On a recent Thursday night in Hollywood, I walked into Grandmaster Recorders, a storied former recording studio — where artists like Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan and the Red Hot Chili Peppers once laid down tracks — now transformed into a rooftop bar and restaurant. After grabbing a drink, I found a seat in the dimmed room, which was filled with more than 100 other music aficionados all there to do one thing: Listen to Frank Ocean’s critically acclaimed album, “Channel Orange,” on vinyl.
The hosts played the record over a high fidelity (hi-fi for short) audio system — a term used to describe the high-quality reproduction of sound — that sounded so crisp that it felt like Ocean was singing live in front of us. I’d listened to the album at least 300 times before and have seen Ocean perform live, but I’d never experienced the record in this way before.
“I think listening to [music] on your own is amazing,” says Free Oribhabor, founder of the Record Club, an album listening event that he’s been hosting in Los Angeles for nearly two years. “But there’s just something about doing it in a room with other people that makes it even more special. It just magnifies the experience of listening to music, especially if you just zero in on the music and allow yourself to go where it’s taking you. It’s like a group meditation.”
The Record Club is just one of a handful of experiences or public places in L.A. where audiophiles — folks who are obsessed with high-quality sound and audio gadgets — can gather, relax and vibe out to music with other likeminded people. Unlike regular bars, where people often go to socialize, turn up and dance, listening bars typically have a more laid-back vibe, and the intent is to actively listen to the music. It’s a space where you can be completely present with what you’re hearing.
Many of these spaces are inspired by Japanese listening bars (known as jazz kissaten or jazz kissas), where patrons can listen to vinyl records that are carefully selected by a bartender from the venue’s collection on hi-fi sound equipment, while they enjoy Japanese whiskey, coffee and other beverages. At some jazz kissas, which have been popular in Japan since the 1950s, talking is prohibited at certain times.
In recent years, listening bars have been popping up in New York, Oakland, L.A. and other major U.S. cities. Among the first Japanese-inspired vinyl bars to open in L.A. was In Sheep’s Clothing in 2018, started by a record label and vinyl collective of the same name. It was shuttered during the COVID pandemic, but the team is planning to open a new lounge in the near future.
“It feels like almost an explosion of it happening all over the world,” says Phil Cho of In Sheep’s Clothing, which currently has a pop-up record store at the Row DTLA. Despite In Sheep’s Clothing closing its hi-fi bar during the pandemic, Cho says the shutdown likely played a role in the boom of listening bars across the U.S. “I think when the world started opening back up again, these spaces became a good in-between point for people to socialize and listen to music.”
The magic of listening to music at a vinyl bar or a similar space is the sound quality. Not only do you have to build a record collection (the rise of listening bars may be in part due to the resurgence of vinyl records), but a hi-fi system at home can cost a pretty penny. If you want to buy your own setup, it can cost upward of $1,500 for speakers, an amplifier, turntables and the cables needed to connect it all, depending on the brand, according to Wesley Katzir, owner of Common Wave Hi-Fi.
“I always thought that hi-fi speakers were kind of an exclusive thing to have — like you could only go to bougie spots to listen to music on there,” says Elwood Espiritu, who hosts an album listening party called Slow Jamz in the Arts District. “And they’re just playing jazz, but no one’s playing Ginuwine or Jon B., so I was like, ‘Dang, I want to make a change for that and give people access to listen to music in that way.’”
While New York is home to several hi-fi bars, there are surprisingly only a few in L.A. For this reason, this list highlights vinyl lounges and ongoing events like the Record Club that play vinyl records over hi-fi sound systems and create an environment where people can engage with the music in a more meaningful and deeper way.