Amoeba Music

I've been shopping @ the Hollywood store since it opened. There's too much stuff, that when I leave I always remember a group who's CD I wanted to buy. So I put it on my list for next time. You'll always see someone famous shopping. So one day I remember that I wanted and Elvis Costello cd. I grab it and go the jazz section and someone tells me, "Hey, he was just here 10 mins. ago." Then I go to Pop and again someone tell me, "Hey, he was just here 10 mins. ago." I catch up with my husband who see me & says, "Hey you got the CD. Did you see him? He was just here." Even my cashier told me, "Hey, he was just here, 10 mins. ago." Everybody saw him 10 mins. ago, but me. Hey, there's always next time. Luv this store.

Ever since I fell in love with vinyl, I would see the iconic symbol of the amoeba everywhere. It wasnt until my fifteenth birthday that I actually got to know what the place was like, and it lived up to every expectation I had. Ever since then the place to me has been like disneyland to a four year old. Its a place where you can hang out for hours, search through every used bin and ever 45 box, rummage through old concert posters, see your favorite bands for free, and talk music with the employees. A place for misfits and kids that have no place else in the world except their local skatepark. A community. And thats why it means so much to me. Thanks Amoeba, Happy 20th!

The first time I went to Amoeba Music, was just this year for my 27th birthday. My fiancee had just gotten her driver's license and we had a fun mini roadtrip to the Hollywood Amoeba store. I've never been to Amoeba before and I didn't know what to expect or find since I have a hard time finding my kind of music (industrial, synthpop, electronic, etc...) in other record stores. When we arrived at the store, I made an immediate beeline for the "industrial" section and the found the usual good stuff and a couple of gems. The prices are very competitive and it's the shopping experience that made it worth the drive! We spent over 2 hours roaming the aisles and digging up some out of print treasures and other newer music (loving the Social Network soundtrack and the new Crystal Castles CD), I would of stayed all day but my fiancee and sister were getting hungry. I came out of Amoeba with 12 CDs and a vow to visit this great store at least every couple of months and also visit the other Amoeba stores when I visit the bay area. Thanks Amoeba, it was a very great birthday! - Oliver R., 2010

I'm originally from Southern California but have lived in Arizona for the last 15 years. Whenever I visit my parents in CA, my dad and I love to come to Amoeba. As my own family has grown, it's gotten a little bit harder to visit because my sort of visiting involves sitting on the floor and going through the dollar vinyl bins and that's hard to do with all of the kids, but I'm planning a visit next month (alone!) and Amoeba is on our list of places to go. I can't wait to load up on some new-to-me vinyl and am looking forward to visiting again!

I refer to my weekly Saturday morning trip to the SF Amoeba as my music hajj. I like that I never know what I may find. Sometimes it's a release from some band that fell off most folks' radar (anyone remember Tad), other times it's the rare treasure that slips by the folks who price used items for the store. My best scores of the latter type was $10 for the rare "shelley" version of the Rolling Stones "Hot Rocks" and $10 for the recalled Pearl Jam Best Buy live CD called "Give Way". Score!

Amoeba Music, Hollywood is one of united states last great record stores. i meet Mike Patton in the store

Introducing my kids, 9 and 7 y/o how to be a groupie. Amoeba Hollywood stage, family friendly and better than any main stage venue. Nickle Creek 2002 Amoeba Hollywood, my lucky kids were introduced to experience a "concert", butt up against the stage. Awe, the treat to spoil them with a small venue experience- the best! To this day, 8 years later- live music is a blast only if its orchestra or Amoeba!

I recently got deeply into jazz, been slowly leading up to it for a long time. I'm still kind of Coltrane-centric, starting to dig deeper. I few months ago I bought a copy of the McCoy Tyner: Sahara LP, original pressing on Milestone and forgot to have the clerk open the disk at the counter. Got home, opened the packing tape seal, and inside the jacket is an original pressing of MCoy Tyner: Song for My Lady disc. Wasn't the one I was looking for, but it sounded great too! I hypothesized that someone mixed up the disc and jackets, and there was a copy of Song for my Lady back at the store with the Sahara disc inside. A week later I went in, talked to the guys at the used counter, went back to the bins, found a sealed copy of Song for my Lady, and brought it back for them to open and see if I was right. Anticipation ran high to see if my guess was correct. It felt like the climax of some boy-detective novel set in a record store. The short time it took to open the record felt like it took forever. I was Right! Both had yellow and brown original press Milestone labels, both were McCoy Tyner albums,both albums start with "S"; they were switched! The clerk was amazed and said, "That was like finding a needle in a haystack", which was a little generous, maybe it was like finding a lettered needle in an alphabetized haystack. I felt so good, I initiated a high five with the clerk, and he reciprocated. RECIPROCATED!This was a minor triumph I still like to think back upon. I would hereby like to offer my services for hire as an amateur vinyl-centric gumshoe sleuth of the happless-but-lucky variety. AMOEBA, hell yeah!

Have gotten great Jazz, lots of Dead and I discovered a whole world of classical music via the great staff. My home away from home!

I've been a dedicated Amoeba patron since the store opened in Hollywood. One day I walked in to look around and just happened to bump into Zach De La Rocha. I went up to Zach and told him I was a big fan and it was great to meet him. What other record store does something like this happen? Nowhere! One of my favorite things is finding a great new cd and listening to it on the way home from Amoeba while cruising on Mullholland Drive. The great music I've found there has got me through some tough times, and being able to sell my unwanted used cd's to Amoeba has also helped get me through some tough times. Amoeba Rocks!