Followers of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, the Beatles, early rock, jazz, gospel and bluegrass can breathe a sigh of aid — a 48-year-old El Cerrito music retailer now expects to have the ability to purchase the constructing the place it’s housed.
Down Dwelling Music shares a constructing with two different nonprofits targeted on American roots music, Les Clean Movies and The Arhoolie Basis. The constructing went up on the market in October and the three nonprofits feared they could lose the area they’ve occupied for therefore lengthy.
Whereas Clean and his fellow nonprofits nonetheless should give you about $2.4 million, in line with Clean, they’re optimistic they are going to be in a position to take action. The property is owned by a belief consisting of Arhoolie Information founder Chris Strachwitz’s heirs, and negotiations have gone effectively, stated John McCord, who co-manages the shop with J.C. Garrett.
The late Strachwitz is a musical determine of native and nationwide significance, in line with the president of the El Cerrito Historic Society.
“From the mid-1970s, Strachwitz ran Arhoolie Records, which he founded in 1960, from this building,” stated David Weinstein, a music lover who additionally helms the historic society.
“Strachwitz rediscovered long-lost, now-classic 78 rpm records, and recorded musicians at locales including St. Mark’s Hall in Richmond,” and elsewhere within the U.S., Weinstein stated.
“He produced a catalog so historically important it is now owned by the Smithsonian Institution and distributed by Smithsonian Folkways,” stated Weinstein.
Down Dwelling capabilities not solely as a document retailer however a group heart of kinds for music aficionados. Over the a long time, artists together with Johnny Otis and Peter Rowan have carried out there.
“We have a stage and have had all kinds of people playing. Taj Mahal dropped by and jammed at one of our parties in July,” stated McCord.
“We have plans for more live events, and Harrod as a filmmaker wants to show more movies,” stated McCord.
The enterprise identifies itself as positioned in El Cerrito, however underneath the vicissitudes of town’s borders, the shop itself is within the metropolis of Richmond; the sidewalk is in El Cerrito.
Whereas the norm as of late is likely to be to stream music from Spotify or Apple, or cruise the Amazon website for data and CDs, El Cerrito resident Tyson Fechter stated he prefers visiting the shop and looking the bins crammed with albums.
Down Dwelling Music co-manager John McCord (left) is photographed together with buyer Tyson Fechter (proper) as Fechter purchases a vinyl album at El Cerrito music retailer Down Dwelling Music Jan. 4, 2025. (Janis Mara/Bay Metropolis Information)
“It’s a way to come across things I wasn’t expecting to find,” stated Fechter as he waited in line to buy “Country Moog,” a basic synth vinyl document album by Gil Trythall, an American digital music pioneer.
“When I’m looking for something, on the way I can discover, not new music, but music that’s new to me,” stated Fechter, who has been purchasing at Down Dwelling for 11 years.
“Looking through bins of records is fun for me,” stated Mike Freeman, one other El Cerrito resident. “Down Home is a more pleasant place to do it than many stores because they don’t get too crowded and the music playing in the store is usually good and not too loud. The workers at the store are nice and helpful.”
Ray Bruman drives in from Berkeley to browse the shop’s wares.
“It’s a treasure,” he stated.
