Record store owner Chris Guttmacher grew up on music, but not the kind that predominates in his colorful shop, The Plastic Pancake, which opened in September on Valencia Street.
“My parents were both classical musicians,” he said. “It sort of ruined it for me.” They weren’t performers — his father was a psychiatrist and his mother worked at home — but the 59-year-old small business owner got sick of the classical music they constantly played in their home in Brookline, MA.
His tastes swerved in a different direction after a babysitter introduced him to Country Joe and the Fish and the Beatles. He took up drums and guitar and played for a time in Boston-area rock bands Bullet LaVolta and Cul de Sac.
Guttmacher brings plenty of experience with him into the sunset-colored walls of The Plastic Pancake. He has owned record stores in both Boston and Los Angeles and also worked for all three Amoeba Music locations in the mid-1990s and early aughts.
“The Bay Area is in the upper echelon of American cities for record sales,” he said, “along with New York and LA.” The area is particularly saturated with stores dedicated to vinyl — there’s Stranded Records further north on Valencia Street, Discodelic on 24th Street and Thrillhouse Records nearby on Mission Street in Bernal, which specializes in punk music.
Amoeba, Guttmacher’s former employer, is the largest independently owned music store in the world, with shops on Haight Street and in Berkeley and as well as LA. How can a tiny outlet like Guttmacher’s compete?
“A small store has to play to its strengths,” he said. “It has to have an identity.” The Plastic Pancake has a robust reggae and international section, as well as hard-to-find psychedelia and experimental underground rock LPs.
It’s also important, he said, to keep prices in check and have a rotating selection. “You don’t want the store to be a graveyard,” Guttmacher said. He cultivates a non-snooty, unpretentious vibe in the shop, allowing customers to do their own digging and only giving advice when asked.
That’s in part why he’s always looking to acquire new stock. “People may not be aware they’re sitting on records I’ll pay good money for,” he said. “And I make house calls.”
Behind the counter is the store’s most expensive album, for sale for $500: “The Eastern Moods of Ahmed Abdul-Malik,” a fusion of Middle Eastern music and jazz. “It’s super rare and people like it,” Guttmacher said, noting it’s also in excellent shape. “Condition is such a big part of all this stuff.”
The name for the store came to Guttmacher “in a flash,” he said, and evoke the Jefferson Airplane song, “Plastic Fantastic Lover.”
Before opening The Plastic Pancake, Guttmacher tried out semi-retirement for a year in Cleveland. It didn’t last. He had picked the Midwest for its affordability, but he soon realized he wanted to be back on one of the coasts. He didn’t choose Boston.
“I felt more at home in San Francisco,” he said. “It’s still expensive as hell, but it’s livable.” He said business has been good, and he likes being south of 24th Street on Valencia because it’s quieter and the rent is cheaper.
“It’s a destination,” he said. “When people come here, they come to shop.”
Inside the Plastic Pancake Photo by Julie Zigoris
The Plastic Pancake
1406 Valencia St.
Thurs – Sun (closed Tues. and Wed.)
Noon – 7 p.m.