What Amoeba Music is known for

Amoeba Music began on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley in 1990. A San Francisco store followed in 1997 in a former bowling alley on Haight Street, and Hollywood opened in 2001. The Hollywood store moved to 6200 Hollywood Boulevard and reopened on 1 April 2021 after a year closed by the pandemic. All three stores sell new and used vinyl as well as CDs and film, buy collections daily and host free in-store performances.

Amoeba Music was born in 1990 on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, where the original store still stands at 2455 Telegraph Ave. In 1997 the company crossed the Bay to open in San Francisco at 1855 Haight Street. That store occupies a converted bowling alley at the eastern edge of Golden Gate Park. The Hollywood store opened in November 2001, occupying a full city block on Sunset Boulevard. In February 2020 Amoeba announced a move to 6200 Hollywood Boulevard, at the corner of Argyle Avenue. The pandemic then closed the old store a month later. The new Hollywood location opened on 1 April 2021 after a year-long closure, with a line around the block on opening day. Across all three stores Amoeba stocks hundreds of thousands of new and used titles, from vinyl LPs and CDs to DVDs and Blu-rays. Posters and tees sit alongside, and the trade counters buy collections daily. The stores double as venues. San Francisco has hosted free in-store shows by Sonic Youth, Sharon Jones and Elliott Smith. Hollywood has staged performances and signings by Stevie Nicks, Ozzy Osbourne, Elvis Costello and Lana Del Rey. The long-running video series What's In My Bag? now has an audio-only podcast version. Amoeba describes itself as independent, like the single-celled organism it is named after, absorbing influences as it grows and changes.