L.A. HAVENS - Jacknife Records & Tapes

Window shopping at Jacknife Records & Tapes

 

JACKNIFE RECORDS & TAPES

3149 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles (Atwater Village)

There are so many record stores in my neighborhood, even just within walking distance. Jacknife Records & Tapes stands out among the others because they truly go out of their way to make each person who walks through their door feel welcome. It doesn't matter how your hair's cut or what you're wearing – if you've crossed the threshold it most likely means you love music, and that's the only criteria here.

Goodies purchased at Jacknife

Originally opened by David Gunderson last year, Jacknife is now under the ownership of Trevor Baade, who is usually at the counter giving recommendations, engaging in musical discourse or just saying hi to everyone who comes by. Sometimes I might not look forward to vinyl shopping excursions because they take time (There are so many sections of records to go through!) and wind up costing a lot. But I really do look forward to going to Jacknife, and I think Trevor's great attitude has a lot to do with it.

Let's face it, if you're looking for rare, collectible records then you're going to be spending a lot of money. That being said, I feel like everything is fairly priced at Jacknife. Vinyl can run from $3 used to around $20 new. The most extravagant purchase we've made there was $40 for Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, and Trevor even threw in the Billie Holiday Story Volume I that we were also going to buy for free.

Jacknife has everything placed into clearly marked sections by genre. They have a cool collection of tapes and 8-tracks for sale too. I've seen everything from Stevie B, Danzig and Nirvana. Also to be perused are racks of vintage clothes (T-shirts, jackets and hoodies), toys and other collectibles.