Picture this: you’re strolling aimlessly through downtown Riverside, weary of the droning city sounds around you, and you think you’ve seen all the art that this city has to offer. That is until you stumble upon the corner of University Ave. and Lemon, your eyes elevating to a red-and-white sign above a basement stairway introducing you to your new favorite place: the Penrose Record Room.
Descending the wooden stairs, enclosed by bubblegum pink walls and a mural-in-the-works, you follow the music of a spinning record, echoes of conversation and laughter inviting you in. In this basement, the Penrose Record Room is half 1960s living room decor and half David Lynch-esque set design, with soft, incandescent lighting illuminating the checkerboard floor and wood-paneled walls. Vinyl records plaster the walls and fill the bins. Upon entering, you’re likely to be greeted by one of the store’s owners, who will respond “Oh, just shy of wonderful,” when you ask him how his day is going. Within this newfound musical haven, you’re transported to a time that most of us have only seen in movies, with various characters flipping through records in the bins, friends of friends conversing on the couch, and the shop’s owner periodically switching the “currently playing” record behind the counter.
Rooted in Riverside history, the Penrose Record Room is co-owned by Gabe Roth and Matt Beld, both of whom have their roots settled in this city. While the shop officially opened its doors at the end of Oct. 2023, its conception has been a lifetime in the making. Roth and Beld, two lifelong friends, musicians and record-collecting enthusiasts, agreed to go in on the business together after they considered how a record shop would support and promote both of Roth’s independent record labels, Daptone Records and its daughter-label, Penrose Records. Both Daptone and Penrose produce funk music and soulful sounds, with Penrose essentially pioneering the Southern California souldies scene that is distinctly sentimental to Riverside locals. The city’s association with lowrider car culture and “Oldies but Goodies” music à la Art Laboe — the late, great So-Cal radio host who coined the term — has been influential on the city’s predominantly Chicano/Latine demographic.
Alongside promoting Penrose and Daptone Records, the Record Room was also conceptualized as a remedy to the need for a more lively downtown scene, which is constantly evolving in Riverside. The shop is run 5 days a week by Beld, who’s been married to music since he was 17, playing guitar in local bands like Los Infernos, The Adolescents, and his current group Vicky Tafoya and The Big Beat — one of several groups repping the Penrose record label. Humble as ever, both Beld and Roth run the shop like it’s existed forever, grateful to offer a hub for lovers of souldies, longtime record collectors, and new kids on the block looking for a place to spend their pocket change. Open from Wednesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., You can expect to walk in and spend a little more than a while in the shop, whether your time be spent perusing the collection or being charmed by Beld’s near-encyclopedic knowledge of music. If you’re really lucky, Roth might pop into the shop to flash a friendly smile and hello in between working with Penrose artists upstairs in the record label’s recording studio.
The musical selection in the establishment spans from Soul and R&B, Hip Hop, Jazz, Rock, Pop, Country, International and an ever-growing Punk and Metal section. The Record Room gets new records every week, and you’ll often find Beld cleaning and pricing records between moments of chit-chat. Carrying a great selection of new and old and in-between, the shop impresses even the most audiophilic of music enjoyers, though it stays inviting enough for those who may be seeking their first toe-dip into the world of music that exists outside of what streaming on Spotify and Apple Music has to offer. With two listening stations in the shop, equipped with Technics turntables, killing a couple of hours in between classes with sonic curiosity sounds like a pretty sweet day to me. And, if you don’t find that obscure artist, or newest release that you’re looking for, they’ll be happy to order it for you to pick up in the store.
Like the music that Penrose Records produces, it’s evident that the Record Room is a future classic and mainstay for downtown Riverside. It’s also apparent that vinyl records aren’t going out of fashion anytime soon, especially as many of us are starting to appreciate both the sentimentality and physicality of owning the things we love over the shallow conveniences of our increasingly digitized world.
