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July 22, 2008
LA Mag Votes Amoeba Best Thing About LA
Photo by Thomas Hawk via Flickr
The weather? The Getty? The beach? Spaceland? The hills? The light? Hollywood Bowl? The studios? Pink's? All losers, according to the readers of Los Angeles Magazine, who narrowed down a field of 64 to declare Amoeba Music the Greatest Thing About L.A. Not bad, for a music store that isn't even native to L.A. -- this music lover's wet dream opened first in Berkeley, then San Francisco, then only made it down south about six years ago.
Located at a prime intersection in Hollywood (right across the street from another landmark, the ArcLight), Amoeba has quickly become a major attraction for locals and visitors alike. Yes, the record selection is great, infinite even, and yes the free shows are also a welcome part of the city's music scene. But is Amoeba really the Greatest Thing About L.A.? Really? Better than the beach? Better than tacos? Better than the weather?
Furthermore, who knew that LA Mag's target demographic is actually the hipster music snob? You can't walk down a single aisle in that place without running into an ironic mustache; are these the readers to whom LA Mag advertises boutique jewels and resort vacations?
I say all of this with tongue firmly in cheek of course -- Amoeba is a pretty magical place that is keeping the esoteric art of record collecting alive (as opposed to music downloading). But better than the beach? Better than the weather? Somebody stop this crazy Berkeley hippie train, cause I want to get off!
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the beach and tacos and ever-sunny weather are available in countless socal locations. the hollywood amoeba is truly one of a kind. i'm with LA Mag on this one.
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Amoeba music is great. The weather, the beach, and the Lakers are better. Oh, and Undie Run, too.
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but it's not one of a kind! it's one of three!! bah!
besides, they included Disneyland in the bracket, so I imagine their definition of LA is wide to begin with.
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A music store?!? I don't get out much, but don't they have those in other cities too?
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the hollywood amoeba really is one of a kind, even compared to the other two amoebas. it's the world's largest independent music store with the most amazing collection / staff / performances to hear of. how many beaches and taco stands and disney locations do you think there are...
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AMOEBA SUX!!!!!!!!!!!!
LA Mag is bought by DOUCHEBAGS not hipsters. FUCK Ameoba. They KILLED EVERY INDEPENDANT MUSIC STORE IN L.A. Why do they sell 'used' cd's for more money than any other used record store I have EVER been inside of? Its a tourist trap that sucked REAL indie music culture right out of L.A. and they've even pulled the wool over LAist's eyes apparently.
Shame.
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I don't think Amoeba is the best thing about LA. Did you not get that, Caliking01? AM I TOO SUBTLE FOR YOU????
Also I am not "LAist", I am me.
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I think you're writing is abstract and often condescending, Miss Meathrell. Effing great, you subtle tiny dancer.
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Now I'm waiting for the grammatical error comment.
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Wow, I think someone needs to switch to decaf.
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Oh, and everyone that worked at Aron's were insufferable snobs, they dug their own grave.
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Yeah, but at least Aarons wasnt charging $12 used cd's. and I dont think Ive EVER had anyone look me in the eye whilst being checked out at Amoeba.
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maybe it's because their counters are really high? I always have to stand on my tippy toes to sign the receipt.
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I'm sorry, but beaches with water too polluted to safely swim in and never-ending heat with smog-choked, washed-out, cloudless skies do not top Amoeba.
The voters got it right. And I hate the ironic mustache as much as the next guy.
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yur a bunch of squares. "ironic mustache"
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Clearly you're not going to the right beaches or hanging out in the right neighborhoods, damian_z.
I got an idea for you: move to San Francisco!
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"are these the readers to whom LA Mag advertises boutique jewels and resort vacations?" - I get it now.
Carrie, im with you.
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the funny thing is, *I* am actually the best thing about LA, but LA Mag totally rejected my write-in vote campaign.
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I think underwear pot smoking at the beach at sundown while listening to Pink Floyd's Meddle purchased from Amoeba, drinking Starbucks from one that didn't close down is the best thing about LA. Oh, and then biking to a Metro station. That'll do it.
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my vote for the best thing about los angeles is the amazing amount of excellent concerts we get. =]
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I would have to say the hands down the best thing about LA is the taco trucks and carts.
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cody you left out voting for hillary/obama while typing up your screenplay on your ibook while checking your e-mail on your blackberry at the same time. b/c apparently the computer doesn't have that function.
from my experience just about everyone that leaves LA for a period of time and comes back always remarks about the weather. i guess the ones that vote don't get out too much to notice....
and amoeba workers know nothing it seems about jazz or classical music. and a lot of them like hearing themselves talk, and feel like they have to talk down to you as if you know nothing about music.
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this has got to be a trick question
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talk down to you as if you know nothing about music.
so they're like the employees of almost every music store i've ever been in?
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How come the Valley didn't win this whole contest?
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because you're from Chicago, Zach. ;)
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Thanks, Carrie, but I love LA. I just think the beach and weather are overrated and not the greatest things about this crazy town of ours. Does that really mean I have to leave?
Honestly, I think the best thing about LA is that we're usually all too self-absorbed to agree on any kind of poll like this.
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that's absolutely ridiculous. i mean, i love amoeba and all, but the BEST thing about LA? seriously? a CD store....when nobody even buys CDs anymore? not a chance. plus their live gigs are free, but awful and crammed in. not the best thing about LA...no way.
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First of all, LA Magazine isn't targeted at hipsters. It's toilet reading for people on standby at LAX. Most of the things in the poll reflected the magazine's near complete ignorance about what actually makes L.A. great and isntead focused on intangibles and places you might see celebrities *yawn*
Yes, CD sales are dropping... to a measly $19.4 billion. It should be quite obvious that Amoeba's not doing badly if you ever battled the diverse (not just hipster) crowds there which come from around the city and around the world. The CD selection is pretty amazing. There's lots of stuff you just can't find on iTunes, Amazon, or file-sharing sites unless your idea of good music is limited to the top 10 ringtones of the moment. And some of us like conferring with strangers. Yesterday I got into a discussion with two non-mustachioed, non-hipster, music fans about an Argentinean Dandy Rock band (who, they informed me, I just missed playing at El Rey. Damn it!)
There's a lot more to Amoeba than just music too. Perhaps the greatest thing about Amoeba is the DVD section which, though it financially carries the store, rarely gets mentioned. It has the largest, most diverse selection of DVDs in the world and has tons of titles you'll never find under any one roof elsewhere (or on Amazon or Netflix).
There's also the blog (shameless self-promotion), books, video games (for cheap) and live shows. And you're an idiot if you think Amoeba isn't busily preparing for the death of CDs. They haven't done so well for so long by ignoring changing trends.
As for all the mom and pop stores it "killed." I'm sorry, they died because they all sucked. When I first visited L.A. my friend took me to Aaron's and had to laugh. The employees were (across the board) useless, uninformed, self-obsessed douchebags and I've seen better selections of tunes at North Dakota Wal-marts. I went to many of the other ones. Sadly, the Ritmo Latino chain was the only one even worth mentioning.
P.S. I work at Amoeba. But I didn't vote for it because a)who cares what LA Magazine thinks, b)I would never vote for my place of work (out of principal) and c)although Amoeba is cool, it has its negatives. It smells like a litter box sitting in the noonday sun, it has the climate of a tropical rain forest, and they play way too much Thin Lizzy.
But the main reason I wouldn't vote for Amoeba is because I can think of 50 things about L.A. (as broadly defined by LA Magazine) without having to resort to crap like the Hollywood sign or the Walk of Fame or even Amoeba, cool as it is. For starters: Rosemead's banh mi district, the numerous Film Festivals (like the Pan-African) Thai Town, Little Ethiopia, the AM radio, Elysian Park, the community gardens, the revival theaters, the pupusas &c.