Event this Sunday seeks to put South Side institution Flip Side Records on solid footing

Needles and Chrome organizers DJ Chuco Garcia, Luna Mendoza and Joaquin Abrego flip through the crates at Flip Side Records Parlor. Credit: Courtesy Photo / Needles and Chrome

For generations of Southsiders, Flip Side Record Parlor has served as more than a place to find new music or buy concert tickets. It’s been a has been a hangout and a landmark central to the neighborhood’s cultural identity.

After a recent closure and quiet reopening earlier this summer, the longtime independently owned record shop at 840 SW Military Drive is working to get back on its feet — and the community is stepping up to help make that happen.

On the evening of Sunday, Sept. 6, local organizers Joaquin Abrego and Luna Mendoza along with DJ Chuco Garcia, will present Needles and Chrome: A Sunday Kickback. The grassroots block party is designed to bring people back through Flipside’s doors.

Mendoza said the idea started over breakfast at IHOP.

“It was a random Tuesday morning,” Mendonza said. “I thought, ‘I wish we could do something about [Flip Side closing].’ And Joaquin told me that we can, so we started planning.”

From there, the trio tapped into their community networks, and brought together lowrider photographers, Chicano vendors, a tattoo artist, food trucks and more to build a quintessentially South Side event.

“Small businesses are my thing,” Mendoza said. “I hop around, I meet people and I bring them together.”

Within a few days, the trio of event organizers had secured vendors, a made a flyer and scheduled a full evening of local attractions.

For food, Mendoza said attendees can expect matcha and coffee from No Tears, Just Caffine, homestyle “ghetto snacks” from Homies Snacks and lowrider-themed cookies from Marina Makes Sweets.

“Who doesn’t want a good time on a Sunday?” Mendoza said. “Especially the day before Labor Day.”

Meanwhile, Garcia will set the tone spinning from his expansive collection of vinyl spanning Tejano, conjunto, West Side soul and more. He’s spent time years hunting down rare San Antonio pressings for his collection.

“Whatever I play is Texas-based,” he said. “People want to hear the music they grew up with. It’s important to keep that history alive.”

Not only does Garcia see record collecting as crucial archival work, he said his interest has taken him across the country, and brought other music enthusiasts to San Antonio.

“Record collecting takes you places — San Francisco, San Jose, Las Vegas,” Garcia said. “People want the rare stuff, the good stuff from San Antonio. That soul music hits different.”

Garcia and Mendoza agreed that their connection to Flip Side runs deep. Mendoza said she remembers from her childhood how the shop offered a place for older generations to buy records and concert tickets, many of which now hang on the walls.

Flip Side opened in 1972, but recent financial troubles have put the business at risk. In a Facebook post from July, owner Roman Cuellar explained that the business need support to stave off permanent closure.

The community rallied, and in addition to the Needles and Chrome event, Brooster’s Backyard Icehouse hosted a Flip Side Fest fundraiser last Saturday.

Mendoza said organizers hope this weekend’s event bridges the gap between people who remember Flip Side’s earlier heyday with younger crowds now rediscovering physical media. If the turnout is strong, the trio hopes to make Needles and Chrome a recurring series of gatherings that would rotate through different parts of the city.

“[Flip Side] has given so much to us,” Mendoza said. “It’s time we give something back.”

Free, 7 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 6, Flip Side Record Parlor, 840 SW Military Dr., San Antonio,
(210) 923-7811, instagram.com/flipsiderecords.

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