Everyone at one point knows the feeling of excitement when it comes to listening to songs from their favorite artist. Many of us, including myself, can’t wait to buy the latest record, tape, or poster, of our favorite artist at a local music store. When it comes to music stores, I’m in awe of all the things I can see. But to me, the Amoeba Music store is like I’m at DisneyLand where everything is bigger and better.
Amoeba Music has two locations currently, one in 6200 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA, and another at 1855 Haight St. San Francisco, CA. Amoeba holds everything that a music lover would want like records of old and new songs, tapes, posters, merchandise, movies, stickers, pins, vinyl records. They even sell many different types of books which is surprising since you would think that a music store would only sell music related items.
Amoeba Music first opened in Berkeley, CA in the 90s where people considered it to be the golden age for music. There were countless of rock, metal, indie, pop, and many more genres of songs that everyone loved listening to that made them want to get up and grab life by the hands. These artists somehow motivated the unmotivated by making songs that were so highly influential, it literally changed the way music lovers viewed life.
Amoeba Music was first founded by Marc Weinstein, Dave Prinz, and Mike Boyder. They of course needed a sign to attract customers to their new store, so they contacted the comic book legend Shepherd Hendrix who has created many amazing comic books like “Swamp Thing” from the DC universe, “Blood Syndicate,” and “L.E.G.I.O.N.”
After a few years of opening, they decided to relocate to Hollywood in 2001. At the time of its opening, the store announced that their plan is to have as many as 250,000 song titles which would have made it among the largest independent music stores in the world.
With the new store being established, they also decided to sell a variety of movies that are on DVD, VHS, and Blu-ray. In addition, they had a selection of music-related poster artwork, and merchandise that customers can buy.
For 19 years, thousands of fans of the Amoeba Music store have gone in and out to their beloved music store, but sadly in 2020, Amoeba Music announced that they would close their doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After enduring the harsh year of 2020, Amoeba Music announced that they would be switching locations again to the place where it is standing tall now, near the popular theater, the Pantages Theatre, in the Hollywood And Vine area.
The famous rapper that helped announce the new and improved location was Tyler the Creator, a celebrity who was actually a regular customer to the store. He helped announce the brand new location that was bigger, better, and more breathtaking than their previous locations.
After its grand opening, business was thriving. Everyone that missed their beloved music store, Amoeba Music, came back and saw the newly improved store that sold even more merchandise than its two previous locations. Even one of the most famous rock bands in history, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, gave a live performance at the store to welcome everyone into the newly renovated store.
My personal experience with this store was like looking at the beautiful night sky, filled with brightly shining stars or looking at one of the 7 wonders of the world. I saw so many posters from many movies, music, tv shows, and many more just plastered all over the place with a bunch of CD tapes and records on stands that look like a castle wall. It was to the point where my parents ended up getting lost within the stores and I had to find them like it was a game of where’s waldo. Every time I picked up a record, a book, or literally anything in the store, I was like a kid running rampant inside of a Chuck E. Cheese on their birthday.
After my amazing experience, I ended up buying a few posters. These posters I bought were MF Doom, Cowboy Bebop, Better Call Saul, The Beatles crossing Abbey Road, Jimi Hendrix, Friday the 13th, N.W.A, One Punch Man, and JoJo’s Bizzare Adventures.
Even though there are countless music stores all over the world, Amoeba Music is the one that everyone can count on. Not just for music, but people can go there to buy books, mangas, movies, posters, and other merchandise. Amoeba Music is known today as the melting pot of music culture.
