Help Keep Amoeba Music Spinning!

One of Hollywood’s iconic spots is at risk – a great entertainment hangout that has helped save vinyl and pop culture – and now it’s our chance to help save Amoeba!

As Variety reports:

The coronavirus crisis threatens to put a crimp in plans to either reopen for a season at the current Sunset Blvd. locale or easily move to the new one on Hollywood Blvd.

Yes, the iconic record store announced last year they were NOT closing, just planning a move into another building in Hollywood, great news because they are literally the LAST record store in Hollywood!

Unfortunately, all of that is now at risk because of the Covid-19 pandemic!

As Variety reports:

On Monday, Amoeba started a GoFundMe in hopes of drawing support from regular customers, not just in Los Angeles but national and international visitors who’ve come to think of the Hollywood flagship as SoCal’s true Happiest Place on Earth. (The store’s older and considerably smaller sisters are in the Bay area.) “We would never have considered doing this in normal times,” says Amoeba co-founder Marc Weinstein, who is making the case that Amoeba and its furloughed 400-person staff are facing a rough road through the unknown number of closed months ahead.

This is terrible news – Amoeba is a unique place to hang out and browse, vinyl records, CD’s, movies and more – in a place filled with employees who love physical media as much as we do!

How To Help?

Here’s how you can help – but first, if you aren’t familiar, here’s how the store describes itself on their Go Fund Me page:

30 years ago, Amoeba Music founders Dave Prinz and Marc Weinstein had a crazy idea. Let’s open up an independent record store, beholden to no corporate interests, that could become a gathering place for the musical community. A record store that would have an affordable mix of new and used product, that could serve as a trading post where people could bring in any unwanted music or movies for cash or trade.

So we rented a space on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley that had been shuttered for years. And we spent the summer of 1990 going to flea markets, garage sales and running a tiny classified in the SF Chronicle that netted us some truly amazing collections. And we put that store together. Piece by piece.

The massive Hollywood store is packed with albums, CD’s new and used, blu-rays, DVD’s new and used, books, clothing and more! And it’s got the robust sections for Jazz, Blues, Country as well!

Amoeba is renowned for its ongoing in-store concert series – Paul McCartney even performed there and released it as a live album!

A San Francisco Amoeba opened in 1997 and the Hollywood Amoeba in 2001. I have shopped there countless times, and it’s always an inviting place to browse for hours. I go with my son and we load up on stuff to dig into at our leisure.

As the owners state on their GoFundMe page:

We have weathered many storms-911, recessions, the Internet, downloading and streaming. But we don’t know that we can weather the COVID-19 storm.

All three of our stores have been closed since mid-March and must remain closed indefinitely. With no way to generate income, our savings are running out, with bills and rent coming due, and with a primary commitment to our staff, who we are trying to keep as healthy and financially sound as possible.

Here is another picture inside of the Hollywood location, from the second floor. The store is a massive library of music history across ALL genres and ALL formats – with a massive selection of vinyl, and they have an enormous selection of DVDs and Blu-rays as well.

If you can, consider helping Amoeba weather his horrible pandemic and keep physical media alive!

The Gofundme page is here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/amoeba-music-needs-help-to-survive

Read the entire, terrific Variety story here:

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/amoeba-music-gofundme-record-store-fund-drive-vinyl-1234585476/

So many of the legendary Hollywood businesses are at risk or have closed, including the iconic Nate ‘n Al deli in Beverly Hills…

Unclear if they will reopen after the pandemic – here is the latest on the closure:

https://johnrieber.com/2020/03/28/nate-n-al-restaurant-will-close-iconic-beverly-hills-hangout-is-shutting-down-for-good/

And The Apple Pan in West Los Angeles is also an iconic establishment:

They are currently hanging in there with takeout food only – see the best apple pie in town here:

https://johnrieber.com/2019/05/09/the-apple-pan-lives-on-a-legendary-los-angeles-restaurant-saved-my-apple-pan-review/

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I just donated to Amoeba and hope you consider it as well!

Categories: Art, Books / Media, Cult Movies, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Movies, Music, Obscure Music, Pop Culture, Real Estate, Travel

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