Los Angeles area record stores

Discussion in 'Music, Movie and Hardware Store Guide' started by jamesc, Jun 16, 2016.

  1. mikeyt

    mikeyt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Rockaway Records in Silverlake usually has a few for sale on their walls. ;)
     
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  2. tremspeed

    tremspeed Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    It's an hour free, though, right? I usually need more than that so I park in the Arclight garage, which is enormous.
     
  3. tremspeed

    tremspeed Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    I actually found a butcher cover at the University of San Francisco record swap. Not sure if it will line up with your trip, but it's in late August. I would be surprised to find good records at a general flea market or yard sale, though it is possible. There's a couple regularly scheduled flea markets in the SF Bay Area, both east of San Francisco proper- Treasure Island, a manmade lump of earth in between segments of the Bay Bridge, has a fun one, but the big one is in Alameda (Alameda Point Antiques Faire), on a former Navy airstrip. It's huge and there's records there, but they're nowhere near the focus: antiques, collectibles and kitsch are. If you're interested in that kind of stuff it's well worth the trip, but it might be disappointing for just records- there's an admission fee as I recall. You could probably search out more on Yelp by location.

    Count me in with the folks that say Amoeba IS worth a visit, and there's two in the SF Bay Area. The Rasputin's Records in Berkeley is nearly next door to Amoeba there as well, and is definitely worth a visit for vinyl (there are a handful of Rasputin stores, but the Berkeley one always seemed strongest for vinyl). Mod Lang in El Cerrito can yield some decent stuff, if you are interested in indie rock / garage rock, etc. My favorite store when I lived in the Bay Area was The Last Record Store, in Santa Rosa, an hour north of SF (not counting traffic). Just off the beaten track enough to have lots and lots of good stuff at reasonable prices. Very old school vibe as well.

    If you're coming up from LA though, you might stop in Santa Cruz- there's a Streetlight records, which is decent (there's also one in SF), and a great used book/cd/record store, Logo's. (Also, if its your first time in California, Santa Cruz is a really cool town, I feel the quintessential California town- it's small, funky, it has a beach/surf culture, a strong academic culture, lots of hippies and freaks- and beautiful woods and mountains minutes away).

    Ventura (not too far from Santa Barbara) also has a few stores, but I've never checked them out. One of the biggest record fiends I've ever known is from Ventura though, so I suspect strong local shops.
     
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  4. caupina

    caupina Forum Resident

    Location:
    Santiago, Chile
    I don't think there's a time limit or at least nobody is checking, there's no ticket to pick up when you go into the parking underneath. While I lived in LA I went to Amoeba numerous times and never had a problem with the parking...and yes the parking attendant is a great lady.
     
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  5. John Rhett Thomas

    John Rhett Thomas Forum Resident

    Location:
    Macon, GA, USA
    Parking at Amoeba in LA is a breeze. I wish it was more difficult, I'd probably save a lot of money. (The parking at the Berkeley store, on the other hand... yeesh!)

    If the garage under the building is full, which it sometimes is, there's a side parking lot a little further down Cahuenga that has about 30 spaces.
     
  6. Pavol Stromcek

    Pavol Stromcek Senior Member

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Actually, Rasputin in Berkeley has moved all of its vinyl down the street to the old Cody's Books building (across Telegraph from Amoeba), and this new spot, which sells vinyl and used books, is called Mad Monk (it's really just a Rasputin annex by a different name). There is a discussion about this in some other thread. It's a nice change and a better spot than the old basement, with vinyl spread out all over the ground floor. So anyone who is only interested in vinyl can skip the Berkeley Rasputin altogether.
     
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  7. tremspeed

    tremspeed Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Cool, thanks for the update. I hadn't been there in a couple years.
     
  8. progrocker71

    progrocker71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    The Last Bookstore in downtown has a decent sized used LP section.

    It's located at 453 S. Spring St. which is about 1 block away from the Pershing Square Metro station.
     
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  9. Marc Perman

    Marc Perman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Santa Barbara has two record stores in town: Just Play Music, which has a large, cluelessly overpriced used vinyl selection, and Warbler, which is a great, friendly little store. When I was there they had an RL Led Zep II in stock, which the clerk/owner was happy to play for me over the store's sound system while I shopped.

    Ventura has a few places, the best being Grady's.

    For SF, head over to Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley for Amoeba and especially Rasputin. I didn't know Rasputin's vinyl basement had moved, but it's a huge selection with frequently multiple copies of albums priced according to condition. The used vinyl stock at both Bay Area Amoeba stores has dwindled similar to Hollywood, but new vinyl and new/used CD stock at all stores is massive.

    Question for San Franciscans: I've passed a couple of small record stores in North Beach, one with a large basement full of not very well organized records. Are these stores worth exploring?
     
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  10. Marc Perman

    Marc Perman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    No bargains at the Last Bookstore but good selection with some interesting finds. One visit I found very nice copies of The Cure's Pornography and Pink Floyd's Animals in their recent arrivals section. Henry runs the department and knows his stuff.
     
  11. TeacFan

    TeacFan Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Arcadia, Ca.
    Found a mono Sinatra's Swinging Session 9 o'clock $4.00 in great shape w/original paper sleeve. Sinatra is under the main bins in the "pop vocals" dungeon.
     
  12. progrocker71

    progrocker71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I picked up a copy of Johnny Griffin's Live In Tokyo last weekend for $4 at The Last Bookstore, that put a smile on my face.
     
  13. Pavol Stromcek

    Pavol Stromcek Senior Member

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Yeah, that'd be 101 Music you're talking about, one store is on Grant and the other right around the corner on Green. I don't know what kind of stuff you're looking for, but I used to find a lot of fairly elusive gems (a lot of obscure 80s British post punk stuff) in the place on Green with the disorganized basement (and it used to be WAY less organized, with crates full of records stacked 3-4 high in front of and sometimes on top of the aisles; they've since cleaned up their act a little bit), but the last few times I stopped in there it seemed picked over. Most of what's in there is dollar-bin garbage, but it used to be that if you spent a good hour or more down there and really scoured each rack, you'd come out with some interesting and/or hard-to-find stuff. But the last three times I went there I walked out empty handed.

    The other place, around the corner on Grant, is much more orderly, but smaller, and there's an OK selection, IIRC, but I haven't bought much there, to be honest.

    I think both are probably worth exploring if you've got some time to kill, but they are becoming less essential than they used to be, IMO.
     
  14. nancybrooke

    nancybrooke Not quite Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle, WA, USA
    I think you're talking about 101 Music, there's a store on Grant Ave., and a basement shop nearby on Green St. - I've only been to the shop on Grant and it has a nice cramped old-school feel and an eclectic collection of vinyl (I can't remember how the pricing compares to other places but I came away happy with a few jazz and folk LPs I'd been looking for). The Green St. shop is loads and loads of unsorted $5 vinyl which sounds like either a fun time or a nightmare, depending on your appetite for crate digging.
     
  15. nancybrooke

    nancybrooke Not quite Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle, WA, USA
    It's kind of amazing a place like this still exists in SF. My younger self would have loved to have spent half a day sorting through everything, but I haven't got the patience anymore. The best score I ever had though was at the KUSF Rock n Swap a couple of years ago, if I were visiting SF the weekend of the show (I think the next one is the last Sunday of August) I don't think I'd bother going to any record stores at all - well maybe Amoeba for cds, but I've had no luck with used vinyl the past few times I've been there.
     
  16. jamesc

    jamesc Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Just wanted to thank you all for your suggestions. I think my girlfriend feels about record stores the way I feel about shoe stores so I didn't get to shop a lot but did hit a few stores.

    Amoeba was more impressive than I was expecting. It had the grandeur of the old Towers and Virgins but the used product made it even more interesting to me. Found some nice cheap CDs. Early Japanese pressings (D25Y series) of Police CDs for $4 and $5. There was sooooo much to look at and not nearly enough time. The used vinyl selection was a little disappointing to me but I may not have seen it all. The amount of great used CDs in the $1.99 section was just nuts but I didn't even attempt to look through them since I was pressed for time. The parking lot was appreciated and I found an open spot quickly and remembered to wave to and thank the parking girl on the way out. :)

    Rockaway had some cool stuff but it seemed smaller than I remember. Again, the parking lot was nice. They get some really cool things like unique test pressings but I didn't really find any must haves on this trip. I bought a nice double twelve inch acetate set for an unreleased US Lush 12" single back in the day for very little money there so I'm glad they're still around. Didn't have a ton of time to really look things over but will continue to shop there on future visits.

    The Last Book Store was very cool. Found a couple of reasonably priced records in very nice shape there.

    Overall I enjoyed my trip back to LA. There's not a ton of stuff I'm looking for in the way of used vinyl/CDs any more so finding anything is a nice surprise and I found some cool stuff while checking out the stores. Plus I got to see Brian Wilson at the Hollywood Bowl so that was cool.
     
  17. MrGrumpy

    MrGrumpy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Burbank
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  18. And the covered lot behind the Arclight is not too expensive and is a nice third option.
     
  19. jalexander

    jalexander Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I was in LA for the first time in 25 years and this forum was a great help. I only had a few hours. Between meetings and flights, so I checked out Amoeba and Soundstations. Both were excellent. I can see why some might complain about Amoeba, but really, it's an embarrassment of riches! Like many have suggested, the vinyl treasures were in the new arrivals area, so I think regulars will benefit the most. The CD selection, though, was amazing, and prices were great. I bought lots for under $5 and saw many rare items for under $20. Saw one single I had been wanting for 18 years!

    Soundstations was also great. Much more like your local record store in size, but the selection and pricing on new and used CDs and vinyl were great. Highly recommended! ‎
     
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  20. I333I

    I333I Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ventura
    Soundsations is the kind of place where you want to buy CDs that you already own just because they are are so damn cheap!
     
  21. OE3

    OE3 Senior Member

    Rockaway Records in Silver Lake has shrunk again. The last self-imposed (the brothers own the parcel) downsizing was in late 2005. Now, it's even smaller. The wine store or the clothing boutique next door must have gotten bigger. FYI.
     
  22. John Lloyd

    John Lloyd Forum Resident

    Location:
    Roseville, CA
    I have been visiting Amoeba on Sunset once or twice a year for about 7 years. There have definitely been some changes. During my latest visit (yesterday), I was disappointed to see the vinyl bins filled with sealed repressings of classic albums. Fortunately I was able to dig past all of those and find 4 or 5 used records I wanted.

    Today I will give Atomic Records a try for the first time.
     
  23. Marc Perman

    Marc Perman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I was in Record Surplus today, they had a nice used copy of Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends for $41.00 (w/poster). A few months ago they had Jimi's Smash Hits, also w/poster, for the same price. Record Surplus has stretched their prices into the stratosphere recently, but hey those posters!
     
  24. wwright

    wwright Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA.
    I see butcher covers frequently at Amoeba San Francisco. When they have them in, they put them on the wall behind the counter. Saw one there a few weeks back.

    The folks there are super friendly and kind, and I frequent the store at least once a week. They also load up my French Bulldog with huge dog treats - she is now quite happy to drag me in there, but I go in under my own power, believe me. It also draws in like-minded Haight Street tourists, which is really nice. Evokes a pleasant SF community vibe. And Cha Cha Cha is up the block on the corner - such great food. I've been eating there for years.

    The Berkeley Amoeba on Telegraph Ave. usually has a few really nice hard-to-find pressings. Picked up a UK white vinyl 1978 White Album last summer that was sitting on the wall for $60 in pristine shape.

    And over the years I've found great records at Amoeba SF. Most recently, just this last week - an unplayed SuperDisk "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" for around $30 and a sealed first US pressing of "Tea For the Tillerman." Also bought mint UK first pressings of Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" and "Bryter Layter" a few months back - they were in amazing condition. Pretty sure the Pink Moon was previously unplayed. Their prices are quite fair for what you get in return.

    A trip out to Mill Valley is recommended as well - Mill Valley Music at 322 Miller Drive is really fun and a great small record store. The owner is a wonderful guy. I bought an incredible Alton Kelley Pink Floyd Japan tour poster in there, signed by the artist. And if you continue on Miller Drive you'll find a nice downtown square for coffee or lunch, and the Sweetwater Music Hall and Cafe is nearby. And you can continue on up to Cascade Falls - a magical place.

    And appreciate the LA record store referrals - can't wait to check them out on my next trip!
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2017
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  25. AceintheSpace

    AceintheSpace Forum Resident

    Location:
    Utica, New York
    I got more than half of my vinyl from Amoeba and that's the only place I would suggest to anyone.
     
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