the bins now compared with years past? I'm not the best person to answer that question because I've only lived in the L.A. area for 3.5 years and I made maybe a handful of trips to the old Amoeba location. It does seem that perhaps there are fewer rarities, but that might something that's affecting all record stores these days.

One other thing to note: A fair number of used CDs at Amoeba are promo, cutout or record-club copies. Some collectors (I am one of them) try to avoid such items. There are still plenty of cool, hard-to-find used CDs at Amoeba that are not any of those things, but just FYI.

-- I really can't comment much on the vinyl section at the new Amoeba because I have spent such little time in that part of the store. The section seems fairly large from what I can tell and includes used and new vinyl. Perhaps someone could weigh in on this part of the store.



-- The book section at the new store is smaller than the previous store. As someone who collects a lot of music books, this is disappointing. I took a quick look at the section during my last visit, and there still were some interesting books in used and new condition despite the smaller space.

-- The DVD/Blu-ray section also is smaller than at the previous store, which had an entire floor dedicated to such items. The section at the new store is still fairly large, but I really liked that separate floor they had at the old store!

-- There was hardly anywhere to sit at the old store to take a break (the book section had some benches), and I'm not sure there's any place to sit at the new store. I'm sure Amoeba has its reasons for setting the store up this way, but my visits tend to be marathon sessions, and the lack of a place to sit and take a break is an issue. I am fortunate enough to live within a reasonable driving distance, so I'll probably start making shorter trips with more frequency to help negate this issue.



-- I am not sure about a bathroom policy at the new store. At the old store, you asked an employee and they pointed you toward a bathroom facility that was quite clean. They gave y0u a key for it. I am not sure whether it's the same setup at the new store. I am guessing it is but am not positive.

-- As far as parking, I used to enjoy the free underground parking at the old store. I usually visited at a non-peak time (like a weekday afternoon) and almost always was able to get a spot in that garage. At the new store, they encourage you to use a garage just a few doors down (on Argyle). It's a pretty nice, large garage -- just to be careful not to enter the "private" entrance. Use the "public" one instead. They are right next to each other. The private entrance is for the adjoining condos/apartments. Amoeba will validate your garage ticket for the first 75 minutes of use. During my marathon sessions at Amoeba, I have been charged $20 for the garage. Not bad for five or so hours.

-- I'll also mention that I traded in some used CDs at the buy counter when I first arrived. I've used this service at Amoeba before. You won't get top dollar, but if you take store credit instead of a cash payout, you can get a little better bang for your buck. They are pretty fast at looking at your CDs and giving you an offer.

In summary, I'm still a fan of the new Amoeba, especially since I love hunting for used CDs and they have a strong selection of those. I am disappointed that they have downsized at the new Hollywood location, but I will take a lesser version of Amoeba than nothing at all. This is still one of the top record stores in the United States from my perspective.