Rhi-No More

So, as you've probably already seen elsewhere, the rumors turned out to be true: The indie Rhino Westwood record shop is closing down.

The legendary Rhino parking lot sales already weren't what they once were -- back in the late 1990s, I used to spend hours on a Saturday or Sunday morning at the sales, picking up as many as 40 CDs at 99 cents a pop (not to mention a really nasty sunburn). But the sales became less frequent; the prices were raised; and the store was never really the same when it moved up the street.

But I'll still miss the store -- and it's sad to see so many indie record stores downsize and/or disappear altogether these days. As we head into 2006, shops like Penny Lane and Rockaway are shells of their former selves, while Aron's and Rhino won't last the year.

From the Rhino store website:

The past few years have been trying times for independent record retailers nationwide. Unfortunately, our beloved Rhino Record Store is no exception. Over the course of past 35 years Rhino has prided itself on serving the Los Angeles west side community with the best selection of music worldwide. We’ve always considered our patrons not as mere customers but friends and members of our family. Thus it is with utmost pain and sadness that we announce the closure of our location on Westwood Boulevard.

Rhino will hold one last parking lot sale on Jan. 21 and 22. A Rhino Records store in Claremont remains, but is not related (the shop was sold off in 1981).

The L.A. Times recounted the life of Rhino in Friday's paper:

In 1973, Foos launched the Rhino brand-name after finding success reselling the rare LPs he had cherry-picked at weekend swap meets. The first Rhino shop brought in a clientele that included Harold Bronson. The two self-avowed music geeks hit it off and Bronson became an employee and strong hand in shaping the oddball charm and pop-culture safari spirit of Rhino. In the back of the shop in 1978 they launched their record label, also called Rhino, which has become a potent force in audio and video reissues, novelty projects and the musically esoteric. In 1998, Foos and Bronson sold Rhino to the giant Warner Music Group in a multimillion-dollar deal that financially rewarded their longtime fandom handsomely.

While the label grew, its retail namesake contracted. Its retail space gave way to comic books and pop-culture trinkets and then later to a row of video games. Its music inventory in recent months was far less than its imposing collection in years past. That's a metaphor for music retail as a whole, which as seen its floor-space given over to video games and DVDs as the prerecorded music CD has lost favor with consumers.

Some "fun facts" from the store's website: Wildman Fischer recorded the First Rhino Record Label release, a 7" 45, called "Go To Rhino Records(on Westwood Boulevard)" in the backroom of the old store. And Sonic Youth etched "No Sleep till Rhino" in the run-off groove of its "Daydream Nation" LP.