Record Digging In Chicago

[phatspinner]

I always love reading the Record Digging Stories from the USA and I think that the danger/risk involved is often underplayed in retrospect. Many of us Anglos were quiet naive in the 1970s and 80s and probably put ourselves at risk unknowingly,happily often the english accent was a major help as in the poor black areas there was often an understandable resentment against white americans, the reasons for which I now understand but certainly didn't at the time.

Recent events have shown that it can be still quite dangerous to roam into the wrong area although there are of course many cities in UK and other countries where you wouldn't stray into some areas at 3.00 a.m. on foot.

Anyway a recent video clip caught my eye and I wondered if any of SS's intrepid record diggers had visited this store?

https://landing.newsinc.com/shared/video.html?freewheel=69016&sitesection=chicagosun&VID=23580593

I'm not looking for digging stories generally as there is a thread ongoing for that.

[kevinsoulman]

theres a thread on this recently here

regards

kev

Edited March 24, 2012 by kevinsoulman

[phatspinner]

On this shop ?

Sorry must have missed it. Should have known !

[Ian Dewhirst]

I always love reading the Record Digging Stories from the USA and I think that the danger/risk involved is often underplayed in retrospect. Many of us Anglos were quiet naive in the 1970s and 80s and probably put ourselves at risk unknowingly,happily often the english accent was a major help as in the poor black areas there was often an understandable resentment against white americans, the reasons for which I now understand but certainly didn't at the time.

Recent events have shown that it can be still quite dangerous to roam into the wrong area although there are of course many cities in UK and other countries where you wouldn't stray into some areas at 3.00 a.m. on foot.

Anyway a recent video clip caught my eye and I wondered if any of SS's intrepid record diggers had visited this store?

https://landing.newsi...un&VID=23580593

I'm not looking for digging stories generally as there is a thread ongoing for that.

I think Boba went through the place on his lunch break.........

Ian D

[Dave2]

On this shop ?

Sorry must have missed it. Should have known !

Regardless, nice film clip. (First time I've seen it). Thanks for posting.

I wondered about the store's location i.e. what the neighbourhood actually looks like at street level. (Should one middle-class white city boy - with an English accent - wander into said establishment perusing for 45 bargains.....)

[Ian Dewhirst]

Regardless, nice film clip. (First time I've seen it). Thanks for posting.

I wondered about the store's location i.e. what the neighbourhood actually looks like at street level. (Should one middle-class white city boy - with an English accent - wander into said establishment perusing for 45 bargains.....)

Dress scruffy (if you're digging for records you'll be wearing jeans, trainers and a tee shirt surely), keep about 20 dollars and change in your pockets but any serious cash in your socks or underpants, don't wonder around with expensive gadgets, wristwatches, necklaces etc, don't park a nice rented car right outside the shop but within a short walking distance, keep aware of any large gatherings of youths in a short time - all common sense stuff. If anyone approaches you and asks what you're doing just tell 'em, "Don't worry I'm an eccentric English guy looking for Soul records and this looks like a good place" and give 'em a smile. I think they'll realise pretty quickly that you don't represent a threat.

Oh, and don't use too many words like 'perusing.......

Ian D

Edited March 24, 2012 by Ian Dewhirst

[Dave2]

Dress scruffy (if you're digging for records you'll be wearing jeans, trainers and a tee shirt surely), keep about 20 dollars and change in your pockets but any serious cash in your socks or underpants, don't wonder around with expensive gadgets, wristwatches, necklaces etc, don't park a nice rented car right outside the shop but within a short walking distance, keep aware of any large gatherings of youths in a short time - all common sense stuff. If anyone approaches you and asks what you're doing just tell 'em, "Don't worry I'm an eccentric English guy looking for Soul records and this looks like a good place" and give 'em a smile. I think they'll realise pretty quickly that you don't represent a threat.

Oh, and don't use too many words like 'perusing.......

Ian D

I say!,, Jolly good advice my fine fellow!

An' know mate, cheers! Been in a few rough areas of USA cities but never Chicago. One thing that was quite evident were the number of elderly homeless people that congregate together, waiting for the equivelent of meals on wheels to turn up - provided by charity organisations. There's relatively little or no state benefits as such, as we have.

Regards,

Dave

[Guest Budgie]

Sat outside this store for around three hours some years back. The guy from the food store next door came and sat with us for our safety. He said the guy had been driving around the block but wouldn't open the store. Could only look through the window and imagine what was lurking in those hundreds of boxes.

On the way there from downtown on the bus, once we got passed the United Centre the driver kept shouting " are you sure you want this far", I think it was about 44 blocks from down town. Keep promising myself I'll get back one day.

[Ian Dewhirst]

My last trip to New York in 2008 saw me go to a private lock-up cellar 3 seperate times on the most dangerous street in the Bronx with 2 drug gangs on opposite corners running their patch. 3 times the guy didn't turn up so myself and a fellow digger had to kill a couple of hours each time until it became too dangerous to stick around any longer. The final time we went, I pulled up in a fancy off-roader hire vehicle at around 6.00pm (thus breaking one of my own rules) and suddenly realised that we could be sprayed with bullets any second, so I took off quick.

However as a result of that quick exit, we ended up hitting another part of the Bronx and found a flea market which had a seller who also had a basement full of records at his house. So we ended up in a cellar in the Bronx until 2.00am after all....

Ian D

[phatspinner]

I once started walking up a street in Washington looking for Waxi Maxies I think it was F street or something.

Easy to find the street of course as they're all alphabetical grids, what I didn't take into account was how long the streets were. What started out as a quite nice street began to deteriorate as we walked along until all the windows appeared to be boarded up and the street lights smashed. I kept thinking that it would get better but it didn't!

As I had my wife with me and we started to draw a crowd, after a couple of miles I decided to call it a day and jumped into the nearest taxi who said we were lucky to find one in that area!

[25miles]

YEH MAN!!

WE WAS THERE IN 2000.........AFTER MEETING THE LADY ON A STREET MARKET SHE SUGESTED WE VISITED THE SHOP....WROTE DIRECTIONS ON A RECORD SLEEVE! AS WE DON'T DRIVE WE WENT ON THE BUS - A GOOD FEW MILES FROM THE CITY CTR.

LOOKIN' @ THE CLIP THE SHOP HAS BEEN SMRTENED UP A LOT? WAS POURING RAIN WHE WE WENT...ROOF WAS LEAKING!!

AFTER A WARM WELCOME WE WERE GIVEN DISPOSABLE GLOVES.......MUST HAVE BEEN A ZILLION 45'S TIPPED INTO BOXES,

THOUGH LP'S WERE IN ORGANISED BOXES. AFTER DIGGIN' AROUND FOR AN HOUR WE ASKED IF WE COULD PLAY OUR SELECTIONS?

REPLY CAME BACK "AINT GOT NO PLAYER...THE ENGLISH GUYS BRING THEIR OWN"

WE DID MANAGE TO FIND A FEW DECENT BITS.

ALTHOUGH THE SHOP IS IN RUN DOWN AREA WE NEVER FELT UNEASY...THE PEOPLE IN THE SHOP WERE REALLY FRIENDLY.

WE WOULD RECOMMEND EVERYBODY SHOULD VISIT THIS SHOP......CHICAGO IS A GREAT CITY!!

[Steve G]

Regardless, nice film clip. (First time I've seen it). Thanks for posting.

I wondered about the store's location i.e. what the neighbourhood actually looks like at street level. (Should one middle-class white city boy - with an English accent - wander into said establishment perusing for 45 bargains.....)

Yup took the train there 15 months ago when I was in Chicago for New Year - Green line I think from memory. Area not v good - interesting because 50 years ago it was probably quite vibrant. Now large waste spaces, no taxis etc.

Fortunately it was pouring with rain when I left the shop and so the streets were quiet as I walked back to the station (about 10-15 mins). It's not really bad compared to some places I've been, but it's not really good either. You kind of keep an eye out for what's going on around you on the street if that makes sense.

As to the shop itself, smiling faces inside, and yes loads of 45s but most of them look like they've been used for sanding the concrete walls around Lake Michigan. I trawled through a lot of g- type stuff, sad really but the conditions were awful. The owner has a few things in his office but nothing exciting. I think this shop has been picked through so often.....Amongst the new arrivals was a Shades of Jade on Dore in E+ so I had that for $3. Result. But I spent in total $15! But you never know what's just come into a shop like that - new stock I am sure arrives regularly.

Didn't look at the LPs but there are lots of them so if you like your 70s and 80s LPs I am sure you will find things there.

Edited March 24, 2012 by Steve G

[Dave2]

Yup took the train there 15 months ago when I was in Chicago for New Year - Green line I think from memory. Area not v good - interesting because 50 years ago it was probably quite vibrant. Now large waste spaces, no taxis etc.

Fortunately it was pouring with rain when I left the shop and so the streets were quiet as I walked back to the station (about 10-15 mins). It's not really bad compared to some places I've been, but it's not really good either. You kind of keep an eye out for what's going on around you on the street if that makes sense.

As to the shop itself, smiling faces inside, and yes loads of 45s but most of them look like they've been used for sanding the concrete walls around Lake Michigan. I trawled through a lot of g- type stuff, sad really but the conditions were awful. The owner has a few things in his office but nothing exciting. I think this shop has been picked through so often.....Amongst the new arrivals was a Shades of Jade on Dore in E+ so I had that for $3. Result. But I spent in total $15! But you never know what's just come into a shop like that - new stock I am sure arrives regularly.

Didn't look at the LPs but there are lots of them so if you like your 70s and 80s LPs I am sure you will find things there.

Thanks for that Steve.

Regards,

Dave

[boba]

Especially in Chicago, which is very segregated, there is a lot of Black-White racial tension in poor areas. The terrible Trayvon Martin incident that just happened isn't helping either.

re: out of the past, I actually haven't been there that many times just because I didn't want to deal with it. Funk collector Dante worked there I think when he first moved to Chicago, I heard he was paid in records but I've never asked him about it because it was a while ago. OOTP has two things to look through. One is the upstairs which has tons of 45s, mostly crap. They do get new stuff in from people bringing in 45s, but I've heard that they put literally everything out, like Marie will throw away a box of beat up Collectables label 45s and her husband will get them and put them back with the stuff.

The other is the downstairs, which is a whole different experience. It's filled with store stock, most notably the lamarr / down to earth stock. There is heavy mold there (I got a headache within 5 minutes of being down there one time). They can give you a face mask if you ask for one. It has flooded more than once, making it even nastier. They have rats, which is why they also have cats, but you can easily encounter cat or rat feces or a rat carcass there. Anyways, despite thinking he cleaned it out, lots of people have pulled cool stuff from there since Dante worked there. At this point, though, if you're coming into town (especially from the UK), I would only go down there for the "I got my hands dirty digging in a nasty basement" experience without any expectation of finding anything great.

It is pretty funny that there might be a form of tourism which involves going into dirty, rat filled, moldy basements for hours, flipping through soggy stuck-together records.

Like any record store, they do also get good rare records in but (also like most records stores) certain people sort of have that stuff locked down...

[nksouldude]

Been to Chicargo twice on my second time there remember driving south side Chicargo when spoted a lorry trailer parked up which was full of vinyl pulled over straight away to investigate Nobody around the trailer The trailer was next to a charity outlet We enquired at the outlet to be told that all vinyl collected over a month period is loaded onto the trailer and sold They let all 3 off us go through thde trailer and hey only decent 45 we found was Nolan Chance just like the weather Though been through some rough areas around Chicargo and been stared at and called honkies would definatly go back again as Chicargo is a grea city

[Ian Dewhirst]

There used to be a fair in Chicago every Summer where all the local distributors and regional record companies would dump their stock into a couple of huge marquees and every record was 10 cents or thereabouts. I started thinking about this and remembered a funny story.....

I remember heading to this in the late 80's when I was driving across the U.S. I decided to hit a record fair in Louisville on the way and who should I bump into but Gary Rushbrooke, who was looking through a stall, glanced up and said "Allright Frank" (my name in those days) and went right back to going through the stall LOL.

After the fair had ended we were both chewing the fat and both being defensive about where we were heading next. I think Gary said he was heading West and I said I was heading South and we shook hands and went our merry ways.

Two days later we bumped into each other at the Chicago Summer Fair and both laughed.

It was a goldfield. 2 marquees with dozens and dozens of trestle tables overflowing with 45's, many of which were just dumped on the ground or sacks of them on blankets. It would have taken a couple of days solid to go through them all. I think Gary and I both did OK from that one event.

I remember beginning the second conversation with Gary in 48 hours with, "OK, which way are you REALLY heading this time Gary"?

Ian D

Edited April 4, 2012 by Ian Dewhirst

[boba]

Been to Chicargo twice on my second time there remember driving south side Chicargo when spoted a lorry trailer parked up which was full of vinyl pulled over straight away to investigate Nobody around the trailer The trailer was next to a charity outlet We enquired at the outlet to be told that all vinyl collected over a month period is loaded onto the trailer and sold They let all 3 off us go through thde trailer and hey only decent 45 we found was Nolan Chance just like the weather Though been through some rough areas around Chicargo and been stared at and called honkies would definatly go back again as Chicargo is a grea city

you actually got called a honky, and more than once? that is pretty funny. the only time i ever got called a honky was when i used to live next to this school for behavior disorder kids, they would cuss and call me a honky, it was pretty funny.

[Gilly]

Spent a day in Chicago and lucky to be with Barbara Acklin and her manageress Janett McDowel,Janette took me over to south-side but never found anything,one shop owner was quite rude i dont know why maybe it was a racist thing or maybe he was having a bad day.I have to say i liked Chicago as a city more going for it than Detroit

[Guest Martin Coleman]

I went to OOTP about 10 years ago, and made the mistake of walking from the train station (about 1/2 mile away) instead of taking the bus (that stops right opposite). It wasn't a pleasant experience. (Abusive yells and aggressive begging). Inside the store was a completely different story. Marie was very welcoming, and all the staff were very nice. I didn't find a whole load (a couple of Falcons on Big Wheel and a Jimmy Robins on Jerhart if I remember correctly) but, as others have said, I think this place gets picked pretty regularly. I agree with Bob - it's well worth a visit if you want the authentic digging experience and don't go expecting to find a goldmine, but there's no need to take uneccessary risks. These days if I don't know a neighborhood (in any city) I'll always take a bus (or a cab) door to door.

Edited April 21, 2012 by Martin Coleman

[Mark68]

Here's some pictures I took at Out Of The Past and a few other stores in Chicago - https://www.independentmovement.co.uk/gallery/chicago2007.htm

[boba]

Here's some pictures I took at Out Of The Past and a few other stores in Chicago - https://www.independe...chicago2007.htm

peabody's closed all of a sudden very recently, maybe a month or two ago. the guys are still doing records but don't have a storefront anymore.

[Guest David Ryan]

Brilliant store in las Vegas called waxtrax-got a cab there and walked back through the suburbs at noon,wouldnt want to do it at night with a far lighter wallet-the guy prices accordingly to manship(and gives you beer to soften the blow),went to Miami beach last year and had no luck locally as all the decent record shops were in little Haiti and little Havana which were dodgy apparently-allways regret not going shopping in new York apparently I dipped out

The advice about not looking like a tourist with a fat wallet in such areas is invaluable

[boba]

Brilliant store in las Vegas called waxtrax-got a cab there and walked back through the suburbs at noon,wouldnt want to do it at night with a far lighter wallet-the guy prices accordingly to manship(and gives you beer to soften the blow),went to Miami beach last year and had no luck locally as all the decent record shops were in little Haiti and little Havana which were dodgy apparently-allways regret not going shopping in new York apparently I dipped out

The advice about not looking like a tourist with a fat wallet in such areas is invaluable

this is the first post in the history of the internet that anyone said anything positive about rich rosen's store

[Pete S]

this is the first post in the history of the internet that anyone said anything positive about rich rosen's store

true

[pikeys dog]

OOTP cellar is great if sorting through piles and piles of General Crook 45s on Down To Earth give you a raging hard-on.

Otherwise it's a waste of time.

[Ian Dewhirst]

OOTP cellar is great if sorting through piles and piles of General Crook 45s on Down To Earth give you a raging hard-on.

I bet that's the first time General Crook's musical output has been compared to viagra.......

Ian D

[Chris Anderton]

OOTP cellar is great if sorting through piles and piles of General Crook 45s on Down To Earth give you a raging hard-on.

Otherwise it's a waste of time.

...

They employ a guy to sit there and put all of the better stuff on ebay now...I wont be visiting again, taken all of the fun out of it!

Chris

[Guest David Ryan]

Rich Rosen-couldn't think of his name!-he gave me beer and he had everything I asked for-just a shame it was twice as much as I expected!

[Ian Dewhirst]

Rich Rosen-couldn't think of his name!-he gave me beer and he had everything I asked for-just a shame it was twice as much as I expected!

You got a beer too....?

There was obviously some other kind of dynamic going on on your visit.....

It must be pure sexual attraction David..........

Ian D

[Guest David Ryan]

Fair do!-sounds wrong!

[boba]

I think I posted it here before (might not have), but there is footage on youtube of Rosen on the TV show "pawn stars" trying to sell them a rocking horse.

[Guest David Ryan]

I wouldnt of been suprised - fine salesman - glad I left my credit card in the safe at the hotel!

[boba]

I've never met him in person, one of my only interactions with him was on the phone, where he was just listing off rare group soul records he recently got in his collection. I didn't understand why he was telling me all this, like he just needed to show off to some random guy on the phone. He also didn't mention anything i didn't have or anything that was particularly obscure, it was weird.

[Guest David Ryan]

He told me about when he came to the uk and got a round of applause at the 100 when he was introduced to the crowd ,personally I couldn't put the bloke down as I've never seen so many records I want in one place-he even told me to come back the next day as he kept a "special" box at home

[Steve G]

I went to OOTP about 10 years ago, and made the mistake of walking from the train station (about 1/2 mile away) instead of taking the bus (that stops right opposite). It wasn't a pleasant experience. (Abusive yells and aggressive begging). Inside the store was a completely different story. Marie was very welcoming, and all the staff were very nice. I didn't find a whole load (a couple of Falcons on Date and a Jimmy Robins on Jerhart if I remember correctly) but, as others have said, I think this place gets picked pretty regularly. I agree with Bob - it's well worth a visit if you want the authentic digging experience and don't go expecting to find a goldmine, but there's no need to take uneccessary risks. These days if I don't know a neighborhood (in any city) I'll always take a bus (or a cab) door to door.

Didn't see this when I went - but it wasn't a great area and it was raining which helps clear the streets. BTW I got a stinking cold the next day!

The photos look good, but the 45 stock on the ground floor at least is largely f*cked and unplayable. How many General Crook records do you need? You can get em all of of gemm/ebay/discogs for $5.

this is the first post in the history of the internet that anyone said anything positive about rich rosen's store

Went there too some years ago. He wouldn't let me in until he'd checked my credentials with - he claimed 'Butch'........I was then told I was a 'good person' and could come in to the store.