Author: Eric Jensen, Managing Editor
Don’s Music, wedged between a medical uniform supplier and an old-fashioned hair salon on Eagle Rock Boulevard, is about the size of an inflatable kiddie pool. As soon as you edge your way through the swinging glass door, you’re swallowed up by an avalanche of music paraphernalia. Mountains of records fight for space against walls caked with yet another layer of albums and a table in the middle of the room shudders under the weight of tapes and CDs-leaving a tiny gap between displays for the faces on the record covers to grin at each other. Reclining unceremoniously behind the low counter fashioned from amplifiers and painted tables, nearly camouflaged by the glorious clutter, is the store’s namesake and proprietor, Don.
Don is something of a legend among those who know him for his chilled out nature, infamous parties and DJing skills. His bleach-blonde, middle-aged presence in sleepy little Eagle Rock, which he calls “a nice little country town,” is sort of unexpected. He’s lived his most of his life in Brooklyn, whose buzzing street culture he contrasts despondently to the dead streets of LA.
“I started selling records on the street in New York to make money,” he said. Eventually, he fulfilled his lifelong dream of owning his own record store and opened the original Don’s Music in Brooklyn, which he ran for about 10 years before moving to California.
So how did he end up here? Awash in a sea of DJ equipment, concert flyers and rock ‘n’ roll knickknacks, Don leans forward and grins. “How does anybody end up in LA?” he said. “Women!”
He moved to Los Angeles in 2004 with his wife, who was “freaked out” after 9/11. Though his marriage has since ended, Don continues to run his store.
Don’s is so choked with merchandise that a third of it ends up on the withering front lawn in plastic crates. For the most part, Don peddles rare vinyls, but also boasts a collection of long-lost VHS tapes, band T-shirts, books and electric guitars and basses. Eyeing his sonic Cave of Wonders, he said, “It’s like livin’ the dream.”
Don’s stock ranges from The Elton John Live Collection, with the Euro price tag still stuck to the cover, to an album of belly dancing music. A thorough excavation of the immense collection would take weeks, but it would be well worth it; his shop features unusual specialties like the long row of three dollar record bins, the hefty Stoner Rock section and an enormous wealth of bands you’ve never heard of before.
Fortunately, Don is more than willing to sample any record you consider purchasing on his turntable and, with luck, he’ll even dance for you. Everything he sells is reasonably priced, with records going for about eight dollars on average.
He keeps odd hours-his shop opens around noon every day, and closes after dark around 8 p.m. At any given time, it may not be open at all-he’s been known to take impromptu trips. In October, inspired to “live every moment like it’s your last” after his close friend’s premature death, Don dropped everything to take a two-week trip to Europe. “That’s how I roll,” he said. “I’m an oddity, to be able to do this and survive.”
This summer, he hopes to DJ on the Fuck Yeah Fest tour, spinning what he fondly calls “ass-shakin’ music” and road tripping across the country in his 1989 Cabriolet convertible. “Put some gas in the car, couple records . . . and go,” he said. “I don’t have to be anywhere at any time, it’s just wherever my adventure will take me.”
Head to Don’s, right across the street from Pat and Lorraine’s, and kick it with him for a while. You’re guaranteed to find some incredible music and one of the coolest guys in Eagle Rock.
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