The House Of Oldies
It’s been reported that vinyl records are making a comeback these days, but threre’s a store in Greenwich Village where it never went away. The House of Oldies had been selling vinyl and only vinyl on Carmine Street just off Bleecker for over 50 years. So today I thought we’d take a trip to this house that vinyl built.
And here we are on Carmine Street at the House Of Oldies. That name could also be used for a cool senior citizens home.
This sign says it all.
I wonder if Diane and Paul Prianti shop here?
Wow, this store is jam-packed with vinyl. No CD's, no records, just vinyl, vinyl and more vinyl.
Here's the owner of House of Oldies, Bob Abramson. The store was originally located around the corner on Bleecker Street when it opened in 1962. Bob took it over in 1968 and in 1980 moved it to this location on Carmine Street. Bob's a really nice guy and told me that with the records stored below the store, The House of Oldies has around 750,000 records in stock. You can shop online and the link is directly below this post.
Check out the wall of 45's! If it's not in stock here, most likely it doesn't exist.
Vinyl albums are packed in bins and there's piles of them below the bins.
And here's more of them packed around the vintage cash register.
There's boxes of three very different genres of music stacked in the front window.
And there's albums lining the corkboard wall. Let's take a look at some of them.
I love this Eldorados' cover. Album cover art is something I could look at forever, it's something you don't get when you download music.
Here's The Teenagers featuring little Frankie Lymon.
Jan and Dean meet Batman. I guess Robin liked the Beach Boys better.
Here's a great Yardbirds album, Over Under Sideways Down. One of these days I have to write about going to Memphis with The Yardbirds drummer, Jim McCarty.
Okay, enough of the wall, let's browse and flip through the bins for a real record store experience.
I think this is the only place where Nancy and Frank are sandwiched between U2 and The Clash. And speaking of Nancy...
I always have to check to see if they've got my favorite Nancy Sinatra album cover. I spent countless hours staring at this as a kid!
Here's a cool and diverse mix of musicians!
Beatle oddities, let's check this out.
George Martin's Off The Beatle Track, I forgot this album even existed!
This album cover is great, it looks like something out of Mad magazine!
The albums aren't cheap in here, most of them range between twenty to forty bucks and there's a good chunk priced higher than that, but they do have several rows of ten buck bargain bin albums.
I love this tune tote bag!
I decided to get this Ronnie Spector 45. Nice legs!
And here she is hanging around in my apartment. From One House of Oldies to another!
Further Reading: Mitch Broder’s Vintage New York, Hudson/Houston and NFT.
45 rpm keep on running to the end,
45 rpm keep on running to the end.
Greenwich Village, Record Stores, The House of Oldies Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2012 at 9:59AM
Reader Comments (25)
That store is essentially a museum !
I don't know much about Nancy Sinatra ... but she was a hottie back in the day ? I know her best from a scene during the last Sopranos season - and that "Boots" song -- and that's it.
Wow! Totally cool place! I'm moving it straight to the top of my list. See you soon, House of Oldies! And hey, speaking of oldies, The Left Banke is playing B.B. King's blues club on 42nd St. this Sunday. Tickets are 25 bucks.
@Gene & Marty; if you want to really get an eyeful of Nancy Sinatra in her prime, see if you can rent Roger Coreman's 'The Wild Angels' starring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra and...(believe it or not) Bruce Dern. Filmed with real Hell's Angels back in 1966. Nancy Sinatra, she did the 'Kitten with a Whip' thing better than Ann Margret!
P.S. - Millions of teenage boys woke up stuck to their bedsheets in the 1960's thanks to Nancy Sinatra...she really was HOT! Still is some think...
@GENE: You're right about the House of Oldies being a museum! And I remember that scene in the Sopranos too, Nancy has aged well!
@Biff: You need to check this place out on your upcoming visit. I don't know how you're going to pack all your stops in! Thanks for the Left Banke tip, but I've got plans and wonder how many originals are Left in the Banke!
@Jaws: I’ve never seen that movie but just found the trailer on YouTube and now I’m going to go look online for a DVD!
HA ha. That's a lot of vinyl. I too have Nancy on the brain. I picked up the Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood album. It's bizarley mesmerizing.
@Marty; Might as well go for broke and look for the Roger Coreman boxed set, it has 'The Wild Angels' along with several other Coreman B classics like 'X-the Man with the X ray eyes' and 'Bloody Mama'.
Cool place.....I have to go there! Speaking of Left Banke.....I think a couple of them are the original guys....I know the singer is still there. The Strawberry Alarm Clock just released their first record in 40 years and i think the Electric Prunes are doing another one as well....Break out the Purple Micro-dot! I've been waiting years for the Jim McCarty story.......Guess i'll wait some more!
What a great way to spend your day browsing through old vinyl.
I am like a moth drawn to a flame with Record Stores. Thank God there are still some around.
Like I always say...
"You can have my vinyl, when you can pry it from my cold, dead fingers."
@csp: I was always a fan of Lee and Nancy too, they made some great tunes together!
@Jaws: I'll start looking for that now! Thanks for the tip!
@Professor Dungpie: Nice to know the Left Banke has a few originals Left! That's crazy about The Strawberry Alarm Clock, they got busted for pot in Peoria in the '60's! I'll start working on that McCarty story soon!
@"Boris:" Nothing better than flipping through albums in a record store to while away the day! Sorry we've been playing phone tag lately, let's yak soon!
Nancy was hot,,,,I also loved that album cover. I miss real record stores and the smell of old records,,,,I love that smell when you walk in. Nancy and Frank hit #1 with "Something Stupid" and I know its corny but I don't care, I liked sugar town also. I will say that the version of "Something Stupid" by Nicole Kidman and Robbie Williams was excellent,,,,check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FayNQo4VZr8
@Al: I always had thing for Nancy too, as did most guys that grew up in the '60's! I thought all her songs were great and I'll check out that link! Thanks for sending it!
You keep going to all these record stores and not telling me. Because of that, my landlord will get his rent this month! Oh man I could SMELL those records!
@al.. I love that cover.. then again i also really love Robbie Williams..
I love the wild angels.. i have it on beta and VHS..
I bought that nancy album the other day album shopping...i might have 3 copies of it now.. but i buy it everytime i see it..
I love that alarm song..
and dont laugh.. that andy gibb record is one of my childhood treasures.. i used to take my record player in the bathroom and play it loud.. really good acoustics in that room.. no i have no idea why i did that.. it was just a good place to have a fort:)
I used to dress up and do nancy lypsyncing for contests back in the eighties.. i had a special green dress i called the boots dress.. and those who used to have my old myspace in their friends will know what the boots dress looks like!
i met her in the late nineties and was floored she was not only my height but fricken awesome..
Records are making a bit of comeback, a great deal of crossover appeal made up of diehard collectors who never embraced CDs, club deejays, and hipsters.
In truth I wonder how a shop like this makes money, there must be a lot more people buying than meets the eye. Find it hard to believe the guy is doing it for it's own sake.
I spent the better part of last Saturday (Record Store Day) browsing through boxes and bins just like that.
I love that Eldorados cover!
Had to smile when I saw the Andy Gibb album. At one point, that record was one of my most prized possessions (I was still very little at the time and hadn't developed good taste yet ... so sue me). It wasn't long until I moved on to Cheap Trick - Live at Budokan ... but it still holds a special place in my heart :)
@Shawn: You definitely need to check this place out and meet Bob, it's a great place and Bob is a great guy!
@Gidget: I'm not laughing at the Andy Gibb love, he was a talented singer and I respect his brothers as well! You need to send me a photo of you in the boots dress!
@DaveW: I think he makes a decent chunk of change online, he must be making money or he wouldn't still be open. Bob is passionate about records and that comes through when you talk to him. A cool guy.
@roadsidewonders: I love that Eldorados cover too. Nothing better than spending the afternoon looking at record covers. And glad to know you're a Cheap Trick fan too! TO CHEAP TRICK!
totally-super-cool!
@Meleah: That it is!
What's with the ladder in the last shot? Someone fixing your shitter? Har har!
@Makeout: Ha ha ha! Not hardly, it's the ladder that goes up to my loft bed. I'm in trouble if that's the shitter!
OMG I used to have a tune tote!!! Thanks Marty for the post, as soon as I saw that picture I immediately remembered playing with it as a kid, and how it felt, and smelled! Would have NEVER thought of that. Good memories : )
@glamma: That is too cool! I love it when things like this happen on the blog. I'm happy it brought you some good memories!
I could spend hours in that store. I wouldn't know where to start...I could browse one wall, duck around to the White horse for 3 beers, come back and browse again...repeat if desired.
@Clacky: That's the way to do it, mate!