Specialty Record Stores Meet the Needs of Purists Willing to Stray Off the Beaten Path

Customers quietly browse through George Kubiskie’s record shop, where fresh flowers often grace the counter, a Rudolph Valentino poster hangs on the wall and classical music plays softly over the radio.

“There are no loud noises in this store,” Kubiskie said.

Nor is there any rock music. Or jazz. Or pop. Or country.

Kubiskie’s Classical Record Shop in Beverly Hills sells only classical. It is one of a smattering of specialty music stores in Los Angeles. Unlike chain stores, these shops do not follow the whims of Top-40 musical tastes. And they are farther off the beaten path than so-called alternative shops, which sell used and hard-to-find records in a variety of musical styles.

True to form, the Classical Record Shop exudes a purist attitude. Regular customers recommend that newcomers know what they are looking for before they go in.

“George can be kind of intimidating,” one frequent customer said. “You have to really know what you want. You can’t just go in and browse. I once saw a tall, very successful-looking man act like he felt 12 years old in front of George because he wasn’t sure what he wanted.”

That man might have felt more comfortable at Creative Play Resources, a Northridge store that has been selling children’s albums for 17 years. Owner Richard Peters said many people don’t realize how many children’s records are available.

“There are a lot of children’s artists, people who have made their niche just doing children’s music,” Peters said. “And there are adult stars who do children’s records--Peter, Paul and Mary, Anne Murray.”

Choosing a record at Creative Play Resources is no less serious a matter than it is at the classical shop. Perhaps even more is at stake when selecting children’s music.

“When you give your children a record, they play it over and over again, 10 times a day for six months,” Peters said. “It’s nice if that record doesn’t make you cringe.”

The shopping is more laid-back at Ashantites in Los Angeles. Customers search for titles while a lilting reggae beat plays in the background.

“Customers like the fact that our records aren’t all crowded and bundled up,” said Simrete Selassie, who owns the store with Satta Blue. “They can always see what’s here.”

Ashantites carries more than 500 reggae titles and is known for its ample supply of “dance hall” records, a longer mix of what is usually heard on the radio. Said Selassie: “We get every DJ in town down here.”

Tom Cheyney, 32, of Los Angeles, managing editor of a technical magazine, is a devoted reggae fan. He likes the store because it carries “some of the best, up-to-the-minute dance hall reggae singles coming out of Jamaica,” including “Telephone Love” by J. C. Lodge and “Come Home” by Coco Tea and Bobby Digital. “It’s message music. Plus--it’s just really good to dance to,” he added.

The store also carries T-shirts, decals, bumper stickers, jewelry, reggae magazines and “a Jamaican newspaper, which comes out of Canada,” Selassie said.

Other Los Angeles specialty shops deal in the music of a particular culture or country. There are many shops selling Mexican and Latin American music, including La Mexicana Discoteca in Northridge, which carries hard-to-find Mexican compact discs.

At La Cite in Westwood, the inventory consists of more than 500 French records, record coordinator Paul Mittelbach said.

La Cite carries French books, comic books, posters, magazines and newspapers, in addition to its French musical stock that attracts bereted Francophiles and expatriates, diligent students of French and eager future travelers to France.

“We all speak fluent French here because our customers often like to speak French with us,” Mittelbach said.

“Our selection includes contemporary French pop music and rock ‘n’ roll, folk music and a lot of the oldies stuff--Yves Montand, Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, the old Emi Pathe jazz recordings, nostalgia records, some regional French music, as well as French sound tracks from movies, French children’s records, such as ‘The Little Prince,’ and of course French language records and cassettes.”

La Cite’s stock is so specialized that even Hollywood seeks it out. “When they were filming ‘Broadcast News,’ they came to us and asked what French song Albert Brooks should listen to in one scene,” Mittelbach said. “I told them he’d probably be listening to Francis Cabrel’s ‘Edicion Speciale’ --and that’s the song they used.”

Sarah Folger, 28, a Los Angeles resident and music company executive, goes to La Cite in search of children’s books. “They carry recordings of the adventures of ‘Tin Tin , ‘ “ the classic children’s French comic book, she said. “I love all their old French jazz, too, but it’s just the only store in town that carries that ‘Tin Tin’ stuff.”

And for those who prefer the Clancy Brothers to Chevalier, there is the Irish Imports Shop in Hollywood. The stock ranges from Irish folk singing to Gaelic-language cassettes. And the store also carries Irish books, magazines and newspapers, walking sticks, tweed hats, imported bacon and sausage, and fishermen sweaters.

“Our customers are basically Irish, Scottish and English,” owner Richard Jones said. “But we also get a lot of Americans who collect. They come from San Diego to Santa Barbara to get our records because you just can’t get them anywhere else.”