Home > Blog & Collections > Plexus Story #5 : Californian Digging Trip

Plexus Story #5 : Sea, Wax & Sun... my Californian diggin' trip

A new Plexus Story* !

Itinerary of a record dealer on the road on the US West Coast... While diggers swear by Japan, has the American dream of vinyl hunting really disappeared ? Head to Southern California to find out for sure !

Published on November 19th 2025
by Plexus

Beat Box Records, San Diego, 2025

* What are these Plexus Stories ?
Have a coffee, spin a record, sit back and enjoy this article : Plexus shares his memories, anecdotes and record store secrets...

Visiting as many record shops as possible in a week on the west coast of the USA... this was one of the most stimulating and exciting diggin' trips I've been on in recent years. While everyone's eyes are on Japan, the USA seems to have been somewhat neglected by collectors and record dealers. The days of warehouses full of dead stock, legendary musicians' collections, and miles of dollar bins where many rarities and private pressings were discovered seem to be over. So what could be better than an intense week devoted entirely to exploring Southern California to form our own opinion?

 

San Diego and its iconic shop : Folk Arts Records

With a population of 1.4 million, the capital of “well-being” in the United States offers a large number of record stores and an extremely rich music scene : the hyperactive cultural dynamic of “America's Finest City” has revealed bands such as Thee Sacred Souls, as well as producers, collectors, and DJs such as Mike Wallace and Gaslamp Killer...

Day one, first stop at an iconic store in the city : Folk Arts Records, located a few blocks from the beautiful North Park neighborhood where I stay. I think this shop alone perfectly sums up the image we have of the excessiveness of music production in the US. Don't expect to be able to get through the entire stock in a day, it would be a waste of time. A cold sweat ran down my back at the sight of big walls filled with soundtracks, blues, folk, country, and vocal albums, all perfectly organized alphabetically and by artist. Not to mention the monumental bins of soul, pop, and jazz that seem to get longer and longer as you look through them.

There are some great finds to be made in this huge store, but it takes a lot of work to get records in very good condition. The first thing to note about shops in the US is that they have no problem about selling heavily used second-hand items : records that haven't been cleaned, are covered in scratches or clearly warped, sleeves that are torn and/or covered in writings, almost non-existent plastic sleeve protection... Not to mention labels stuck directly onto the cover, impossible to remove without damaging it.

Please note that prices are proportional to condition, so there's no problem on that front !
However, a huge amount of verification work is required if you pay even the slightest attention to condition.

Folk Art Records is obviously full of beautiful records, and the huge quantity on sale reflects the eclecticism and curiosity of the team running this store. It's kind of the antithesis of Japanese stores, where attention to detail is everything... and that's precisely what makes it so enjoyable ! Finally being able to return to “old-fashioned” stores where you have to work hard, get your hands dirty, spend hours moving boxes of records and looking for a spot to check their condition... that's what satisfies a real thirst for digging.

Northpik Everything 2 Bucks : a fascinating chaos

To round off this unique experience, there's nothing better than retracing my steps back to North Park to step inside a totally bizarre institution: Northpik Everything 2 bucks. It's a one-of-a-kind place with a very simple concept: the store sells records, 33s and 45s, CDs, and DVDs for a flat price of $2. Every weekend, this shop opens its doors at 9 a.m. sharp, with the promise of “new arrivals” to look (even if that term doesn't really reflect the experience).

As soon as you walk through the front door, a wall of about twenty U-Haul boxes, all stuffed to the brim, blocks your path. You'll have to tackle it if you want to take a look at the rest of the store behind it. Each box is literally overflowing, and you'll have to work hard to see the ones crushed beneath the first row.

The regulars are already there, flipping through hundreds of records, some wearing masks and gloves to avoid having to shower when they get home. I join in, and a few hours after going through most of the first crates of new arrivals, I still have enough energy left to explore the back of the store... but I quickly realize that it's going to be completely impossible.

Dozens and dozens of crates of records stacked on top of each other form almost impenetrable blocks in the middle of the store. From time to time, as I weave my way around these imposing masses, I spot a small, accessible pile and hope to find a gem. It takes more than courage to hope to go back in time to when these forgotten boxes must have been in the store's entrance, many years ago now.

Amidst this organized chaos, an incredible figure sits enthroned behind what was probably once a desk but now looks more like the control room of an abandoned submarine. One of the shop's bosses, his physique worn down by years of work and much more, regularly raises his voice to share juicy anecdotes about his former life as a musician, his love affairs, his misadventures... with a totally irresistible nonchalance worthy of the finest short stories by Bukowski or Henry Miller. It's hard to know if he's the boss, because a few hours after opening, a colleague of the same ilk makes a grand appearance, hoping to find enough money in the till to get through the month without too much trouble (from what I could gather from their discussions interspersed with dirty jokes and touching songs).

After an hour or two, the regular customers leave, and I realize that there is little hope of finding more treasures as I delve deeper into the maze of the store. Perhaps it was a mistake on my part, but it would have taken a whole week to hope to browse even half of the stock piled up in this surreal store. The timing of my trip brings me back to reality, and I leave the place with a hundred or so pop, rock, soul, and funk classics, a smile on my face, reassured that such places still exist, completely free from current conventions.

Surprise at Beat Box Records

San Diego is full of beautiful shops. It's impossible not to stop at Beat Box in Chicano Park (an incredible Mexican neighborhood where graffiti culture, low riding, spiritualism, and street food are part of everyday life), with its unlikely boxes of 7-inch Soul/Funk collector's items full of private presses.

On my first visit, thanks to the owner's recommendations, I had the chance to discover this wonderful single : “Breaking My Heart in Two” by a certain Joe B (you can listen here). Pulling this gem out of a discreet box hidden behind his counter, the owner explained that he had patiently traced the life of this completely anonymous country-folk musician until he found him in person... and, in the process, got his hands on the few records the artist still had in his personal collection.

The annotation on this single, “Private press - Ungoogable AOR Monster Track,” only served to spark my curiosity, and listening to it confirmed its promise of being a banger. It just goes to show that wonderful discoveries are still possible thanks to the research of a few enthusiasts!

From San Diego to Los Angeles

Also in San Diego, shops such as Vinyl Junkies and M-Theory (to name but a few) offer excellent selections of both second-hand and new records. But the desire to visit the shops in Los Angeles draws me to the Californian capital. After spending many hours asking my valuable contacts about the must-visit places, I plan a short but intense itinerary: in less than 48 hours, I will visit more than eight stores, all scattered across this sprawling city... Suffice to say, it was a tight schedule !

Curious to find out more about the big names on Instagram, I head to Record Safari next to Griffith Park. What can I say, except that I left disappointed and empty-handed? Maybe it just wasn't the right time to visit this store, but in any case, the selection was very ordinary, with a few Japanese items here and there to hide the lack of identity of the (albeit very large) selection. Once again, the image conveyed by this type of store on Instagram unfortunately does not seem to truly reflect the reality of their position in the market.

Big Bang at Atomic Records

After browsing through other anecdotal shops, I start to panic a little... until I decide, on the advice of my friend Michel from Klinkhamer Records, to go to Atomic Records (North Hollywood). What a shock... The wall of collectors' items is breathtaking, certainly one of the most beautiful in the city and beyond. And in the bins, what can I say? A selection of the finest, with records in more than decent condition. After a few minutes of digging, I start to have a heavy stack under my arm, and that's when one of the shop bosses comes up to me and offers me a box.

I take this opportunity to congratulate him on the selection and professionalism of the store (the only one with adequate lighting to check the condition of the records, whereas most shops hide their weaknesses in the dark). “Of course we are serious,” he says with a big smile, a perfect answer. He lets me look at the records on the wall without any pressure, his expertise from years of experience speaking for itself. 

Quickly identifying what I'm looking for, he offers to bring me more records, including some rarities from one of the latest collections they've just received: all the biggest Strata East releases are there, along with killer tracks by Steve Reid, Lloyd McNeil, and other spiritual jazz gems. Atomic Records didn't become an institution for no reason. I spend a few precious hours digging through their bins and come out with a box full of magnificent jazz, soul, and rock LPs and a nice discount to boot (a rare thing in the US)!

Permanent Records and Poobah, the end of the journey

A stop at Permanent Records is just as essential... their selection is also magnificent, with a real identity in their catalog and their choice of highlights. What a pleasure it is to discover entire rows of stock copies of Nancy Sinatra, Bobbie Gentry, and Crosby solo in their storage bins. And what an incredible complex: the store has a bar and concert hall, making it one of the pillars of the Californian alternative scene !

Last stop at another historic spot in LA for a shop that we don't hear much about anymore: Poobah Records in Pasadena. A spearhead of the Beat movement in the 2000s (with geniuses such as Ras G, Black Monk, Kutmah, and Kankick), the label associated with this shop remained a major influence in experimental hip-hop for many years.

My visit to the record store was quite emotional when I saw an SP1200 and MPC60 in the window, imagining the late Ras G delivering his smoky beats on these historic pads.

The bins are more than solid, and the prices are unbeatable. The shop has an authentic vibe, and the owner is a true enthusiast. After chatting with him for a while about the label's golden age, he went into his storage room and came out with two Dakim and Co.Fee records, which he proudly offered me, ending my diggin' trip on a high note!

As for the other stores we had time to visit, Sibylline Records, also located in Pasadena, deserves a special mention. In a sort of mini Face Records with an American twist, I discovered a refined and carefully curated selection, and ultra-friendly staff ! The revival of LA is happening here.

West Coast US, a Golden Dream at sunset

After visiting all these shops, scouring tons of antique malls, digging through private collections, and crisscrossing more than one record fair, I have no doubt left. California is full of wonders and has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of when compared to the Japanese empire. The term “Golden Dream” is still very much relevant today!

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