Sick City Records tries to ‘keep the music alive’ as potential closure looms

Just a few storefronts away from the now vacant Mash buttonSick City Records is on the verge of the same fate.

For nearly 20 years, the record store offered Echo Park a rocker's mishmash of rare vinyl, vintage band T-shirts and dapper haircuts done in a single barber chair. But as rents continue to rise and fewer people stop by to check out his sound selection or edit, Sick City Records is struggling to keep its doors open.

“We've worked so hard for this. We've been doing this for 20 years. We have to fight to keep this place open – it's what we love to do,” said Jesse Lopez, co-owner of the record store and regular barber.

Lopez and his business partner Brian Flores attribute their financial struggles to an overall difficult year. In January, when the Eaton and Palisades fires broke out, the store sat empty for about a month. Then, just at the start of summer, which is usually a lucrative season for record collecting. tourists came in – ICE raids began throughout the city.

Throughout the summer, the streets were filled with large fleets of cars with loud sirens blaring in an attempt to scare people, Flores said. Latest data from the LA Economic Equity Accelerator and Fellowship and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. show that 43% of Latino business owners in the county reported revenue losses of 50% or greater since June.

“Nobody was walking. It was June. Nobody's walking their dog,” Flores said. “In this whole mall, everyone is an immigrant.”

The record store's finances hit a record low in October. The duo was two months behind on their rent; their supplies have stagnated, and the barber shop's once-regular customers have become rare. The prospect of closing shop and cutting losses is more real than ever.

In a last-ditch effort to save their music hub, Flores and Lopez have since taken over as a vendor at the monthly Rose Bowl flea market, started a series of collaborative fundraisers with local artists and started a GoFundMe account.

Since opening in 2006, Flores and Lopez have always specialized in rock, punk and alternative, performing with bands such as the Velvet Underground, The Smiths, Siouxsie, Banshees and Suede. The interior of their space reflects this: the walls are filled with skulls covered in wheat paste; Rows of Iron Maiden and Suicidal Tendances T-shirts line the perimeter, and their most prized merchandise—like a pressed vinyl of Iggy Pop, a clean cut of Portishead's “Dummy” and a signed Echo & the Bunnymen record—hang high on raised shelves.

“A lot of stuff has been sitting here for a long time,” Flores admitted, looking around at the various half-filled genre boxes.

“We try to do what we can. We make our own buttons. We do our own screen printing. We can't buy high-end vintage stuff. We can't afford that now,” he added. “It's awkward when kids are asking for new rap records and these guys come looking for something special, but we don't have that.”

In recent years, Sick City has also made an effort to expand into other genres and now offers everything from country to jazz to rap. Between albums like Tyler the Creator's “Cherry Bomb” and the Cocteau Twins' “Heaven or Las Vegas,” Flores says they always dedicate a few boxes to local underground bands, featuring everything from their clients' passion projects to bands playing the city bars and house shows.

Their local selection is typically most popular during the summer, when people come to town for events such as the relatively nearby Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

“Truth be told, we haven't had many tourists this year. People tend to look for bands from Los Angeles to bring home to places like Australia and Canada and ask us for recommendations,” Flores said. “But this year, without tourists, it’s still slow.”

Their dedication to the local Los Angeles sound goes back to the roots of their business. In 1999, the duo first sold vintage ribbon T-shirts at the Melrose Trading Post. At that time, the market was mostly old vendors selling new items. Flores and Lopez decided to shake things up a bit by playing Metallica early in the morning and began to attract a younger clientele interested in their vintage clothing. Over time, they learned to screen print and began selling their own designs.

After about five years of selling in the market, they decided to move on to a more permanent music-focused business. In 2006, they opened a space in Silver Lake that served as a barber shop with a couple of record cases. Even though it was the early 2000s, retailers were ahead of vinyl's promising resurgence as millennials began to pay more attention to physical media.

As record collecting grew in popularity and events like Record Store Day became mainstream, sales skyrocketed. In 2008, they expanded a record portion of their business by opening their current office in Echo Park.

Thanks to this success, the record store began to function as a record company as well. In the early 2010s, the duo helped some clients and longtime friends involved in bands produce, distribute and promote their albums. Flores and Lopez helped choose the album cover, the order of the track listing, and helped show off the books.

One of the first bands they worked with was local rock band High Curbs, who were teenagers at the time and were therefore struggling to get into bars where they were booked to perform. With the help of Sick City, they were able to release their 2016 album. The band, which still regularly tours and releases music, returned to the record store earlier this summer for the annual Echo Park Rising music festival.

“They told me, 'We don't do any small shows anymore, but for Echo Park Rising we want to contribute and play for you guys.' We had a full house,” Flores said. “We felt the love in return.”

According to Flores, at the height of the business, when they were financing their label, they were making about $8,000 a month. They now make about $2,000 a month, with clients spending an average of about $10 per visit. On a weekday in November, several customers came into the store to browse their selection of vinyl records, but only one customer made a purchase.

“We want to do more. We want to do more shows and promote more bands. We've done shows at Los Globos, Silverlake Lounge, Redwood. [Bar and Grill]. But all this costs money,” Flores said. “So when we were able to put those records out, it was very expensive at the time, but we were able to do it.”

Flores and Lopez continued to operate both stores until 2020, when they decided to merge both businesses into the one that exists today.

Since the pandemic, Sick City Records' rent has steadily increased. In 2020, the duo paid $1,800 for the space. Today they pay $3,500. Over the past few years, Echo Park has experienced gentrification, causing rents for both residential and commercial properties to rise. Flores says in the nearly 20 years they've lived on Sunset Boulevard, he's seen many small businesses fail because of these problems.

“There are a couple of small coffee shops like Woodcat that are still around. [a clothing shop] left. Cosmic Vinyl is no more,” Flores said. The last location closed in 2018 but reopened earlier this year in a new location in Eagle Rock.

“There's no parking. I don't know why they keep raising the rent. But Echo Park has always been a center where people want to be.”

Sick City Records has several fundraising events and flea markets planned before the end of the year. On Dec. 13, they will host an art show at the store called “Hold On to Your Friends,” featuring DJs, local artists and vendors. All proceeds will go towards keeping Sick City running.

“I hope people don't forget about us. We're just trying to keep the music alive, keep the atmosphere good and continue to promote the music community,” Flores said. “We just need to get back on our feet. We want to create a product we're proud of.”