LA's oldest record store is also its lowest rated

[Big Beat Steve]

30 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

I am primarily thinking of used record shops. I am also not suggesting an actual "booth" (which may be what is being referred to above), so much as an area for customers to listen to the vinyl.

But most ones to which I go have a turntable set up with headphones for you to listen. As someone mentioned above, it is inevitably a Technics deck, and battered.

I would go so far as to say that I consider the idea of having a record player set up for customers to be absolutely unremarkable in 2024. Hence my surprise at the reminiscing above.

 

When I referred to listening "booths" I was actually referring to such booths. Which did exist, judging both by testimonials from some who were around in those days, period photos and ads and by certain period films where a listening booth was part of certain scenes of the plot. I dimly remember that there even was a Hitchcok crime movie that had such a scene. And I more distinctly remember both German and French movies from the late 50s/early 60s that were geared at a youth/teenage audience where you had scenes with rows to teens listening to record over those "telephone receiver" type headphones (very similar to the record shop from 1958 I showed above).

But my MAIN point about these record shops "in the days of old" was about those shops where the bulk of the records were stored BEHIND the counter and you went to the counter and asked the clerk if he/she had this or that record or if they were able to suggest you new arrivals by certain artists or items in your preferred styles of music, and they then pulled them from the racks behind them to show them to you (and play them too, if the customer so wished). And this is where the listening booths (as part of period shop furniture) came in too and were mentioned by me.
All of this triggered by the post about the character in L.A. who would not let customers browse the bins but forced them to tell him beforehand what they were looking for.

The Technics turntables in our local secondhand shop BTW look and sound OK and well cared for. I agree that the headphones make the records sound incredible - but OTOH I hardly ever listen to records through headphones at home.

Edited July 25 by Big Beat Steve

[JSngry]

I seem to remember booths in one store in Shreveport, probably Stan's?, in the early 1960s. But that's it.

One "trick" I learned that used vinyl stores will try to play on you is to turn the treble down so the scratches aren't clearly audible. I always either crank it (the treble) all the way up, or ask the clerk to do it if it's their purview. I've actually been able to negotiate a lower price on occasion by doing this!

[mjazzg]

Yeah, that treble trick...sure I fell for that a few times before realising 

[optatio]

Various: Jumpin' At The Record Shop. Acrobat ACRCD 152 [UK 2002]

[Steve Gray]

This BBC film about Hifi in the UK in the 50s is hilarious all the way through and is well worth watching but it

also contains a scene in HMV in Oxford Street of a row of booths with different music coming from each booth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9o_eZGaaMk

The Hitchcock film was "Strangers On A Train"

Edited July 26 by Steve Gray

[rostasi]

"... too much play with his wind ... "😂

[Big Beat Steve]

3 hours ago, Steve Gray said:

The Hitchcock film was "Strangers On A Train"

Yeah, right. And that was almost all the way in the 78 rpm era (1951).

3 hours ago, Steve Gray said:

This BBC film about Hifi in the UK in the 50s is hilarious all the way through and is well worth watching but it also contains a scene in HMV in Oxford Street of a row of booths with different music coming from each booth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9o_eZGaaMk

 

Great film. Thanks for the link. Too bad the image is so blurred (14th-generation recopy? ) No way to capture well enough the details (records, etc.) of the scenes at the HMV shop. But the music snippets (right up to Barber, the crooners and Lord Rockingham) are fitting (and hilarious, as you say ...).

[Brad]

On 7/21/2024 at 12:10 PM, Brad said:

I posted the article at Hoffman and one poster linked a thread about this place on Reddit.

 

The thread over at Hoffman turned into an argument and was closed over whether someone pushing a customer out the door was assault and battery. 

Edited July 26 by Brad

[Dan Gould]

34 minutes ago, Brad said:

The thread over at Hoffman turned into an argument and was closed over whether someone pushing a customer out the door was assault and battery. 

Gorts run amok.

 

To be clear Brad, was there a claim that the LA storeowner had pushed someone out the door or was that brought into the conversation about some other unpleasant record store owner?

[jcam_44]

I've been to this shop once, it was an unpleasant experience. Grilled upon entering about what I was looking for when it wasn't anything in particular. I just left. 

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, jcam_44 said:

 I just left. 

YES!!!

[Brad]

1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:

Gorts run amok.

 

To be clear Brad, was there a claim that the LA storeowner had pushed someone out the door or was that brought into the conversation about some other unpleasant record store owner?

Dan, one poster who is from LA claimed that he pushes people out the door and then the conversation seemed to degenerate. The Gort thought that since I had started the thread I should have been on top of things but I hadn’t looked at in a few days. 

[Big Al]

On 7/21/2024 at 12:05 PM, rostasi said:

Locally, we had one guy who was so revered that they made a film about him and his store - even tho the guy was, at best, for many years, a tax
evader and, at worst, a pedophile.

I heard those stories back in the day. No doubt you (and @Joe and @JSngry ) are familiar with the local store that practically has a shrine built to the guy. It's run by two of his former employees who speak glowingly about him, which makes me curious about what they know about the guy.

I only ever visited that store twice, both times I got the same vibe (as well as overpriced records) as y'all did.

To the credit of the current store, they do a much better job of pricing records (and decent prices for the most part) and an all-around good shopping vibe that I never got at the old place.

[Joe]

11 hours ago, Big Al said:

I heard those stories back in the day. No doubt you (and @Joe and @JSngry ) are familiar with the local store that practically has a shrine built to the guy. It's run by two of his former employees who speak glowingly about him, which makes me curious about what they know about the guy.

I only ever visited that store twice, both times I got the same vibe (as well as overpriced records) as y'all did.

To the credit of the current store, they do a much better job of pricing records (and decent prices for the most part) and an all-around good shopping vibe that I never got at the old place.

Thanks for that report! I should probably see what the new and improved version of that place is all about.

Recycled Books and Records up in Denton is usually worth a visit. The owner is quite knowledgeable about jazz (and has a pretty large personal collection.)