Blue Arrow Records and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Since 1995, when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opened, the number of visitors to Cleveland has more than doubled, from about 4.4 million people to more than 9 million people annually. Like these millions of people, we also visited the Hall on a recent trip to Cleveland. And like most people, we had a good time there.
You know, for me, a passionate music person, the Hall of Fame is fine. The short films and documentaries were actually the best part of the experience because you see and hear the artists - at least a little. And I can get lost in the minutae, the broadsides and posters and records and letters and guitars. The clothing is alright, too - I liked seeing John Lennon's leather jacket. But, honestly, the duds don't do it for me. No, for me its about the music, and there just isn't enough there, nor are there nice places where you can sit and hang and just look and listen to the music, entire songs, not cut and sliced and mixed and dissolved and jumpcut...it was little exhausting.
I have a friend who calls it the "Guitar and Mannequin Hall of Fame." That's a little unfair, but not entirely inaccurate.
We really enjoyed our visit to Cleveland. If you find some real neighborhoods - like Coventry, for instance - you can find some funky restaurants and shops and you can have a good time. You need to do some planning to succeed in doing this, because the folks in the hotel don't have clue where to send you, but with a little googling, you'll find what you're looking for.
At least we did. We had a couple of good meals, did a little shopping, and had a relaxing and enjoyable few days. And there is plenty that we didn't do - like visit the art museum, or, arguably, Frank Gehry's second best building - after Bilbao - on the Case Western campus. Or the contemporary art center.
So, we'll be back.
But, for me, perhaps not surprisingly , the highlight of this recent trip was about records. About discovering a cool new record store and its creative and devoted owner. The store is Blue Arrow Records and its owner is Pete Gulyas.
Blue Arrow Records takes its name from the sign that Pete found on the building - see above. Trying to come up with a good name for a record store, Pete finally realized that the building's distinctive sign was all he needed.
Almost a year ago, Pete and his wife, Debbie, decided to open up their own shop on Waterloo Road in a burgeoning little artist community near Cleveland's eastern shore. There are several new galleries and shops and more on the way. Previously, Pete and Debbie had a vintage clothing store in Coventry and Pete did contracting work, fixing up buildings and doing minor repairs, which he still does. Then, after they closed their Coventry shop, they opened up a smaller place in the basement of Beachland, Waterloo Road's legendary music club and restaurant. Needing a place to store their inventory, Pete and Debbie found an empty building a block away. One thing led to another and what started out as a warehouse for their stuff evolved into Blue Arrow Records.
It didn't happen overnight, as Pete is quick to tell me. At first, they only used the back of the building, with the expansive storefront lying empty. Within a few months, if I have this right, the landlord offered Pete the rest of the building and he decided to turn it into a record store.
When I was planning my trip, I googled 'Cleveland record stores' and a few newspaper stories popped up about Blue Arrow Records. Most of them focused on the store's floor.
The reason? The store's floor is really cool! It is entirely tiled in vintage record album covers. I'd guess about 3,000 sf of them! I've never seen anything like it - its pretty amazing. Consequently, Blue Arrow Records looks like what you want a record store to look like - right down to the floor you are walking on.
For more than a month and a half Pete laid tile, uh er, record album covers. He said that on a good day he might get three rows done. It didn't go as fast as he expected and he ran into some funny problems. For instance, did you realize that all record album covers are not exactly the same size? When you are tiling a floor with record album covers as your tiles you discover things like that. It temporarily threw off his alignments and he had to make adjustments. After finishing adhering the tile, Pete proceeded to seal the deal with five coats of oil-based polyurethane. He said that this stage of the process was easy compared to laying the tile. When he was done it looked great and it still does. You should check it out...
The floor is anything but randomly patterned. There are themes. One area, for instance, is devoted to cats on record album covers. Another area features bathrooms. There are also, as Pete explained to me, "Booze or cocktail related" covers and covers that feature cars and trucks. There is even, apparently, a "bad girls" section of the store, but I couldn't find it.
There are a few dupes, Pete admitted, too. So, one game you can play if you visit is to try to find the duplicate covers on the floor. Or you can just take Pete's word for it, and focus on the record albums in the racks.
Although you'd never know it now, the peg boards were already there and Blue Arrow Records makes good use of them, displaying special records, posters and other 2D memorabilia. Debbie came up with the attractive alternating pale lavendar and grey color scheme which forms a funky backdrop for the record album art on show.
I found quite a few interesting disks on my first visit, priced fairly and in good condition. They have an ever growing collection of jazz, classical, world music and rock records, among other genres, both LPs and 45s. they also have a nice selection of books and vintage magazines. I really enjoyed my visit to Blue Arrow Records and I would highly recommend a visit on your next trip to Cleveland. And make sure when you go that you tell Pete that you read about it here.
Blue Arrow Records
16001 Waterloo Road
Cleveland, Ohio 44110
(216) 486-2415
www.bluearrowrecords.com
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