Model a "Functioning" American Record / Music Store

[Anonymous]

Have you ever gotton one of those deals in the mail where you join some music club and you have to paste those little stamp sized pictures of groups/album covers to the order form then send it back? Well, those little stamp thingys make GREAT posters!!!! Never did join but they keep sending them. And they are pre-pasted!! Can't beat it!! Look inside the envelope next time before tearing it up![;)]

[AntonioFP45]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CPD95

Have you ever gotton one of those deals in the mail where you join some music club and you have to paste those little stamp sized pictures of groups/album covers to the order form then send it back? Well, those little stamp thingys make GREAT posters!!!! Never did join but they keep sending them. And they are pre-pasted!! Can't beat it!! Look inside the envelope next time before tearing it up![;)]

CPD95 you're the man!!

I've thrown so many of those things away! Majority of these come from
"COLUMBIA HOUSE". Often can be found among your "Junk Mail" which we often toss away.

Great idea!

[Jetrock]

Columbia House hasn't sent me anything since I got their free tapes (yes, cassette tapes) back in 1987 and then I didn't buy any records from them. But then, 1987 was a dreadful, dreadful time for popular music.

Not a bad idea about using the little stamps for posters...I suppose for a period layout it wouldn't hurt to hunt around for old magazines appropriate to the era in used bookstores to salvage (they ran ads in popular magazines, I think as early as the late 60's.)

[AntonioFP45]

Re: looking for those little stickers.

Over the years I've discovered that many senior citizens save magazines for years! It's easy to ask some that you may know at Church, work, or relatives. Let them know that the only thing you're interested in are those "pesky" little stickers. Will probably draw some chuckles!

When I visited my uncle a few years back in New York, I was amazed that he had magazines dating back to the 1950s that he had bought new or had subscribed to them.

10-4!

[Anonymous]

I remember Bell records on Grand River in Old Redford (Detroit) small, dark, A big dude behind the counter and 45's for .79 -.99, this is a good idea,

[bsteel4065]

Don't forget listening booths! In the 50's and 60's, if you wanted to listen to a record or an album before you bought it, you would go to the counter and ask. The girl behind the counter would then direct you to a soundproof booth (1-5 or so) to listen to it. When I was Art College in the 60's I remember listening to Sgt Pepper the week it when it came out in the UK. Ah, days of genius and the summer of love!!
Anyway... easy to model. There would also be a big chart of the top 20 singles and top 20 albums.

[bsteel4065]

Oh yeah... in the 40's I think you'll find there would be a pianist who would play the music for you. That was in the days when sheet music was really popular.

[tatans]

Jetrock: Yma Sumac?? with that 5 octave range, I forgot all about her, I remember listening to rock & roll 45's in the late 1950's at the record store where they actually let you take the records into a booth and play them, we were sort of lucky in Canada as we got the original black recording artists instead of white cover singers(how bad were they???) and we find out today these artists were paid as little as $300 on a national hit, after the record made hundreds of thousands of dollars. By the way this music store was the first store in town to get and sell a thing called T.V.

[coalminer3]

Great thread - let's add some more to it.

Record stores I recall were storefront operations; let's see, we stared with 78s, then 45s. then 33s; BVTW I recall two types of 33s - extended play and LP (long play). Stores in my neighborhood also sold - are you re

[coalminer3]

Great thread - let's add some more to it.

Record stores I recall were storefront operations; let's see, we started with 78s, then 45s, then 33s; BTW I recall two sizes of 33s (extended play) and LP (long play). Stores in my neighborhood also sold - are you ready for this - "record players" - (there were no stereos until later - they also sold radios, and later TV's (big cabinets made of real wood, with small screens) The windows as some suggested had posters and stuff, but what I recall were neon signs for different companies such as RCA, Zenith, Philco and such). These stores also repaired radios, record players and such because things were built so they could be repaired, not junked (what a concept!); so a junked up repair area would be a great interor detail.

As some have suggested, they also sold sheet music. One thing I remember well is stacks of printed Top 40 Lists produced by local radio stations - these came out every week. Boston area stations such as WBZ, WMEX, WHDH, and WCOP come to mind here - most of these are gone or their formats have been changed to be unreconizable. So make sure there's lots of stuff all aorund the counter area; also, many places had listening booths where you could go and listen to a recording to decide if yopu wanted to buy it or not; sorta like what Borders and some other places do today with headphones, though it's not the same.

Also make sure you have an irascible owner - that seemed to go with the territory although maybe it's because we invaded his store in the afternoons after school - we never had much money, either, so maybe that's what really motivated him to keep chasing us out!

Also, there are several old-time radio sites out on the web which have all sorts of stuff on them which modelers can use including actual sound clips of music, dj's, commercials, etc. - great stuff for period sounds.

If there are any readers who grew up in the Boston area, do you remember "Adventure Car Hop is the Place to Go" Also, as Arnie used to say (with sound effects on WMEX) "Woo-woo for you you"

work safe

[AntonioFP45]

Cool Post, Coalminer3,

Lot of good info for detailing store interiors. I remember that from time to time, record stores would also have a radio station playing through the stores speakers as well.

I really do hope someone does put a functional record store on their layout before I do. I still haven't built my layout yet as I've been so busy (wish I were a teen again!). I'd rather someone beat me to the punch and do this, especially since it can be done with a mini CD player or tape recorder with a speaker hidden inside the store.

10-4!

[Anonymous]

Around here, the record stores were little hole in the wall places.

For pinpointing time periods with a few details -- in the late 60's you could have the jocks from the football team beating up the long haired hippies, with a smug coach looking on. And don't forget a "Keep America Clean -- Get A Haircut" billboard. By the early 70's the jocks had become the long-haired dope smokers. You could have a team practicing with some long hair poking out from under their helmets. I think it was c.1970 that Chelsea High used to have an ambulance parked outside all day just waiting to take the O.D. cases away.

Cheers,
Mo

[Anonymous]

Some other "store front"/music playing ideas, a Pet Store "How Much is That Doggie in The Window" playing occasionaly. The church with the choir master playing the organ. There should be an unlimited number of theme's out there.
Will

[Anonymous]

In early sixties the music was Elvis, Bobby Darin,Shirelles,by '63 the english invaded.the Beatles,Stones,Dusty Springfield,'67, you had Hendrix,the Doors,Cream,Aretha,Lovin Spooful,woodstock hadDylan,Crosby,Stills and Nash...Each year had it's styleMost music stores back then were in lower rent buildings, but in a decent part of town, I remember posters in windows,most clientel were younger crowds.a few old hippies. Alot of stores in 60's-70's sold water pipes,zigzag and incense...

[bcawthon]

I think if I was going to do a 50s-era record shop, I would put it next to a corner drugstore or burger joint so you could have the soda fountain crowd mixing in with the youngsters picking up the latest 45s.

I began listening to the radio in the late 1950s and would love to hear some of the music I liked back then: Preston Epps, Duane Eddy, early Ventures, etc., etc.

[AntonioFP45]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bcawthon

I think if I was going to do a 50s-era record shop, I would put it next to a corner drugstore or burger joint so you could have the soda fountain crowd mixing in with the youngsters picking up the latest 45s.

I began listening to the radio in the late 1950s and would love to hear some of the music I liked back then: Preston Epps, Duane Eddy, early Ventures, etc., etc.

..............and Fats Domino, and Buddy Holley, and Dean Martin. Good times!

Don'f forget to have a GMC "old look" bus at a nearby bus stop unloading several record shop passengers!

[TrainFreak409]

Gotta love records. I am listening to mine right now. That's kind of ironic, knowing I am only 16... Elvis, Sugar Hill, Billy Joel, and the rest, I love my records.

[AntonioFP45]

Hello Maureen,

Interesting idea!

I certainly do remember the long hair. I remember that at times from a distance it was hard to tell girls and boys apart as long hair (or big afros) were the common styles.

Although with Preiser figures, it's easy to model a scene of people being "beaten up", or even "Vietnam War Protest" mobs violent scenes just "aint my bag!" (as we used to say back then!)

I would prefer to go with groups of teens just "hanging out" in front of the record store listening to the Doobie Brothers and Isaac Hayes.

High Greens!

[SPFan]

Record stores in the '50s had listening booths where you could pick out a 45 and take it into the booth. Most stores had 1/2 dozen or more booths. I think by the '60s most the booths were phased out but you could request the clerk play a record for you. A CD player would work as would an MP3 player. If you had an old computer laying around you could put it under the layout and have play songs randomly.

Pete

[edo1039]

In the early fifties we had a record shop that blared out the tunes of the day,like the MOONGLOWS,DUPREES,the FLAMINGOS, PLATTERS,and one song that still lives on to today,"IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT" those were great times.

[DALCruiser]

Antonio

Great idea! I had thought about something like this myself, but I'm glade you have had such a good response to the post. It has given me even more ideas than my original plan.

I also thought about using the small speaker and CD to add music to a drive-in burger shop like Mel's or A&W drive-in.

Dave

[AntonioFP45]

Cool Dave!

I'm hoping that someone here actually tries this on their layout. I'm just now getting ready to start building one.

[chutton01]

Well, this topic gets a bump...

Because, there it is, on Page 88 of the Feb 2006 Model Railroader:
"More than bells and whistles: Add to the Ambience of your layout with period music in the background"
[:(]

Couple this with the RMC article about clipping...er, articles a few months back, and perhaps we can agree 2005 wasn't a highpoint of the model railroading press...
[:(!]

[AntonioFP45]

Chutton,

Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to check that out!

10-4.

[loathar]

Remember in the 70's and 80's the Peaches record chain had those cement slabs out front with the artists hand and foot prints in them.You'll have to model that detail too.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TA462

Anybody that lives in the Toronto area must remember "Sam the Record Man" on Younge Street. The place had a huge record out front and at night it would light up and look like it was spinning. I haven't been down there in 15 years, I wonder if its still there.

I was in TO for a La Femme Nikita convention in Oct 2001, and it was still going strong then![:)]

[Anonymous]

Wow! Having spent 10 years in the radio business, and having co-owned a used record/CD store for a short time, this is an awesome thread! Pop music is such a cool way to establish a time period! Thought I was the only freak that would have a record store or a radio station on my layout...that is, when I get far enough along to work on the structures. Actually I plan on having more than one radio station. I model in HO, but for the Lionel folks, I have one of their radio station towers that actually has a radio in it so you can listen to your favorite local station.

And I offer this from the complete and total geek world where I reside...I also plan on having a rock concert on my layout. Have not seen this done before, perhaps it has been done. I want to have KISS onstage, surely a huge lighted KISS sign can be made out of Miniatronics items. And of course smoke generators could be placed on the side of the stage. Then I would hide Walkman-type speakers, one on each side of the stage hidden inside huge model speakers with a CD of KISS Alive I, II or III...IV if you wanted to model a symphony.... I would have a tour bus in back, limos, groupies, etc...and the trick here, so you don't have to buy thousands of 1/87th scale fans, is to place the stage facing the edge of the layout so you only have to model the first few rows...now where to find HO scale Bic lighters....hmmmm.

[Ibflattop]

Hey I just picked up a Preiser hippie figure off of the e*** a couple of weeks back. I have a VW Microbus and now I just need the right DPM building and I got the Scene for my town.    Kevin

PS I probable need some flowers and peace signs on the bus..........

[modelmaker51]

OK, for the Hippies, here's hundreds of psychedelic posters:

http://www.pooterland.com/index2/art/art.html (scroll down)

(Great for doing a Headshop or Poster Store as well)

For DayGlow posters:

http://www.black-light-posters-pictures-bulbs.com/black-light-posters.html

Just "Save Picture As" and resize the image to suit.

For album covers, instead of scanning, just go to Walmart.com or Amazon and download their album images and again resize to suit.

[edo1039]

Ironic you mentioned this topic,I am presently doing one for the DOO WOP era!!