story and photos by Kayte Deioma

So you’ve already done all the touristy things to do and you find yourself on your own in Hollywood on a dreary winter afternoon, or you want to wait out rush hour traffic before getting on a rainy freeway to head to another part of town. What to do?

You could hang out for a while at the Cyber Java internet cafe on Hollywood and LaBrea. You could take in a movie at one of the grand movie palaces on Hollywood Boulevard or at the Cinerama Dome on Sunset. My favorite way to kill time if I’m alone in Hollywood on a rainy day is to spend a couple hours browsing the old, new and off-beat music selection at Amoeba Music on Sunset and Ivar. It’s a favorite hang-out for local music lovers and a regular stop for many travelers who make frequent trips to L.A.

The Hollywood branch of this Berkeley-based record store opened in 2001. They are known for their collection of rare, hard to find recordings, but also have all the latest CDs from mainstream and independent labels. Amoeba also has something relatively unique in this neighborhood that adds to their attraction on a rainy day – a free underground parking garage that you enter from Cahuenga. The stairway or elevator brings you right up into the store.

The cavernous space is filled with wall to wall bins of music. The Welcome to Amoeba flyer at the front counter has a map of the store layout directing you where to find 78s, Ska, Gothic Industrial, Celtic and Opera, just to name a few. The map may not be 100% accurate as things move around a bit depending on stock. What was marked as Music Videos on the map on my last visit was actually the Black Cinema section.

Clearance Rock CDs greet you by the entrance. New Rock CDs fill up many rows of the next aisle with Rock LPs at the back. Used Rock CDs fill another big chunk of the main floor. 78s and 45s, old and new, are up front behind the information desk next to the collection of vintage reproduction movie and concert posters and music related books. They have a vast collection of used CDs, most adjacent to their relevant music genre. World Music is on the far right. Jazz and Classical have their own room through an archway at the back left corner of the store. In the center of the back wall a small stage is used for in-store concerts.

A mezzanine level runs along the front of the store with new and used DVDs, videos and laser disks. There are also several listening stations upstairs. Many, but not all of the 10,000 albums in the store have been recorded into a database. You can scan the bar code of a CD that you want to hear and if it is in the database it will come up on the screen so you can choose the tracks you want to listen to. You can also choose to browse the data base by artist or song to listen to the music before you go looking for the recording.

/If all the listening stations on the second level are in use, or not in working order, there are several more in the jazz and classical music room. They tend to get much less use.

There is a central information desk in the center of the store. More helpful staff are located at information counters upstairs and in the jazz and classical room. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in the area you expect it to be, don’t give up; one of the staff may be able to track it down for you.

I am not much of a shopper. The exceptions are books and music, which I can browse all day. It’s hard for me to walk out of Amoeba Music with just the one thing I came looking for. What begins as a limited search usually becomes a scavenger hunt as one “find” sparks an idea for some other recording I’d like to own. Is there really another Ottmar Liebert CD that I don’t own? How can I pass up a CD by French rocker Jean Jaque Goldman? I might never find it again without going to France. And of course I have to browse the used CDs to see if something has come in that inspires a spontaneous need…

Amoeba Music is located at 6400 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. They are open from 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays. If the underground parking garage is full, additional parking is available across Ivar in the Arclight Theatreparking structure. You get one hour free with Amoeba validation, but if you’re doing serious shopping and you ask nicely, they may be able to validate you for more than an hour. Most metered street parking in the area has a one hour limit. Check the Amoeba web site atwww.amoebamusic.com for concert schedules and additional information, or call (323) 245-6400.