I have a lot of fun writing the Record Store Road Trip record store reviews. But why should I get to have all of the fun? Since today I am on the road to Akron, and this arrived in my email inbox last week, I thought that my good friend Mr. Ware’s report on Rasta Cowboy Records in the Santa Ana area in Southern California would fit the bill as a Rare As Trump Truth® guest posting on PPM! So let’s set the mood here. Mr. Ware was traveling from Florida to Southern California with his wife and [grown] son to visit their daughter, who lives there now.

I’ve seen his son Kellan mature from rug-rat status to a [very familiar] teenage music geek in high school, who liked to shop with the much older record geek pack that surrounded his father on big get-togethers. In fact, he now has his own music blog so he’s definitely one of us! Without further ado, here’s Mr. Ware’s findings.

RASTA COWBOY RECORDS | Tustin, CA – by Mr. Ware

It was our final day with our daughter in California and we were doing more mundane things like a trip to Lowe’s, but then my son Kellan says, “hey there’s a record store 4 miles away with 20 five star Yelp reviews!” So welcome to Rasta Cowboy in Tustin, California.

Tustin is a charming little tourist town with the usual old brick buildings repurposed for retail. Rasta Cowboy is small but meticulously laid out. Not an inch of wasted space. The biggest surprise was upon entering there was a big two sided display rack of 7” singles with a custom double sided metal rack to display the more colorful items just like a record show display. All eras, all genres and all price ranges. The first thing I noticed was an original Beatles U.S. Capital picture sleeve for “Hello Goodbye/I Am The Walrus”. Decent condition at $30. Pretty much what I would have expected any time in the last 40 years. Everything alphabetized but not a lot of individual artists cards because he had so much variety.

Two long aisles for LPs arranged with a top and bottom tier. Again nicely alphabetized and of course here there were plenty of artist dividers. Lots of stuff under $10 and plenty of stuff in the $12 – $15 range. The only stupid expensive stuff was brand new sealed “vinyls” for the youngsters. But a great balance both old and new. The lower tier was pretty easy to manage with even a little stool available for those with chronic stiff joints. Who me? And did I say it was clean? This is a record store that understands how a vacuum and broom works!

One rack with used music DVDs. One rack with music books. One small section with comic books but clean with protective sleeves. One little shelf with 8 tracks! And the under the comic book display were a series of pull out drawers stocked with cassettes! A reasonably sized rack with t-shirts. Again he’s covered all the bases. And really nothing in the store jam backed. Easy to browse everything.
Well one thing was packed tight but why not? A big rock CD presence again alphabetized and everything $5 except box sets or double packs. Smaller sections for soundtracks, hip hop/rap, gospel, etc.

Then a whole wall of little action figures and those little Funko Pop characters. Buttons and band stickers under glass cases. Actually lots of glass cases in the back full of assorted items of interest again from all genres. Felt like how I remember places like Fantasyland in Atlanta. And for those youngsters who are buying vinyls with nothing to play them on, he had some really nice looking all in one turntable, CD, speaker stereo systems in a box. The owner was a friendly gent who clearly loved what he was doing. No Ebay, no mail order sales. [“Sacré Bleu!” – ye olde Monastic ed.] Everything walk in. Truly an old school shop.

Kellan bought a 70s era Elton John LP that he said was cheaper and in better condition than anywhere else he had seen it along with a couple of Elton 7” pic sleeve singles priced right at $5. Then a major pivot and he grabbed A Flock Of Seagulls U.S. 12” for “Telecommunication”. You never know what will tickle his fancy but I suspect it was as much for the funky cover art as it was the music. He loves that debut LP.

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