Best record shops in Central Coast California ?

[matty]

I currently purchase my Lp's at Streetlight Records , but was wondering if there are any other record shops that i don't know about either on the Central Coast or in Northern California (sant cruz area) ?
Bless
Matty Roots

[mick d]

Amoeba Records in San Francisco and Berkeley have huge reggae sections. The same is true for Rasputin Records in SF and Berkeley. Can't help you with Santa Cruz or Monterey. I went to the Streetlight in Santa Cruz and was very impressed with their selection, but I would have to say that Amoeba is the best. Their store in Hollywood is the biggest of their 3 locations. You could spend hundreds of dollars there!

[Matthew]

As far as Amoeba/Hollywood goes, you'll find very few original presses. They only have 10-15 out at a time.
They use Ernie B as a vendor for a majority of their stock, so you're getting the same selection as on his web site at $1 to $3 more a copy!

True Central Coast...Pismo/San Luis Obispo, same scenario, minus the original press copies.

[matty]

I gonna half to check them out.
Thanx
matty

[darewon]

Matty,

There are some good record stores in the San Jose/Palo Alto area. If I remember right it was either a Rasputin or Streelight Records.

Speaking of Rasputin in San Leandro and Newark they are a lot of good vinyl choices once in a while and plenty of marked down CDs (5-7 dollars a pop). Not to mention it is not a picked over as San Francisco or Berkeley.

I tend to favor Rasputin because of the mispricing of CDs; however, they tend to overprice vinyl.

Amoeba is hit or miss; plenty of re-issues, a lack of original presses. However sometimes you'll run across some good DATC releases, and early 80s releases; mostly RAS stuff. Amoeba Berkeley is a ghostown now, so go there first. SF gets the most attention and they tend to price vinyl and CDs higher there. The reggae buyer used to work for 9 years at the Berkeley location and ever since he moved to SF the Berkeley store has suffered a bit.

Oh I should mention Berkeley Rasputin is managed by Spliff Skanking; a top notch dread DJ and very knowledgable and helpful.

Also if in SF check Groove Merchant and Recycled Records, you may find something. But the best luck I had has been in Michigan. A total know man's land but the luck I've had getting original presses (mostly 70s Mango, Virgin, etc.) has been phenonmenal.

Now I'm homesick for the Bay Area !!!

----Happy Hunting!----

[jahadambom]

What ever are you are from, anywher in the world this should be true....Your best bet is to go to the hole in the wall used record shops that do not specialize in vinyl. The reason why is because they typically don't know what is rare and so forth, so you will find the original presses and rare stuff (on occasion) at cheap prices. Maybe only 1 out of 10 times, but its always worth waiting for. aDambom
http://www.bomreggae.gemm.com
http://www.topshota.com
jahadambom@yahoo.com