Rockaway Records is a US independent music and memorabilia store located in the

Silver Lake Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The store's specialties are rare vinyl records, autographs, posters, memorabilia, and other music collectibles. It was founded in 1979 in Los Angeles by brothers Gary and Wayne Johnson.

History

In 1979, after attending a record swap meet in the

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

parking lot in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

, avid music lovers Gary and Wayne Johnson began buying and reselling vinyl albums. The pair started frequenting yard sales and swap meets looking for old records. Within a couple months of discovering the Capitol swap meet, they started selling there as well as buying more rarities. What started as a hobby soon became an international mail order business run out of the basement of the house they shared in

Brea, California Brea (; Spanish for "tar") is a city in northern Orange County, California. The population as of the 2010 census was 39,282. It is southeast of Los Angeles. Brea is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The city began as a center of cru ...

. The choice of business name was an homage to the

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

song "Rockaway Beach". Within a couple of years, the brothers quit their jobs to focus on Rockaway's full-time mail order business. In 1982 the Johnsons purchased Rainbow Records, a small record store on Glendale Boulevard in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. The brick-and-mortar Rockaway Records moved twice along the same street before moving into its current location in 1992. Upon purchasing the 9,000 square-foot property (previously home to a nightclub called Caché), Rockaway became the largest record store in Los Angeles. After several years working alongside his brothers, Alan Johnson opened a second Rockaway Records location in

Mesa, Arizona Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the most populous city in the East Valley (Phoenix metropolitan area), East Valley section of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is bordered by ...

, which closed in 2007. In 1992, a sister store opened in Brisbane,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Lucinda Williams and Tommy Dunbar are among the former employees of Rockaway.

Auctions and sales

Rockaway has a history of buying and selling large collections, as well as newsworthy and unique items. * In 1991, the store made headlines for selling the first known copy of Prince's never-issued 1987 '' Black Album'' on CD for $13,500. * In 2009, the store acquired the world's largest Led Zeppelin LP collection. * In 2014, the store bought and sold a collection of Beatles memorabilia valued at more than half a million dollars. * In 2015, Rockaway sold an original drawing by John Lennon and Paul McCartney from 1967 (replicated in the

Monterey International Pop Music Festival The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16 to 18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendri ...

program) for $175,000.

In popular culture

* The store was used as a filming location for the TV series '' Arliss''. * The store was used as a filming location for the movie '' Border Radio''.{{Cite web, title=Border Radio: Where Punk Lived, url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/461-border-radio-where-punk-lived, last=Morris, first=Chris, website=The Criterion Collection, language=en, access-date=2020-04-13 * The store was used as a filming location for the reality TV series '' Gene Simmons Family Jewels''. * Erykah Badu's 2008 music video for "Honey" was filmed at Rockaway Records in Los Angeles.

References

External links

Official website

Official website of Rockaway Records Australia
1979 establishments in California Retail companies established in 1979 History of Los Angeles