Southern Cali Record Stores

Skip Drinkwater

What are some decent spots aside from the obvious LA area stores that are worth visiting? I know a lot have recently shut down, and a few new ones have popped up, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

mylatency

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joaobossa

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dude is right. far too many diggers, nowhere near enough good sh*t to go around. and so many stores have relationships with big sellers and flip the best stuff to them or save it for ebay. socal sucks for wax.

DJCire

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Guzzo

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dude is right. far too many diggers, nowhere near enough good sh*t to go around. and so many stores have relationships with big sellers and flip the best stuff to them or save it for ebay. socal sucks for wax.

this reminds me of the domesticated animal. Once his feeding bowl is removed he doesn't know where to get his food.

The hustle is where its at. Those records aren't mad ein the store; they mustve come from somewhere.

Good records are still plenty abundant, the only people who should be having problems right now are the dudes trying to get over on sellers. If you're willing to spend the cash then dealers are more than glad to work with you, if you're just looking to cop $50 albums at Amoeba for $3.99 or less then you probably ain't going to be eating too well.

Skip Drinkwater

I still reguarly find things in LA. Just wondering if there were any more spots for me to broaden my digging horizons at. Granted, it's much tougher than it once was to find quality pieces at reasonable prices, but not everyone sells on Ebay, and people with good records need money/go broke sometimes. Sure you can't pull grails in dollar bins, but good records are still out there.

I was browsing through some pamphlet I got at Amoeba the other day with various stores listed, and was wondering about Cantenburry (I think that's how it's spelled) in Pasadena. Is it or worth a visit? Then there are spots I haven't visited in years. Rockaway any good these days? Any decent spots in the 805? 626?

wescoasia

I highly recommend Freak Beat (www.freakbeatrecords.com) in Sherman Oaks. It's replaced what Aron's used to be for me. The staff is very knowledgeble and they got a very eclectic array of vinyl/cds/dvds. Definitely check it out.

grandpa_shig

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dude is right. far too many diggers, nowhere near enough good sh*t to go around. and so many stores have relationships with big sellers and flip the best stuff to them or save it for ebay. socal sucks for wax.

this reminds me of the domesticated animal. Once his feeding bowl is removed he doesn't know where to get his food.

The hustle is where its at. Those records aren't mad ein the store; they mustve come from somewhere.

Good records are still plenty abundant, the only people who should be having problems right now are the dudes trying to get over on sellers. If you're willing to spend the cash then dealers are more than glad to work with you, if you're just looking to cop $50 albums at Amoeba for $3.99 or less then you probably ain't going to be eating too well.

dont go to canterbury.

unless u still collect vhs tapes.

and, when you come to LA, u should definately sample the food. you dont have to dig for it either!

DJCire

805 - nope... I'm up there quite a bit. And haven't really come across much up there. A few thrifts and one record store in Ventura but not great for dusties, mostly newer stuff...

grandpa_shig

I highly recommend Freak Beat (www.freakbeatrecords.com) in Sherman Oaks. It's replaced what Aron's used to be for me. The staff is very knowledgeble and they got a very eclectic array of vinyl/cds/dvds. Definitely check it out.

i like freakbeat. and there's joe peeps pretty close by. decent ny style slice.

i got some records once in sunland at some junk store. they were pretty good.

and thai food along sherman way is much better than thaitown fare in hollywood.

grandpa_shig

626 has some of the best regional chinese foods outside of china. i know a few spots.

Guzzo

I was browsing through some pamphlet I got at Amoeba the other day with various stores listed, and was wondering about Cantenburry

Cantebury used to be heaven for me back in the day. They specialized in Dixieland and classical music but happen to be in a major metropolitan/ urban area so they would get a ton of rock and soul music and always price it less than they would the classical.

A dude I used to pick weed up off of worked behind the counter there and I'm good with the folks that work there so they'd let me dig in the back and when I was done I'd come out with raers and twenty sack.

sady though, those days are long gone. t sucks when your record store friends gow up and others at teh store get wise to what they have.

but still, if you want dixieland, look no further

troubleman

Canterbury($) keeps these boxes of records unpriced for sooooooo long. Then they get pissed when you even look through them. That place gets the bozak. There's a Penny Lane by PCC($) that sucks too, and Poo Bah($) down the way that has it's moments, but my buddys have that place on lock (they live around the corner and hit it up daily). Basically if you want to dig near LA you have Amoeba ($), Atomic($$), Freakbeat($), Rockaway ($$$$ with a sealed James Knight on the wall for $500). And a couple smaller shops that have owners that are semi crazy and are only open 1 day a week for 3 hours and then all you can do is window shop. Most record stores in LA don't have listening stations which I still don't understand. I miss New York record stores...great prices, ridic selection, listening stations. Heaven.

guide
($) Great prices and quick turnaround sometimes raers are hiding in the wrong bins.
($$) On the high side of pricing but it beats dealing with ebay and the stupid us postal system
($$$$) laughable pricing but grails galore