I'm from the '70's.
And because of that, I LOVE records.
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| Steve Rogers shops for vinyl. |
I stumbled upon Katz Alley Record Store in downtown Redlands last year. It was a cool place filled with vinyl records, rock 'n roll memorbilia and the sounds of some of my favorite bands. Bottom line it was a great place for me to hang out and work on finishing my own LP collection.
There is something about an LP for this music lover that is very special. You got the artwork. You got the liner notes. You got maybe a poster or a fan club card. You got COOL. So in the Spirit of Radio here is a what I wrote for my gallery that ran online for the Redlands Daily Facts and The Sun on Katz Alley:
Buddy Holly, Diana Ross and The Beach Boys are rocking Katz Alley in downtown Redlands. Owned and operated by Kevin McCurry (see top photo) and Kathleen Wood, the record and book store has become a cool place where the past meets the present for music fans of all ages.
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| Records, records everywhere: Inside and outside of Katz Alley. |
While many older fans come to the store to walk down memory lane, a bulk of the store's clients fall in the younger age bracket. "People who are becoming the audio files of the future are the 17-28 age group," says McCurry. "They buy the classic Fisher receivers, the two-way speakers and they want the vintage turn tables.”
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| A 1978 picture disc album of 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band |
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| I wanted to be at my cousins house: They had KISS records. |
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| Kathleen Wood files albums in the cool record store known as Katz Alley. |
The store carries many music genres ranging from Blues and Jazz, to Rock and Punk. While McCurry's favorite music is 1950's Jazz and Blues, he has an eclectic musical palette that includes Led Belly, B.B. King, Johnny Stitz, and Billie Holiday. “I don't think that anybody ever has hit a pitch as beautiful like her,” said McCurry, “To listen to a clean original pressing of Billie Holiday will bring a tear to your eye.”
I could not have said it better myself!
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| L to R: Mowtown greats The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, & Smokey Robinson |
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| A 1958 Johnny Cash original pressing- still cool after all these years! |
