There was a record store on Pulaski near North Ave That my mom used to take us to.
I also remember a used record store on Clark around Wrightwood. I took a Sociology of Rock Music class at DePaul in the nineties and had to get some old records for a presentation.
I can't remember the names of either of these places.
ChiTownJim Wrote:
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> There was a record store on Pulaski near North Ave
> That my mom used to take us to.
>
> I also remember a used record store on Clark
> around Wrightwood. I took a Sociology of Rock
> Music class at DePaul in the nineties and had to
> get some old records for a presentation.
>
> I can't remember the names of either of these
> places.
I think the Clark St. store might have been Dr. Wax. They had a few other stores, too (Evanston & Hyde Park) but I think they've been gone for good for a few years. I had that same class, too, with Prof. Weinstein!
In re: Little Al's Records, which was at about 3230 W. Lawrence, I have "fond" memories of that place. Al and his wife (?) were always fighting and cursing each other across the front of the store. It was a riot to hear the fights.
Used to go there every week to pick up a copy of the Silver Dollar Survey sheet (Top 40). The front of the (double-) store was always plastered with dozens of copies of the latest big hit LP. One day in 1966 I walked by and saw that the entire front of the store was covered with copies of the new Beatles LP "Yesterday and Today". The cover was sickening! It showed the Beatles wearing butcher aprons, covered with blood and meat, holding baby dolls with the limbs missing. That record was replaced soon afterward with a "NEW" LP which had a redesigned cover pasted over the "bad" one. Had we only had the presence of mind to buy those "banned" LPs. Today, stereo copies of the original covered LP sell for $20,000 if they're still sealed.
Anyone remember a record store on Harlem avenue, just south of Foster, called Record People. I used to hang out there in the 70s because of the girls that worked there.
Leies bros. On larrabee at armitage was a longtime fixture. But before 45s, you'd listen to the latest 78rpm in the listening booths. Now, its a firehouse, engine co. 22, i think.
Anyone else remember R & S Records on Armitage, just east of Kedzie. It was a dicey neighborhood then I went there many, many times in the 70's. The prices were reasonable and they had alarge selection of albums from all genres, just released albums and older ones.I purchased more than 250 albums there. I was driving there with friends one night and we were about a 1/2 block away when we were pulled over by a plain clothes police in an unmarked car. The officer on the passenger side got out and ointed a shot gun at my car and then driver instructed us to get out of the car, walk to the sidewalk, kneel down and interlock are hands behind our heads. They searched the car and each of us. Apparently they thought we were gang bangers. There were quit a few people standing around watching us. When they were done we locked the car and walked into R&S. I think the four of us purchased about 10 albums total that visit.
finally someone mentions R & S records - you can't have a discussion thread about old chicago record stores without them. the lowest priced LP discounter - period (I don't think they bothered much w/ 45's actually). on armitage ave (north side of street) a couple or so doors east of kedzie. I went there starting 1968 and their standard price was $2.75/album. Prices gradually went up over the years but they stuck @ 3 LP's / $10 for a considerable time. They moved from that location in mid-70's to another armitage address, this one considerably east (just east of lincoln), but they didn't remain there long and soon opened-up as Discount Records in Skokie on Oakton (about 4700 W.). Everybody went there, still the lowest album prices guaranteed. The R&S / Discount Records enterprise was owned and operated by a former chicago radio disc-jockey Jimmy P. Stagg (if you listened to station WCFL AM-1000 in the mid-'60s you'll probably remember him), who passed on a few years back. Discount Records grew into other north-suburban locations with the onset of CD's.
the guy who ran Deluxe Music across from the Portage Theatre on Milwaukee Ave moved to Colorado and for a short while ran a mail-order CD business called Deluxe West.
The record store on Pulaski Rd just north of North Ave was called The Record Center, and was run by a guy named Andy. This was easily the oldest of all these places
I went to all these stores (plus Little Al's & Rose Records too) so much in those years it pains me to think on all the $$ I wasted on now worthless black poly-vinyl-chloride flapjacks
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2015 03:32PM by the_mogra.
Didn't Yardbirds (3300 block 63rd street) go by the name of Village Records ? I remember buying (and listening to the 45 rpm first) the song "Village of Love", Anyone recall the store by that name?
I ask if anybody remembers the exact namy of a small record store on Lincoln Ave I shopped at in the late '60s through '70s. As much as I was there I can't be positive about its name, but a very friendly gentleman ran it. If you had an oddball request, LP or 45, all you had to do was mention it and he'd turn around and pull it off of one of his shelves? Stuff that even I'd given up on looking for, he came up with instantly like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Talk about service while you wait! The most information I can provide would be it was in the 3300 north block of Lincoln (west side of st)
Anybody remember listening to record albums with your friends,After Christmas. We would listen to whatever albums,we received as christmas gifts. We would hang out in a friends basement,somewhere warm. Sometimes kids with older brothers or sisters had a cooler choice of music.
I remember when the Jazz Record Mart used to be on Lincoln Avenue, around Montrose. I went in there a few times. Another time, after they moved down to Grand and State, I was looking around and some famous rock musician came in. I was chatting with him, and had no idea whatsoever who he was. The staff was rather rude to me after that.
There is a guy who works out at my gym, maybe a little older than me, who says he was one of the original founders of Rolling Stone records. He no longer has any interest in it, but I should ask him more about it.
Albums are making a come back at all the record shops, book/record stores. I have an old 45rpm Wurlitzer from the 60's that loads 100 records and I probably have 300 back up records from the 40's through the 80's. We bought this old box at a juke box place at 55th & Lawndale or Avers. My wife and I love to jitterbug we are still lost in the 50's so to speak. I did some electrical work on it and it playes great for the last 36 years.