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January 20, 2006
Bye bye Rhino
Join music fans from around the city in bidding a sad farewell to the Rhino Records Store in Westwood this weekend. After a couple of decades of selling records, then 8-tracks, cassettes and CDs, it will be shutting its doors; the very last parking lot sale is this Saturday and Sunday from 10am-4pm. That's at 2028 Westwood Blvd, in the parking lot.
Everyone probably has their own favorite Rhino Records memory. They used to have lots of live performances, and the staff would, they say, do things like order a Japanese pressing of Can's Tago Mago for you.
But for us, it wasn't anything nearly as cool. Gripped by an inexplicable desire, one day we brought a used Carpenter's CD up to the counter: The Singles, 1969-1973. It's got "Superstar," "Top of the World" and, most importantly, "(They Long to Be) Close to You." The cashier gathered the rest of the staff around when they saw what we had. They all looked mournfully at the Carpenters CD. We thought they must be sorry to see such a great musical collection go; they were, they explained. "That's the one we use to clear the store when it's time to go home."
Luckily for them, there were several Celine Dion selections for them to use next. What do you remember about Rhino?
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Lance has put up a lot up at our blog about Rhino's closure. But I most enjoy my memories of the place from the late-seventies.
We were jazz enthusiasts and it was the only dependable place in town to get old Riverside reissue pressings newly pressed from Japan. They came in a plastic wrap with a Japanese band around them---Bill Evans, Miles, etc., great sessions from the late '50's and early '60's that you'll likely never see again.
People may forget the extent to which jazz was vital to Rhino when it started. In the early days, before New Wave, the bins were three-quarters jazz bins. The place for a long time had a check from Roland Kirk on the wall, for $6. Rather than cash the check, they just tacked it to the wall. They also sold old forty-fives in the early days.
Some may not remember Rhino moving for a couple years in the early eighties to Santa Monica Boulevard, next to the McDonald's west of the Mormon Temple. McDonald's didn't like the Rhinoplasts parking in the McDonald's lot. So Rhino painted a mural advising as much. The mural that told Rhino customers not to park there was of a Rhino dressed as Ronald McDonald, which was labelled "Rhino McDino."
There were also song and movie titles on the mural, subsituting Rhino for other key words. Memorable were "A Hard Rhino's A-Gonna Fall" and "A Rhino Under the Influence."
Glad you asked?
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Whew! At first I thought you were talking about this.
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I remember the crazy discount offers they had. I LOVED those. Wear an elvis wig and get 10% off oldies records... or wear something green and get a discount on Green day albums. Great times... I work down the street from Rhino and I spent MANY a lunch break there. Im really sad to see it go.
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