Poo-Bah Record Shop

Poo-Bah’s is one of the best record shops in the county. Great selection of Jazz and Rock LPs, and you can find used records here for a fraction of the prices of most other record shops. The staff is helpful and nice, and the shop regularly holds events that showcase local musicians. I have been coming here for years, and it is one of my favorite shops because of the deals you can find and the availabilty of rare and obscure records. Therefore, I highly recommend Poo-Bah’s

I’ve been meaning to write a review of this shop located on East Colorado Blvd. I like coming here because there is a Guitar Center next door, and my favorite Persian Kabob place. Although small, that is the charm. In the past I have found a few goodies, or nothing. My collection is so big it has to be special or an upgrade for me to open the wallet.
Since Record Store Day had passed, I’ve noticed many shops are cleaned out in certain genres. That’s my recent experience here. However, they have some desirable collectibles!
Blue Note records is a famous jazz label that beautifully recorded the best musicians. The records were noted for their heavier weight (approximately 200-​grams), and deep impression in the label that lent a knick name: «deep groove.» On display were several by famous artists (see pics), while expensive, you’d spend more competing on eBay.
I recommend checking them out. Their areas of expertise include electronic music and local artists. Eclectic, it’s a nice touch to have a listening station to preview the vinyl before buying.

Poo-​Bah is one of the great record stores in Los Angeles. They have a great selection, especially of soundtracks and unique records. Plus, the staff actually wants you to be there!
Strongly recommend making a trip to Pasadena to check them out. After a day of searching Silver Lake/​Los Feliz and coming up empty handed, Poo-​Bah left us with a great supply at very good prices.

Went in today and was excited as it was my first time. I thought this would be a place I would start visiting regularly till I asked the guy working there if my lady could use the restroom. In a short crappy way he say «no, denny’s is the closest bathroom.» It normally wouldn’t have bothered me but he was so unfriendly and just gross so we just left. I was planning on buying a couple of records but will never go again. Even if I wasn’t annoyed by this employee, the store is a C anyway.

This place is truly good for my soul. It has helped me in good times and bad. Just flipping through the albums brings peace to my mind. I love going through the extensive used LP collection. My mind often wanders as to who these records belonged to, what stories they could tell as to where they were played. Was it at a fancy mansion in the hills or in some herb smoked basement. You can go here with ten bucks and come out with two or three gems. They also have a very nice collection of newly released records, and there’s always something eclectic playing in the store. The staff is knowledgeable and helpful. They also seem to know whether you just want to be alone in your space or need some help. A true Pasadena gem. Thank you Poo-​Bah for the gift of all the music you have given me. Viva La Vinyl!
Oh, and another perk is that you can go to The Colorado next door and have a beer to celebrate your fine purchases.

Buy, sell, trade is the name of the game here. Fair prices and even trades if one haggles right. Jazz vinyl is king here, represses and new issues are always at your fingertips. They carry cassettes Vhs, Beta and even picture discs. Whats even better they are right around the from Guitar Center, when one gets an itch to play around with musical instruments. Wide variety of Vinyl like R&B, Hip Hop and Rock. In closing, this is a great little shop in Pasadena, my home away from home.

Stopped by this local shop to check out used CDs with my son. While the CD selection isn’t huge, it was nicely sorted and there were some cool and unusual things in there. The guy in the shop was friendly and chill. Nice place to have nearby, and extra cool having it so close to guitar center!

A dream of a record store: great, diverse music, well-​organized and awesomely priced. Vinyl, CDs, cassettes, VCRs, and a top-​notch collection of amazingly cheap DVDs. Found a used «Wish You Were Here» Floyd album for a mere 2 dollars! Poo-​Bah always has some intriguing and thrilling music playing too, to add to its unique ambience. It’s also pleasing to the eye as well as the ear, with stickers and posters EVERYWHERE. It’s a timeless place. It’s a cure for nostalgia, preserving past treasures and bringing awesome new music to the scene.

This is the best record store I’ve found in LA! I love small mom and pop stores, and this was a lovely small record store with a diverse selection and reasonable priced! I definitely recommend checking out if you want to find record gems in great condition! The owner is also very helpful and attentive!

Poor Staff, Its Like They Hate Their Jobs. They Always Look Mad and when you ask them a question they don’t even want to answer you. They need to fix that and get more records

Went in to look for Broadway but the guy said they really didn’t have any. However I stumbled on a CD of an old vinyl album I had and loved for $ 1.99. Had to get it. Now I’m listening to it in my car. You have to search through everything and you will be surprised what you can find. The staff was helpful with my questions and I had no problems.

The title of this review is ‘The Death of Cool’.
I like the idea of this place more than the place itself. That doesn’t mean I don’t like Poo-​Bah. But obviously you can see I’m struggling to frame my sentiments.
I’ve been a fan of experiemental and beat music for a long time. After a few trips to Poo-​Bah to scoop up some sampling fare for my own tracks, I came to discover that they were actually a local bastion of homegrown dub, LA underground, post-​IDM or what have you. I was introduced to a lot of new music through Poo-​Bah and for that I thank them. Poo-​Bah even has its own label (albeit seemingly scarce in terms of actual releases) which features some great music by local beat makers.
I’ve had limited success in building rapport with the staff. I’ve bought a lot of records here and often support their in-​store events. Nonetheless, I feel like a stranger at Poo-​Bah. Looking at the other reviews, I’m sad to see that many leave feeling put down or judged by an atmosphere of smug indifference. In a perfect world, Poo-​Bah has an engaging and congenial staff which tries to expand the influence of the music they represent. In reality, I think there is a vested interest in keeping the sound very in-​crowd and obscure.
To be fair, I don’t smoke weed and I keep my hair trimmed. I workout too, so I’m a little bit more jacked than the average guy behind the MPC or laptop/​monome setup. OK, suddenly this has become a review of me and not the store. That’s OK though. I wear Levi’s. I still think you can rock a conventional look, be friends with strangers and still be a badass artist on the fringe. Fuck it. Face it: cool is dead.
Do you guys know Jon Rizk? Later.

Just wasted an hour flipping through the used rock LPs and the closest actual rock album was Aerosmith… Everything else was freakin Hall & Oats crap. So disappointing.

Poor selection, overpriced items, condescending and unhelpful staff. This place gives the local record store a bad rap… sadly, businesses like this deserve to fail.
Save money, find more and support employees and owners that care about you and your interest in supporting independent record stores and go down the street to Canterbury Records!

Remember that phrase «size doesn’t matter»? Well it’s definitely true for Poo-​Bah, I’ve spent hours at this place before, and it’s probably only 200 sq.ft. (ok, I honestly have no idea, I’m a terrible estimator, but it’s pretty darn small) big. There are some great finds if you’re willing to put in a little effort, not saying its disorganized (it’s actually well organized), there are just a bunch of unique rare finds all around the store, if you’re willing to dig. They also have cassettes, which are (god knows how) making a comeback these days (I guess people missed the hiss… I don’t know. but if you’re into it, they’re there). Not many places around like this anymore, I definitely recommend stopping by if you’re in the area, great spot and friendly staff.

To all my fellow crate diggers… Pretty dope spot. It’s kinda small so crate diggin’ won’t take too much time. Really cheap vinyls too! I’m sure they have a lot rare gems. I only got to spend about 20 mins before they closed. Would def pay this spot more visits. The staff is chill. They host their podcasts from inside the store too.

Although I somehow managed to walk out of this spot empty-​handed (nothing was jumping out at me), I do have to give them credit for presenting an organized, clean store with defined categories and a great selection of vintage mediums. I don’t think I saw a single CD in the joint, but there were plenty of VHS tapes.
Spent most of my time browsing the soundtrack vinyl. They had a few decent LPs I was contemplating, though ultimately I wound up putting everything back. Not for lack of good pricing, since all of their records were very reasonably priced. I think the big problem is that, with vinyl being so in vogue right now, all of the top shops are being picked over so thoroughly that it becomes even more difficult to locate those gems. Seems like I keep running across the same generic stock over and over again at many top places, and it’s got to be because people are buying so much damn vinyl right now. Not complaining, since I’m one of them, but it does get a bit frustrating.
I’m not a hip hop fan, but they did have quite a large selection of records from that genre. Might be worth it for fans to check out.
Love the VHS selection here. They had some sweet titles from the ‘70s and ‘80s in the horror section that I almost had to purchase. Lots of ‘80s screwball and teen comedies, too.

I remember poo bahs In the old days. Still good stuff. One of the few places in the area where you can still find vinyl. Friendly staff and reasonable prices. Good place to trade in any old albums that might be taking up storage space. Nice to see this place still around.

Such a bummer of epic proportions today of all days. This was my second stop for Record Store Day and wouldn’t you know it they filed all of RSD’s offerings in with their regular stuff. Who thought of that? Most people at RSD don’t know what’s exclusive, so it does us a disservice if everything is everywhere. I left empty and heated. I don’t know when I’ll be back if ever. That second star is just for it being a vinyl shop. #istilllovevinyl

Support your local record shops!!!
I love this place to buy concert tickets, used vinyls, etc. But they are limited in their current selection and have limited records. But I guess that’s also the beauty of this place, you never know what you will find. People sell/​trade-​in their old vinyls/​cds/​dvds all the time so every time I go, it’s like a treasure hunt.
The staff is nice, they try to give you your space so you can take your time and look through all the records.
I tried to buy a few Radiohead vinyls here this week but they were out. They only had a couple Van Halen vinyls as well. I found their selection getting smaller and that’s a shame. I believe they’ll get better if there’s more customers so… everybody, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD SHOPS before they disappear and killed off by the internet and iTunes :(