Free pop-up vinyl shop helps January fire survivors find their groove

After the January fires, Brian Clasby and his business partner Gavin Gottlich started hearing about people who lost everything — including vinyl collections that took years to build.

That detail screamed out at the two. They run the music consultant firm, Lunch Club Projects, and are well connected in the industry.

 "We felt like we could help by sourcing a lot of extra inventory from different labels and distributing it to people who lost their collections," Clasby said.

Project Re-issue

Those efforts started around the end of January with asks sent to their friends at labels seeking contributions.

To date, "Project Re-issue" has received more than 1,500 vinyl records from some two dozen labels, including majors like Atlantic Records, and UMG to indie outfits like Brooklyn's Mexican Summer, to alternative powerhouse Beggars Group in L.A.

"It's a pretty eclectic collection," Clasby said about the donations, which include artists ranging from the Stooges to Lizzo. " We partnered directly with [the labels] rather than accepting individual donations, because we wanted stuff that was in good shape and most [were] sealed."

"It was really selfless of them," he added. "They  really came up big."

The pop-ups

The initial plan was to put together vinyl "care packages" that matched to a fire survivor's taste. After receiving an overwhelming response, they decided to hold two pop-ups this weekend " for people to come and just kind of crate dig."

The first event is on Saturday at Clasby's home in the Westside. The second is at Vinyl Ceremony, a vinyl press plant in Pasadena, on Sunday.

Both pop-ups are at capacity.

One person who's planning to attend is Scott Dudelson, who lost more than 8,000 records he collected when his home was destroyed in the Palisades fire.

Losing 8,000 records

Dudelson, whose love for vinyl is familiar to many in the music scene, started collecting when he was in college, after the stiff price of CDs drove him to sweep thrift stores for cheap vinyl.

"I had a pretty insatiable appetite for music," Dudelson said. "So at that time I just bought a record player and I started buying records for a dollar or less than dollar."

The collection grew over the next 25 years. Dudelson was able to save about 450 records that were already in boxes during the Palisades fire.

The day after, he said, "I just opened the box and flipped through [them] and I was, you know, pretty shocked. I lost everything, but I was really, really happy with what I saw that I grabbed."

More than just music

Well-wishers have been sending him records after hearing about his losses. He's bringing some of the doubles for other collectors like him at Saturday's pop-up — as well as grab a few new ones for himself.

Dudelson said the vinyl community in L.A. and beyond have stepped up to provide support, epitomized in actions like Project Re-issue.

" It's absolutely heartbreaking to hear some of these stories, you know, like they received their collection from their parents and then they were going to pass it on to their kids who love music. And that stuff's just gone," Clasby said. "W e just we felt like we were in a position to help and it was easy."