April 12 is Record Store Day, a time to celebrate the culture of independent record stores, which aren’t just places to buy vinyl, but beloved institutions that reflect the character and taste of different communities. This year we’re honoring some of LA’s favorites that no longer exist. Dyanne Cano put together an archival map of 84 independent record stores that closed between 1956 and 2020. (They’re still expanding/updating the map online.)
Cano, who grew up in the Westlake-MacArthur Park area in the 1980s, recently recalled some lost and little-discussed record stores from their youth.
“I quickly realized that there is no online database, book, or map that documents LA's independent record stores from the past 70 years, or even from the past 30 years. So the archivist in me decided that I would take this on and start a community map project to commemorate these shops and what they mean to their communities,” they tell KCRW.
Cano found these shops via telephone directories, the LA Public Library, LA Weekly ads, historic online archives, blogs, and other web pages, they explain.
South LA - Dolphin’s of Hollywood Records
South LA was the center of the West Coast jazz scene in the 1950s. Dolphins of Hollywood Records, located at Central Ave. and Vernon Ave., operated from 1948 to 1989. It was around the corner from the Dunbar Hotel, where jazz greats like Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Louis Armstrong stayed. The hotel now serves as affordable housing for seniors.
“Dolphins of Hollywood really represented this iconic moment and community in Los Angeles,” Cano says. “And John Dolphin was the owner. It apparently was a 24-hour store, and they claimed to have the first listening station in a store in the country — this notion of you can listen to a record with headphones on before you decide to purchase it, which we do see currently still in record stores. And then [Dolphin] also developed a record label. At first it was called Dolphins of Hollywood, and then it became Recorded in Hollywood.”
The store also released a few Charles Mingus recordings. Cano points out one great bebop track they found: “Mingus Fingers.”
Westlake/MacArthur Park - Record Store Discos Exitos No. 2
Cano, who grew up in Westlake/MacArthur Park in the 1980s, says this community catered to Central American immigrants, particularly from El Salvador and Guatemala. They remember hearing Spanish music that people played on boom boxes there.
Record Store Discos Exitos No. 2 was located inside “Westlake Mall,” a historic theater converted into a swap meet.
“There's not anything written about this store, but just knowing the neighborhood, and knowing the history, and knowing the groups that were really popular in that neighborhood, you had music like cumbia, boleros (ballads), [and] some Latin pop music,” Cano says.
A group that stands out to them is Los Bukis, known for grupera music, which blended folk and pop, and for romantic songs. They were also inspired by cumbia and merengue.
“I used to play Los Bukis all the time. And I've talked to other friends … and any time I bring up Los Bukis, they smile, their eyes widen, and they also have personal memories of that band being played in their homes, being played at parties.”
Hollywood - Vinyl Fetish
Vinyl Fetish on Melrose Ave. focused on punk, post-punk, new wave, goth, new romantic, and experimental music, Cano says. Melrose in the 1980s was also very queer-friendly and full of artists, musicians, and designers.
“I remember going to Vinyl Fetish in the 90s … and bands like Depeche Mode, and Siouxsie and the Banshees, and the Misfits would have in-store signings when they had new releases. Another huge band that they hosted over the years, and is an iconic LA punk band, is the band X.”
What about the record stores still operating today? Cano says their favorites are Estuario in Highland Park and High-Fidelity in West Adams.