Amoeba Music

When my tiny and unsuccessful band, New Bad Things, toured from Oregon through California in the late 1990s, we played at Amoeba Berkeley. Ten or fifteen people came ot see us, but it took us forever to play--we were going crazy over the awesome collection of T Rex records! I still have that copy of The Slider today.

January 19, 2009 I had a first date that started at Amoeba Hollywood. We met in front of the Newly Added Used section. She gave me a hug hello and accidentally dropped her shopping list pencil, and I picked it up for her. Braving a hell of a storm, I took her the following MLK Day to re-create our first date. We went to the Newly Added Used section of the store and I gave her a pencil to drop. I went to pick it up and when I got up, I had an engagement ring and asked her to marry me. We've been married nearly 7 months now.

I fondly recall the first time I stepped into an Amoeba. It was in the fall of 2002, when I arrived in Berkeley to start my undergraduate college career. I was studying science, but I knew music was always going to be my main passion. After spending my adolescent years in a suburb, knowing only large chain stores which offered little in the way of intriguing (or fairly priced) music, discovering Amoeba was as close to a religious experience as I could imagine. It was this catalyst that inspired me to convince my mom to give me her old record player to take back to my dorm. Between frequenting this record store and working part-time at KALX (UC Berkeley's college radio station), my music fix was near-satiated. A year later, I moved just off Telegraph, a few blocks south of Amoeba. I found it impossible to not stop into the store each time I walked by to and from campus, which ended up being several times each day. As I was then living on a student's meager budget, I found great joy in the used bargain section (especially the 'Buy 3 Get The 4th Free' policy!). I also greatly appreciated the discount offered to those with student ID's. After graduating, I moved to San Francisco, not far from the Amoeba in the Haight. I found myself spending just as much time digging through vinyl and thumbing along rows of CDs at this location as I had in Berkeley. Many a lunch break was spent grabbing a quick bite to allow for more time wandering Amoeba's aisles. After a year in San Francisco, I moved to Los Angeles to follow a career opportunity. I found myself in West Hollywood, once again not far from Amoeba's Hollywood location. At a distance of 3 miles, I found it to be perfect for biking, allowing an excuse to reward myself with a small stack of records with each attempt at exercise. I am now convinced, after consecutively living in all three cities that boast an Amoeba Music, I may never be able to move again for fear of finding myself in a city without one (not to mention the general apprehension of moving now that I have albums that count in the thousands). Each location has it's own unique charm, and, over the past 8 years, I have grown accustomed to my frequent visits. Amoeba has been a constant source of discovering new music, re-discovering old music, making new friends and, yes, even the destination for a few dates. It's more than a record store to me; it's a landmark representing growth of both cultural and personal significance. Thank you for being such a large part of my life, Amoeba!

I love to shop at the san francisco store;it has a large variety of music and movies to chose from.The first time i whet in it was about3-4 years ago, and i couldn't believe my eyes.From then on i was hooked on purchasing items at amoeba music store.thank you for having a wide collection of movies to buy.

I have a hard time visiting Amoeba and not spending a few hundred dollars on records. The staff are always very nice and usually give me a free Amoeba tote bag to carry them in, and now I probably have 5-6 of these. It's actually gotten to the point where if I come back from Amoeba without a tote bag, my wife is disappointed. Apparently spending $300 to get a $10 tote bag is a good value to her. But if she's supporting my vinyl addiction, who am I to complain?

Amoeba Records has a special place in my heart. Growing up, I lived in Mountain View (which is about 40 miles south of SF). Being raised in the suburbs, there was an obvious gravitation to hip-hop. However, Mountain View was not known for their record stores. While attending Foothill College, I interned at KFJC and soon became obsessed with vinyl. Without an way to feed the need, my station coordinator, the now off air Phil Dirt suggested I take a trip to Amoeba Records in SF. A friend and I took that trip and I have been a dedicated customer ever since. Amoeba provides so many thing for it's patrons. In-stores ( I have seen, Blackalicious, DJ Shadow, Rogue Wave, MIA, Murs, Boris, Wallpaper, Surfer Blood, and most recently Local Natives), I know there is more to add to that list, but can't remember all of them. Competitive prices, NO!; the BEST prices for new and used vinyl/CDs/DVDs. Lastly, there variety and sheer amount of music takes my breath away every time I go. Rolling Stone was right, you are the "best record store in the country". I am forever in debt to Amoeba Records.

The first time I ever set foot in an Amoeba I had lived in California for less than one week. I had just left Boston after working at various record stores, which I witnessed shut down one after another. The idea that a store, a large record store, could have such deep stock and varied taste blew me away. It was the Fall of 2005 and I walked through the tourists and traffic to dive into Amoeba on Haight. Minutes later while I was still overwhelmed by it all some loud psych rock blasted from the stage. It was Dungen! This was before they had become a household name but people were taking notice. One of my favorite contemporary bands was just killing it while I flipped through Scientist dub records! I knew San Francisco made sense at that point. It all came together at that moment for me. Money pays the bills but music makes me happier and it would be hard for me to ever not live near an Amoeba. Five years later and I am there once a week snapping up house edits and Link Wray LPs in one trip! Where else can I do that? Thank you Amoeba!

About fifteen years ago, on a rainy day, I was coming out of the bookstore across the street from the Berkeley store when the rain stopped and the sun came out. I saw a double rainbow in the eastern sky, and from where I was looking it seemed to be right above the Amoeba store's rainbow mural...so it was triple rainbow!

November 2001... I remember waking up early so I could walk down to the grand opening of the Hollywood Amoeba store. I'd been driving by the location on Sunset and Cahuenga for weeks, getting more and more excited about the grand opening. Afterall, the store looked like a giant version of the Amoeba stores in Berkeley and San Fran, both of which I adored. LA needed a new record store desperately. Most of our small mom 'n pop stores had closed or were in the process of closing. We needed a new mom 'n pop- a MEGA mom 'n pop. When I arrived at the store, there was already a line all the way around the block. At first I was disheartened but once I got in line I realized that everyone around me was super cool. The wait went by quick, as we were all feverishly waiting for the doors to open. When they did, I entered and ran from section to section, picking all kinds of vinyl: old Brazilian classics, new jungle white-labels, hot hip hop singles and some amazing 7 inches. The employees were all extremely nice and helpful. We all goto cool Amoeba T-shirts and other goodies just for being there so early. Since the grand opening, I've had the pleasure of seeing a multitude of amazing acts go through the store (all for free, mind you!). From Murs' energy-packed performance to Sia's kooky and funny act to Busdriver's mind-bending lyrical set. What I really appreciate, more than the impeccably organized music collection, is the sense of community Amoeba creates. I feel like it's a meeting place for Hollywood's music nerds, artists, musicians and just regular folk. Every time we arrive back in LA and step off the airplane at the Burbank airport, I know I'm home when I see the huge Amoeba advertisement with a shot of the entire store. Congrats on 20 years, Amoeba! Here's to the next twenty...

I was in the Hollywood Amoeba store and i saw Madonna disguised as a man buying some cds and no one recognized Madonna because she was incognito . I asked her if she was Madonna and she said Yes and that she was in 2 hours of makeup and prostetics facial appliances to get the disguise on so that she could browse the Amoeba store without being mobbed by fans. She thanked me for noticing her and smiled .. I was so excited!