During the mid to late 1970's, I attended college in southern California. As with most male college students, music was an important part of life. It seemed all the cool guys had a receiver, turntable, and a pair of speakers (the bigger the better).
If I remember correctly, I had a Marantz receiver, Technics direct drive turntable with Shure V-15 cartridge, and Altec Lansing speakers.
Back then, although there were several stores where music was sold (including the Licorice Pizza), the place to go to find
that obscure copy of a record that nobody else had was Tower Records. I
especially liked the one on Sunset Boulevard. It was set on a slight
curve of one of the busier streets in Los Angeles but was the place to
go. They even had a pretty good collection of contemporary Hawaiian
music, which I bought on a regular basis to soothe my longing for home.
However, over the years, things changed. The music world especially. Receivers became part of a home entertainment system. Turntables gave way to CDs. Music became digital and down loadable.
But through it all, Tower remained the same. A brick and mortar building where cool music lived.
However, this past weekend, Tower Records began a liquidation sale. The once power house of music will be no more in great part because it did not change with the times. Perhaps its for the best, but I will miss the familiar yellow and red logo. Thanks for all the great memories.
Aloha!
