Founded by former employees of nearby Rasputin Records, Amoeba opened on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley in 1990. Cofounders include but are not limited to Marc Weinstein, Dave Prinz, Yvonne Prinz, and Kent Randolph. The San Francisco store opened on November 15, 1997 in the Haight-Ashbury district, near Golden Gate Park. It was located in the former Park Bowl bowling alley. It regularly stocks upwards of 100,000 CDs, vinyl records, and audio cassettes, both new and used. The Southern California location was added on November 17, 2001 when the store opened a new branch on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. At the time of its opening, the store planned to stock as many as 250,000 titles, which would have placed it among the largest independent music stores in the world. According to Los Angeles Times writer Michael Hiltzik, the location "instantly became a Hollywood landmark." Documents published by the Los Angeles Department of Planning in August 2017 indicate that the site will be demolished and replaced by a 28-story contemporary glass-and-steel tower with 232 residential units and of ground-level commercial space. Should the City approve the project, it was expected that construction would begin in mid-2019, and be completed in 2021. On April 27, 2020, Amoeba announced that due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, the Hollywood location on Sunset Boulevard would not be reopening as hoped, but Amoeba would be relocating to their new Hollywood Boulevard location once they are permitted to reopen. Amoeba's world music department was headed by Robert Leaver, co-founder of the Round World Musicrecord shop and label in San Francisco. He also worked as a buyer of international records for Amoeba's Berkeley location. The stores also trade in movies, though secondarily to their music business. Each location has a smaller collection of movies on DVD, VHS, Laserdisc and Blu-ray Disc. In addition, each store maintains a selection of music-related posters and artwork for purchase, as well as Amoeba-branded merchandise. The Hollywood location has the entire 2nd floor dedicated to DVD and Blu-ray Disc. In addition, Amoeba Music frequently holds free shows during store hours with locally and nationally known artists from a wide variety of genres. Primarily operating on re-selling used goods, Amoeba has survived the decline of CD sales since the early 2000s with its trade-in program and the advent of the vinyl revival. Along with the statewide stay-at-home order issued by California governor Gavin Newsom in the COVID-19 pandemic, many non-essential stores were told to close to prevent spread of COVID-19. Amoeba subsequently started a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe to pay the bills as most of their income is derived from in-store purchases.
YouTube channel
Amoeba’s YouTube channel was created on January 27, 2006 and is home to interviews, recordings of live performances at Amoeba locations, and the Webby Award-winning series “What’s In My Bag?” with various “featuring artists and tastemakers sharing what they found shopping at Amoeba.”
Popular culture
The Hollywood store was included as a playable venue in the 2008 music gameGuitar HeroWorld Tour. Paul McCartney recorded his EP Amoeba's Secret at an unannounced live performance at the Hollywood location on 27 June 2007.
