Sick City Records tries to 'keep the music alive' as potential closure looms

Just a fewer storefronts distant from the now-vacant Button Mash, Sick City Records is connected the brink of sharing the aforesaid fate.

For astir 20 years, therecord store has offered Echo Park a rocker-themed hodgepodge of uncommon vinyl, vintage set tees and dapper haircuts from its singular barber store chair. But arsenic rent continues to summation and less radical halt by to browse its sonic enactment oregon get a trim, Sick City Records is struggling to support its doors open.

“We’ve worked truthful hard for this. We’ve been doing this for 20 years. We person to combat to support this spot unfastened — it’s what we emotion to do,” said Jesse Lopez, the grounds store’s co-owner and nonmigratory barber.

Lopez and his concern partner, Brian Flores, property their fiscal difficulties to an wide unsmooth year. In January, erstwhile the Eaton and Palisades fires broke out, the store was desolate for astir a month. Then, close arsenic summertime kicked disconnected — usually a lucrative play for record-collecting tourists stopping by — ICE raids began happening each implicit the city.

According to Flores, the streets were filled with ample fleets of cars each summer, with large sirens on, trying to scare people. Recent information from the L.A. Economic Equity Accelerator and Fellowship and the L.A. County Economic Development Corp amusement that 43% of Latino concern owners successful the region reported gross losses of 50% oregon higher since June.

Co-owner Jesse Lopez, left, cuts the hairsbreadth of Los Angeles nonmigratory Jason Berk, 33, wrong of Sick City Records.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

“No 1 was walking around. It was June. Nobody’s walking their dog,” said Flores. “In this full buying center, everybody is an immigrant.”

The grounds shop’s finances reached an all-time debased successful October. The duo was 2 months down rent; their inventory had gone stagnant and their erstwhile regular barber store clients had go sporadic. The imaginable of closing up store and cutting their losses became much existent than ever.

In a past effort to prevention their euphony hub, Flores and Lopez person since picked up a vendor spot astatine the monthly Rose Bowl Flea Market, started a bid of collaborative fundraisers with section artists and launched a GoFundMe account.

Since they archetypal opened successful 2006, Flores and Lopez person ever specialized successful rock, punk and alternate — carrying bands similar the Velvet Underground, the Smiths, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Suede. The wrong of their abstraction reflects that — the walls are filled with wheatpasted skulls; rows of Iron Maiden and Suicidal Tendencies tees enactment the perimeter and their astir invaluable merchandise — similar a sealed Iggy Pop vinyl, a wide variant of Portishead’s “Dummy,” and a signed Echo & the Bunnymen grounds — bent precocious connected elevated shelves.

“A batch of stuff’s been sitting present for a agelong time,” Flores confessed arsenic helium looks astir astatine the antithetic half-filled genre crates.

“We effort to marque what we can. We marque our ain buttons. We bash our ain silk screening. We can’t bargain high-end vintage. We can’t spend it close now,” helium added. “It’s embarrassing erstwhile the kids are asking for caller rap records and these grounds guys travel successful looking for thing special, but we don’t person it.”

Band tees and vinyl records bent connected a partition wrong of Sick City Records.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

In caller years, Sick City has besides made an effort to grow into different genres, and present carries thing from state to jazz and rap. Between albums similar Tyler the Creator’s “Cherry Bomb” and the Cocteau Twins’ “Heaven oregon Las Vegas,” Flores says they volition ever dedicate respective of their crates to section underground acts, featuring thing from their customers’ passionateness projects to bands who play the city’s bars and location shows.

Their section enactment is usually astir fashionable during the summertime and erstwhile radical are successful municipality for events similar the comparatively adjacent Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

“Truthfully, this twelvemonth we haven’t had that galore tourists. People are usually looking for L.A. bands to instrumentality location to places similar Australia and Canada and inquire america for recommendations,” said Flores. “But this year, without tourists, it’s inactive slow.”

Their dedication to L.A.’s section sounds goes backmost to their roots arsenic a business. In 1999, the duo archetypal sold vintage set tees astatine Melrose Trading Post. At the time, the marketplace was mostly older vendors selling novelty items. Flores and Lopez decided to shingle things up a spot by playing Metallica successful the early-morning hours and began to physique a younger clientele who were funny successful their vintage clothing. Over time, they learned however to surface people and started selling their ain designs.

After astir 5 years of selling astatine the market, they decided to upscale into a much imperishable concern that would absorption connected music. In 2006, they opened a abstraction successful Silver Lake that functioned arsenic a barbershop with a mates of grounds crates. Despite it being the aboriginal 2000s, the vendors were up of the up-and-coming vinyl revival, arsenic millennials started to wage much attraction to carnal media.

As record-collecting grew successful popularity and events similar Record Store Day went mainstream, they saw a surge successful sales. In 2008, they expanded the grounds information of their business, opening their existent determination successful Echo Park.

With this stint of success, the grounds store started to relation arsenic a grounds statement arsenic well. In the aboriginal 2010s, the duo helped immoderate customers and longtime friends who were successful bands release, administer and beforehand their albums. Flores and Lopez would assistance take the medium art, the bid of the way database and assistance publication shows.

Sick City Records owners Jessie Lopez, left, and Brian Flores astatine their Echo Park shop.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

One of the archetypal bands they worked with was section stone radical the High Curbs, who were teenagers astatine the clip and thereforestruggled to get into the bars wherever they were booked to play. With the assistance of Sick City, they were capable to merchandise their 2016 album. The band, which inactive regularly tours and releases music, made its instrumentality to the grounds store earlier this summertime for the yearly euphony festival Echo Park Rising.

“They told me, ‘We don’t bash immoderate tiny shows anymore, but for Echo Park Rising, we privation to springiness backmost and play for you guys.’ We had a afloat house,” Flores said. “We felt the emotion back.”

At the tallness of the business, erstwhile they were backing their grounds label, Flores says they were making astir $8,000 a month. Now they are making person to $2,000 monthly, with customers spending an mean of astir $10 per visit. On a weekday day successful November, a fistful of patrons came into the store to sift done their vinyl selection, but lone 1 lawsuit made a purchase.

“We privation to bash more. We privation to bash much shows and beforehand much bands. We’ve done shows astatine Los Globos, the Silverlake Lounge, the Redwood [Bar and Grill]. But each this costs money,” Flores said. “So erstwhile we were capable to enactment retired those records, it was precise costly astatine the time, but we were capable to bash it.”

Flores and Lopez continued to run retired of some stores until 2020, erstwhile they decided to consolidate some businesses into the 1 that exists today.

Since the pandemic, Sick City Records’ rent has continually increased. In 2020, the duo paid $1,800 for the space. Today they wage $3,500. In the past respective years, gentrification has taken clasp of Echo Park, hiking up some residential and commercialized rent. Flores says that successful the astir 20 years that they’ve been connected Sunset Boulevard, he’s seen galore tiny businesses illness from these strains.

With a specialty successful rock, punk and alternative, Sick City Records’ enactment often spotlights section L.A. acts.

(Andres Melo / For The Times)

“There are a mates of tiny java shops, similar Woodcat, that are inactive there. But Spacedust [a covering shop] is gone. Cosmic Vinyl is gone,” said Flores. The second constitution shuttered successful 2018 but reopened earlier this twelvemonth astatine a caller determination successful Eagle Rock.

“There’s nary parking. I don’t cognize wherefore they support raising the rent. But Echo Park has ever been a hub wherever radical privation to be.”

Sick City Records has respective fundraisers and flea marketplace pop-ups planned earlier the extremity of the year. On Dec. 13, they volition beryllium hosting an creation amusement astatine the store called “Hold On to Your Friends,” which volition diagnostic unrecorded DJs, section artists and vendors. All proceeds volition spell to keeping Sick City successful operation.

“Hopefully, radical don’t hide astir us. We’re conscionable trying to support the euphony alive, support a bully vibe and support promoting the euphony community,” said Flores. “We conscionable got to get backmost connected our feet. We privation to bring successful merchandise that we’re arrogant of.”