For those of you that live in Manhattan...

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I'm traveling there soon, and would like to know some of the best places to buy music. In particular, I'm looking for stores that have good bargain bins or hard-to-find items. Thanks.

― Questionable, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 01:07 (twenty years ago) link

OTHER MUSIC!

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 01:31 (twenty years ago) link

kim's underground on st. mark's

― autovac (autovac), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 01:43 (twenty years ago) link

oh yeah, if you guys have time, please include a brief description of each store.

― Questionable, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 01:47 (twenty years ago) link

current fav nyc record shops

― bnw (bnw), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 02:13 (twenty years ago) link

Best kept secret: Gimmee Gimmee Records on E5th. Walking distance from Other Music, Kims, etc - well worth it for soul, hip hop, jazz and old punk.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 02:32 (twenty years ago) link

shop at other music, you get defective cds.

rog is right - gimme gimme rules.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 02:33 (twenty years ago) link

oh hstencil haven't we covered this. you can bring in your receipt. but gimme gimme is dope, my dj partner on thurs. nites (10-2) on eastvillageradio.com sometimes goes over there right before a show

― duke village, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 02:45 (twenty years ago) link

I did bring it in, dude. They wouldn't allow me to exchange my Cluster II for something else, I have to wait 'til a new copy comes in (which might not work, like the other new copy I already bought).

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 02:47 (twenty years ago) link

Other Music CDs defective? Explain. Is it the magnetic sensor?

re: Gimme - i worked there for a while - on and off for about three years. Dan always gets the best stuff. And he's one of the nicer record store clerks you'll encounter here

Also check out a place called Footlight - if you're looking for anything obscure as far as jazz or movie soundtracks - they have it. They're pricey though. I paid $25 for the Paper Moon soundtrack on LP a few years ago. Worth every penny!

some people like Etherea but I don't - i'm still bitter about Adult Crash closing down

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 02:50 (twenty years ago) link

I bought 4 CDs there, 2 of 'em didn't work (one was used, the other was new). That's the story.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 02:50 (twenty years ago) link

also I don't think that Etherea had anything to do with Adult Crash closing down, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 02:51 (twenty years ago) link

I second the Kim's on St. Marks

― Jimmy Lynch (lemin), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 02:51 (twenty years ago) link

hstencil - nah they didn't have anything to do with it - they just replaced them. Same location. Got rid of a great record store for a shitty one. Do you realize Adult Crash used to have Dead C cassettes for sale in the back??

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 02:56 (twenty years ago) link

yes, I bought many good things at Adult Crash, just not Dead C cassettes. Wish I had bought the Bertoia LP set there when I had the chance, tho.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 03:01 (twenty years ago) link

Other Music is soooooo lame.

― Be sure to Loop! Loop, Loop, Loop. (ex machina), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 03:48 (twenty years ago) link

slsk renders it irrelevant

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 03:54 (twenty years ago) link

Anyone ever go to King George's place on Essex St at the corner of Rivington? It's a bit like rummaging in a skip, no attempt to catalogue things, no prices on anything, most of the records in rough enough condition, but I have gotten so much good stuff there pretty cheaply by NYC standards. A great place to get classic soul and funk records, and random other stuff. You can usually bargain him down a good bit too.
Beat Street is classic too, if only for the volume levels.

― Conor (Conor), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 12:42 (twenty years ago) link

Of the places that are left.....

NYCD (W.80th & Columbus), Rocks In Your Head (Prince St), Rebel Rebel (on Bleeker St., though not as great as it used to be), Mondo Kim's on St. Mark's, Wowsville on 2nd Avenue between 7th & St.Marks, Rockit Scientist on Carmine St.,....

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:30 (twenty years ago) link

there's a Rockit Scientist on St. Marks now too.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:32 (twenty years ago) link

That's right....where Smash used to be, right?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:33 (twenty years ago) link

yep. Haven't been in it, tho. Maybe now they have a place to sell Sun City Girls stuff. "I don't got any, that won't sell over here, but maybe in the East Village..." was a classic quote last time I was in the Carmine St. one.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:36 (twenty years ago) link

There's also the somewhat embarassing Generation Records on Thompson St.....if you're looking for Stiff Little Fingers compilations or Casualties t-shirts.

Then there's Subterrenean Records on Cornelia Street, which does have some rare, hard to find stuff every once in a while, despite being a damp, dank cellar.

A block west of there, Record Runner strives manfully to survive by selling ancient Madonna calendars, Culture Club 7"s and dated Blur VHS tapes.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:56 (twenty years ago) link

is Second Coming still around? The dude behind the counter was huge!

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:57 (twenty years ago) link

In terms of bargain-bin stuff, check out Academy Records on 18th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues.

Second Coming is, sadly, no more. It's place(s) taken up by a Mexican take-out joint and a tatoo parlor.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:58 (twenty years ago) link

Record stores I miss:

- It's Only Rock'n'Roll on 8th Street
- Venus Records (when it was on 8th Street)
- 99 Records (hardcore 7"s ahoy!)
- Route 66 (great mid-90's place, originally on Bleeker before moving to MacDougal)
- Free Being (first on St.Mark's & 2nd Avenue - next to Gem Spa - before moving to Carmine St, after being ousted for being a drug front, supposedly)

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 14:00 (twenty years ago) link

Route 66 wasn't bad, yeah.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 14:02 (twenty years ago) link

The guy who managed Route 66 - Andy - was a very nice, knowledgable-if-easily-excitable gent (I blame him for making me buy into Kula Shaker...gullible, I), but the stress of the job gave him an ulcer, I believe.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 14:03 (twenty years ago) link

If $ is a concern you really can't go wrong with Sounds on St. Marks and Future Legend on 9th ave. Future Legend is really great for new releases wich can usually always be found for under 12 bucks.

― danh, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 14:22 (twenty years ago) link

and yeah, Other Music is pretty much awful. $wise, organisation-wise, used cd-wise, pretension-wise, space-wise, and on and on...

― danh, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 14:25 (twenty years ago) link

asshattery!

― Be sure to Loop! Loop, Loop, Loop. (ex machina), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 14:29 (twenty years ago) link

as i've mentioned on other threads, keep an eye out for footlight's 50% off sales on used vinyl/cds. you can get some really good deals that way.
i like other music just fine, although it's not exactly a bargain spot. i do most of my general shopping there or at kim's. rockit scientist's selection makes me drool, but i hate the owner so much that i haven't gone in there in at least a year.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 14:51 (twenty years ago) link

Some other great Manhattan record stores...

Jammyland (3rd St btw. 1st and 2nd Aves). Dub, roots, ska and dancehall. More 7"s than you can shake several sticks at. Very friendly staff + guys hanging out there will happily recommend righteous raasclaat riddims for you to purchase.

Dance Tracks (3rd St and 1st Ave). House and techno, and lots of it. Worth going into if only to check out the dream DJ booth that they have constructed next to the cash register. (Rane rotary mixer with EQ module, spring suspended cradles for the turntables.) Staff often too busy playing with said DJ booth to sell records, but are friendly enough.

Turntable Lab (7th St btw 1st Ave and Ave A). Nice selection of house and hip-hop. Good place to pick up stuff that you won't find elsewhere. Never really interacted with the staff aside from paying for records, but they seem like a nice bunch.

Sonicgroove (Ave B btw. 12th St and 13th St). Has to be the best place I know of that aside from Gemm.com for finding records you never thought you'd see again. As long as it's techno. Staff cultivates a 'don't suffer fools lightly' demeanor, but eventually warm up

― Graeme (Graeme), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:02 (twenty years ago) link

danh, what happened at other?!?!?!?!

ps: thanks to lauren, tokyo rosemary, ddb, IAN JOHNSON, jbr for parading me through quite a few of the places mentioned on this thread. i got a tom ze 12" and a traum comp.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:03 (twenty years ago) link

Rocks in Your Head is definitely worth an occassional look, I think; since it's close to my work I've killed more than a few lunch hours flipping thru its racks. A tad pricey on some things perhaps but overall really pretty good. ... Other Music always is teeming with people, approximately half of whom seem to work there. The other day I overheard a clerk explaining to a custmer the difference between what's shown as "in stock" on the Web site versus what's actually in the racks; the whole thing left my eyeballs spinning in their sockets.

― rasheed wallace (rasheed wallace), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:03 (twenty years ago) link

i got a tom ze 12"

that remix one? I hope you didn't pay too much (not because it's bad)...

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:05 (twenty years ago) link

benicio del toro shops at rocks in your head.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:10 (twenty years ago) link

Archive of Contemporary Music is having its June sale this week (that's why I asked about the Ze 12", gygax!).

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:11 (twenty years ago) link

where so people shop for techno these days? it seems like all my fave spots are gone - temple, throb. well, temple and throb. (and downtown records of course)

i think rocks in yr head was the first NY record store i ever went in, although it might have been the weird one on bedford ave, with john fahey 78s and musique concrete right in the front of the shop

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:12 (twenty years ago) link

i got a tom ze 12"
that remix one? I hope you didn't pay too much (not because it's bad)...

it was $5 and it was the promo copy (not the commercial version) with the extra track.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:14 (twenty years ago) link

Throb is gone? When did that happen?

Temple's closing was a shame. Loved that line of listening stations...

Halcyon (which used to be on Smith St. in Brooklyn) recently relocated to somewhere in DUMBO. That's where I've made most of my non-internet purchases of dance music over the last year, but I've yet to check out the new space.

― Graeme (Graeme), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:16 (twenty years ago) link

Nobody here shops at Downtown Music Gallery?

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:21 (twenty years ago) link

god Halcyon was irritating.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:21 (twenty years ago) link

ah nice gygax!

Phil I shop at DMG when I get the chance, which ain't often.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:22 (twenty years ago) link

halcyon made me want to kill. $6 granola!

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:25 (twenty years ago) link

be sure to stop by burritoville while you are in our fair city

sincerely,
the ILX burritoville massiv

― cutty (mcutt), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:28 (twenty years ago) link

god Halcyon was irritating.

Was it the cafe / record store combination or the furniture store / record store combination that bothered you? My only real objection was the huge number of people having coffee with their Powerbooks.

I was, however, a huge fan of being able to stumble in drunkenly on a Friday night at 3am to buy records.

(x-post)

― Graeme (Graeme), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:29 (twenty years ago) link

Ian Johnson says that our place in Providence has way better burritos!

― TRON FIGHTS FOR THE USERS (ex machina), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:29 (twenty years ago) link

sounds gay to me

― cutty (mcutt), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:31 (twenty years ago) link

there's no way any place in New England has better burritos. Hell, even liking NYC burritos was a stretch for this former Chicago resident.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:33 (twenty years ago) link

Skipping 160 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

it's nicer (and sometimes quicker) to get off at Bedford, than walk through McCarren Park to watch baseball, drunk Polish guys, hipster girls sunbathing, etc.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 20:10 (twenty years ago) link

but you know this obv. I am dumb sometimes.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 20:11 (twenty years ago) link

don't you people ever take the bus?

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 20:18 (twenty years ago) link

B61 doesn't go across the W'burg bridge.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 20:21 (twenty years ago) link

Burning Man is fun, hacky-sack is retarded. Here in San Francisco we have two restaurants per resident = double NYAH

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 20:50 (twenty years ago) link

I hear there's a new Slanted Door recently opened.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 20:50 (twenty years ago) link

I wouldn't know - the original is too pricey-y and popular and far away for me so I've only eaten there once. If I can't walk or take the bus to it then fuck it, they don't need me eating there. Schwantz's wife's restaurant Incanto is probably the highest-end eatery I frequent (along with the James Baker and the Fremont Group, apparently)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 20:54 (twenty years ago) link

I've only eaten there once, but I didn't pay for it. Ask gygax! about it sometime (he didn't pay for it either).

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 20:55 (twenty years ago) link

oh wait, I'm confusing the Slanted Door with House (which actually has a slanted door and windows, but never mind...) Don't eat at House. I hear they serve Crap.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 20:56 (twenty years ago) link

didn't read this whole thread but...

the basement of Generation is not bad for used vinyl. especially since most of your competitors are shopping at Kims and Other.

ok back to food or something.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:42 (twenty years ago) link

"the basement of Generation is not bad for used vinyl. especially since most of your competitors are shopping at Kims and Other."

Dan! Why??? the expected mythologizing of stores since past was happening, as was the offense at those still going, and my favorite, generation, had even been referred to disparagingly. now you have to go and trump with truth! it has no place on here! no place!

― duke damn, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:49 (twenty years ago) link

when I was in NY I was totally surprised at how tiny the record stores I saw were. Everything was like a single 15'x15' specialty store. Very strange.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:53 (twenty years ago) link

I meant to say "of course if you go to Generation you're a loser alternative teen punk and they only carry bad 90s punk records..."

Shakey, NYC real-estate prices are kind of ridiculous.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 22:02 (twenty years ago) link

damn you all for making NYC sound even more everyday-mecca-ish than it already was + generating a memory-flood!

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 22:08 (twenty years ago) link

Shakey, NYC real-estate prices are kind of ridiculous.

hahahahaha as opposed to San Francisco, which has Amoeba.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 02:21 (twenty years ago) link

doesn't NY have any old bowling alleys it can convert into independepent record stores?

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 15:22 (twenty years ago) link

no, we're still using them as bowling alleys. Which is better than Chicago, which converts them into shitty punk rock dives.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 15:26 (twenty years ago) link

you live in a palace while I live above a bowling alley...and below another bowling alley

I don't know anything about san francisco or the history of amoeba, but there's no way anyone within the last 10 years could even have dreamed of opening a sizable record store in any decent part of manhattan. And if they did, they'd either be forced out by raising rents, or bought out at great profit when their building's value skyrocketed.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 16:30 (twenty years ago) link

Amoeba opened in SF pre-dot com bust, right?

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 16:33 (twenty years ago) link

it opened a couple years after I moved here - '99 or 2000...? Right in the middle of the dot-com insanity, tho the bowling alley itself had already been closed for a couple years I think.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 16:52 (twenty years ago) link

I hope they were able to negotiate better rent after the bust.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 16:53 (twenty years ago) link

I don't know the story of their lease, I suppose it's possible they bought the building outright...? But by any measure retail space on Haight Street is suuuuuper-pricey, and has only gotten more boutique-ier and more upscale as time goes on. I know space isn't as expensive in SF as it is in NY, but I'm sure it's pretty close. Seems like we're always getting ranked as one of the most expensive places in the country to live (on the other hand we have clean air, modest traffic, etc. so it's worth it)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:01 (twenty years ago) link

but back to New York... (I swear I had a great time when I was there, considering most of it was spent drunk in a Santa suit)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:02 (twenty years ago) link

we in nyc have modest air and clean traffic

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:03 (twenty years ago) link

clean air, modest traffic

dude have you ever tried to drive in San Francisco?

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:09 (twenty years ago) link

I was just driving around a rental car last weekend. Maybe I should've qualified "modest traffic" with "anywhere besides downtown"...

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:12 (twenty years ago) link

amoeba opened their (retail selling floor square feet = 20k) haight street location in 1997, right about the beginning of the dotcom boom and (these are my thoughts) before any real huge increase in commercial real estate the upper haight-ashbury. the rock and bowl had been closed approx. 3-4 months prior to any renovations for amoeba took place.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:13 (twenty years ago) link

getting out of SF on weekday afternoon last summer = hell on earth, pretty much

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:13 (twenty years ago) link

I moved here in '96, for some reason I thought there was a longer gap between me gettin here and it opening. I do remember moving into Haight/Ashbury and being bummed that the Rock n Bowl was closed. (that didn't last long)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:15 (twenty years ago) link

there is plenty of traffic besides downtown in SF: try the Golden Gate Bridge approach, 19th avenue, gough/franklin, fell/oak, etc.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:16 (twenty years ago) link

pffft - compared to what I've seen in NY, Chicago, and (of course the absolute worst) LA that's nuthin.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:19 (twenty years ago) link

and bad traffic on Fell/Oak...? If you go 40 miles an hour you get nothin but green lights!

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:21 (twenty years ago) link

check it during rush hour, friend.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:25 (twenty years ago) link

people who don't work or commute outside of the large cities they live in usually have no conception of what rush hour is.

im sure half of new york city has no idea what the midtown tunnel/LIE looks like on the queens side at 5PM.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:47 (twenty years ago) link

aiiiieeee I am so glad I don't have to commute in/out to L.I.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:53 (twenty years ago) link

it's funny that SO MANY people live on this island and really have no idea what goes on outside of it

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:57 (twenty years ago) link

good god almighty. that traffic is horrific.

so, did any have a burrito for lunch? i had mapo tofu.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:58 (twenty years ago) link

i walked into GOLDEN KRUST... then quickly walked out. but they had some sick glitchy dub music playing.

i had an avocado veggie sandwich. that mega soy from yesterday had me yearning for regularity.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:01 (twenty years ago) link

you should walk into the uptown juice bar on church street for all of your vegan carribean food needs.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:06 (twenty years ago) link

the uptown juice bar is downtown?

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:07 (twenty years ago) link

that's what hstencil said. it's an offshoot of a place that's in harlem, and they didn't bother to rename it. i used to eat there all of the time, sometimes twice a day: porridge or carrot cake for breakfast and pumpkin roti or bbq roast with collard greens for lunch. staff is rude, but it's cheap and delish.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:12 (twenty years ago) link

and the best veggie burgers ever.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:13 (twenty years ago) link

actually, i think i have eaten there. yellow sign?

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:13 (twenty years ago) link

I had overpriced sushi and seaweed salad from the place next door as I'm too busy to get bombed today.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:17 (twenty years ago) link

yes. linoleum heavy decor.

xpost

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:18 (twenty years ago) link

I'm about to go to lunch here in SF - probably indian food buffet at Royal Taj since this will be my one big meal of the day. Best lunch w/in walking distance is probably House of Nanking but I don't feel like Chinese today.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:21 (twenty years ago) link

I can't fathom having Indian for lunch! Hope your office windows are open.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:22 (twenty years ago) link

ah, I eat it all the time - thalis are cheap and it's a lot of food.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:26 (twenty years ago) link

two years pass...

5% of thread = record stores
10% = zings
85% = burrito discussion

ABOUT AVERAGE PAR

― jinx hijinks (sanskrit), Thursday, 29 June 2006 11:17 (eighteen years ago) link

ten years pass...

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT

― calstars, Sunday, 27 November 2016 01:59 (eight years ago) link

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