Vinyl Dreams is unarguably an institution for dance music vinyl lovers in San Francisco. In my first days uncovering the Bay Area dance music scene, before even owning a turntable, I recall visiting this record shop and feeling instantly at home. It quickly became a point of reference: a safe place to learn about new music, a place of open conversation, and one of natural mentorships. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Vinyl Dreams partners and curators, Mike Battaglia (known as Mike Bee) and Jessica Hagen (aka Infinite Jess) to talk about their journey with the shop, the SF dance music community, its history, and where vinyl intersects all of this.

A Brief History Lesson

The location of Vinyl Dreams, smack in the middle of the Lower Haight, has a deep history of housing record shops. The space at this specific address, 593 Haight Street, sprung out of a regeneration of record stores through the years, carrying forward the tradition of being a center of creative energy, musical discovery and exchange of knowledge -- and above all, a point of community. There were once over ten dance music record shops within walking distance of 593 Haight, ranging from Trance and Jungle to Disco and Drum n’ Bass. Vinyl Dreams remains one of the few left, offering a rich selection of used and new records ranging from deep house, techno, tech-house, ambient, disco, edits, italo, balearic, downtempo, breaks, and hip hop -- and many, many subgenres in between.

Mike launched Vinyl Dreams in 2011 as an online record store with Darren Davis, the original owner of Tweekin Records, a shop which through the 90’s and 2000’s had also resided in the exact location of Vinyl Dreams. Mike had been working at Amoeba records in San Francisco for fourteen years when Davis reached out asking to collaborate on launching an online record shop, and he dove in full force. Just one year later, Mike began to run it on his own, beginning to have small pop-ups of Vinyl Dreams branded material in local shops, including Black Pancake records, which had then replaced Tweekin records at 593 Haight, as well as Pyramid records in the Mission.

While curating stock in both these locations, Mike sold records out of his home living room, running a salon-style space. “People would come, talk about records, and pick up their orders. We’d drink wine, smoke, and I’d let them play their records out on my home system,” says Mike. This was the beginning of the Vinyl Dreams ethos. One of a gathering place, a place of intersection for dance music lovers. In 2013, he opened the brick and mortar shop, and has been there ever since.

Mike Bee opened Vinyl Dreams at 593 Haight Street in 2013; photo by Brennan Ko

Interview

How did you begin to work together at the shop?

Jess: There was this Thursday night at Monarch I loved, that these kids used to throw and I asked them where they got their records; they said, this place called Black Pancake. So I walked into the shop and met Mike, and in a way, just never really left. From a young age, I had always wanted to work at a record store, and eventually have my own one day.

Mike: She was so cocky; it was awesome. I was simultaneously like, who the fuck does this chick think she is, and also, she’s pretty cool. I would need a break after she came in.

Jess: Yeah, I came in full force. Originally I started as volunteer help, once a week, and then eventually went on to working here full time.

Mike: But then when I opened Vinyl Dreams in this space in 2013, she was the first person I called. That whole first, second, and third year, she’d say, one day I’m going to gather some money and invest in Vinyl Dreams, and I would say, OK, cool story Jess. Honestly, it was the most natural decision I could have made, and here we are in 2019 --- partners, and I honestly couldn’t have found a better fit. And we have amazing trajectory for 2019, and firing on all cylinders, as they say.

You recently revamped Vinyl Dream’s space and got in a lot of new stock. What vision do you see for the store, right now?

Mike: Well I don’t want to give away too much right now. But, I’m empire building.

Jess: He and I have a good idea of what the space should be, harmoniously. We both bring our individual approaches. I see opening a space to that salon effect; I want this to be a space where people congregate, it is a hub to hang out, and buy vinyl. If you’re a regular, you always get to know us.

Mike: Record stores have kind of always been a place where like-minded people meet and commiserate. After working in record retail for 20 years, the one thing I knew that was over was that old archetype of the record store as being the “gatekeeper,” and that you’re being judged. The attitude does exist, to be sure, but I think those days are super gone. To operate in retail space as a vinyl record shop we have to be super inclusive, and embrace everybody who wants to be involved. You alluded to this, but we are community building here. I see the record shops as a sort of club-house -- I have plenty of places I cut my teeth at in music as a kid, and hung out at growing up, and I want to foster that same idea.

Jess: That element of mentorship he’s talking about is specifically why I never wanted to leave. He has stories, history, and the wealth of knowledge that comes with that. I mean, San Francisco has historically been a rave town. If we create a space where older DJs, women, non binary, femme facing DJs can find knowledge and mentorship, I feel like we are doing what we need to do.

Mike: And it is connected to the past: There’s this continuum of dancing, partying, hedonism since the 30’s in the Bay Area. When the rave hit here, it hit super hard. What we are experiencing now is about one tenth of what it was, it was massive. And that word was used a lot -- there were raves with tens of thousands of people.

Jessica Hagan, who DJ’s as Infinite Jess, became involved at Vinyl Dreams as a volunteer before joining Mike as co-owner; photo by Brennan Ko

I feel as though many people flock to other cities, i.e. Berlin, New York, Amsterdam as a place that has that culture, but perhaps don’t realize this was and is also an epicenter for dance music.

Mike: I think modern San Francisco has a tendency to want to erase what came before it, nowadays. A lot of people come here and make their mark and move forward, which ignores and shuns an amazingly rich culture and history. I think Berlin became what it is today when so many people from places like San Francisco moved there. It was already happening, naturally, but I remember people moving to Berlin to explore dance music further in 2002. Unfortunately, I do feel like SF has suffered as a result of this exodus. It is difficult to find venues and places to throw parties and the scene is small -- and we are doing far less business than what Tweekin would have done in the late 90s, selling 100 copies of record here and there -- that doesn’t happen anymore. We are here to try, in one aspect, to connect the past and the present, to give shine to all those people who have paved the way for all of this to happen, of what we have today, which is a thriving dance music community. There’s multiple festivals that go on every year, and multiple parties every week. It is exciting to be here.

Jess: There’s that element of the past, definitely, and that doesn’t mean that things are not exciting today, too. Even though this term has been overused by Silicon Valley, a word I think of is innovation. I love people discovering something for the first time -- I see people coming into the shop and discovering a new genre, getting truly knowledgeable about it, sharing with friends, and then a night springs up. Radio shows. Mini festivals. Sometimes it dies in a month or two, but God, that was special. People really give it their all here, and if it fails it fails, and they will start a new project.

“San Francisco has historically been a rave town. If we create a space where older DJs, women, non binary, femme facing DJs can find knowledge and mentorship, I feel like we are doing what we need to do. ”

— Jessica Hagan

People do take you under their wing here in the Bay. There is a mentorship that happens even at parties, on the dance floor.

Jess: I’m really excited because I see a lot of people stepping up, here, saying, hey, you don’t know how to produce, allow me to help you out. You can’t afford your own equipment? I can let you borrow my turntables. I’m loving this direction of pushing towards having more inclusive spaces, like the events happening at the Stud. Every day of the week, there’s something exciting happening.

Mike: I mean you see these examples in London, where music studios are funded for the community, so that kids can get off the street and put their energy into something creative. It is really no different, you’re supplying a community service to people and encouraging them to interface with music, and engage with it.

I think I know, and both of you know and feel how special our scene is; I wonder how we can make sure other people do, too. How do we get newcomers exposed to it, and involved?

Mike: It is true, our scene can be insular -- this is why I think we really just need to encourage people to come out, and pay, and support local artists, not just be involved and throw parties, but to support.

Jess: I think the record shop is an entry point into the scene for a lot of newcomers. We have those who travel and have heard of us and we have the techno tourists who don’t know where to go. We have the bedroom DJ’s who have two turntables and have been practicing alone. I think this is more common as music has gone much more online, and people don’t know where to go to find a way into the scene.

Vinyl Dreams hosts events for the community featuring local artists; photo by Brennan Ko

I noticed you carry a lot of Bay Area producers in the shop, and support DJ’s through in-store parties and release events.

Jess: Yes, yes, yes. I think every record shop should have bins of local artists. I feel we should be using our space to support local art, have local artists come in here and play. The sound system in this shop is a blessing, it is an acoustically well-done living room. Although, we need to get the couch back. I miss the couch.

Mike: We have tons of people come through over the years, both local and out of town, a lot of it is last minute, too. We have had tons of people come in through the years -- Eddie C, Jacques Renault, Dave Harvey, Marcel Vogel, The Black Madonna, Cooper Saver.

Jess: And Session Victim is a good example of friends that come through from out of town and every time they’re here, they say, we’re playing Vinyl Dreams. We love those guys, and they love what we do here.

Mike: This space is not only special because of the history, but because it enables us to do what we do. If you’re a DJ, you need to be able to hear if a record bangs. I don’t know of any other place that you can have music, with our system, at 2 PM.

What has your experience been being a record store, specifically in this area?

Mike: I think the Lower Haight is is one of the great SF neighborhoods left. I love this neighborhood, I love how mixed it is, and that it still has some old-school flavor. And there are roots here, and they’re pretty deep. If you meet someone over 40 who’s been living here a while, talk to them. They have some incredible stories and add to the rich history in this neighborhood-- whether you’re talking about the Black Panthers, or the anti-war movement in the 70s, and Gay Pride. As much as I think people move here to rewrite the story, there are landmarks and stories all over town, at every corner.

“You can come here, and you don’t have to pay a cover, and you don’t have to be over 21, and you can watch people mix records in our window for free. To me that is the most potent way to present it to people, to see it. It is right there in the window in front of you, there is no barrier, and there is no need to spend money. ”

— Mike Battaglia

Today, would you consider SF a “vinyl town”, compared to a place like Chicago, NYC, etc?

Mike: Oh yeah, absolutely.

Jess: There is a very, very strong record culture here. Despite the change, I can think of very few cities in the US that have multiple dance music shops the way we do here. And I feel like no one is eating anyone’s lunch, that is, we each do something very well. RS94109, Pyramid Records, Groove Merchant, Rookies, and of course, Amoeba.

Many local labels display their records and merch at Vinyl Dreams; photo by Brennan Ko

Mike: It is definitely a labor of love, though. If you think you’re going to get rich opening a record shop, you’re a dummy. You have to love it -- it is a rocky place, every guy who is in the business, they understand -- whether you’re in Milwaukee, Portland, Chicago, Los Angeles -- the experience has so many similarities, and the same struggles. Everyone’s here because you want to be. Who’s making money except clubs and promoters? That’s what’s really refreshing about selling vinyl in 2019, especially with labels, you release records and sell them because you really want to, not to make a huge amount of money. And that shift has kind of eliminated all the jerky people, the rip-off artists. And now that you’re not going to get rich, people can kind of relax, and only the ones who really love it, do it.

Vinyl Dreams also recently launched a record label to support local artists; photo by Brennan Ko

What sets Vinyl Dreams apart from other shops in terms of genres and styles, and what do you want to expand upon?

Jess: I think people know us as the house music record store, but our range is incredible. If people look in our used section, especially, they will be surprised. For example, we have a really cute freestyle section right now. We have a great ambient hip-hop. We have piles of dance and freestyle records from the 80’s. I personally want to expand more on soundtracks and non-club mixes.

Mike: Yeah, more reggae, more rock, more hip-hop, more punk.

Jess: The component of the dig is fun, because you can find something surprising that really takes you away. I think one of my favorite sets was when The Tourist played here, dropped this one track called “96 Tears” by the Question Mark & The Mysterians, and had it at 33-rpm. It just sounded like this droopy heroin nightmare, and it was amazing. It was an experiment, and I loved it.

How do you feel Vinyl Dreams can influence the next generation of DJ’s? What role do you see the shop playing in that sense?

Jess: For me, it allows a fostering of it. You see people coming in and buying records, and developing those conversations, and then they say, I’ve always wanted to learn how to DJ. I remember when I started working here, and Mike came up to me, intervention-wise, and said, you cannot work here if you don’t know how to mix. And he taught me. Hell, everyone came together to teach me how to mix. So many people are willing to share that knowledge.

Mike: For most of us, someone did the same thing for us, so we only feel it is right to do the same thing for other people. To answer your question, I think that buying records eventually leads to DJing. I think many of us who were avid record buyers, it was very natural to say, I want to play this out for people, and you fall into it pretty easily. The other way we can influence people is by example. You can come here, and you don’t have to pay a cover, and you don’t have to be over 21, and you can watch people mix records in our window for free. To me that is the most potent way to present it to people, to see it. It is right there in the window in front of you, there is no barrier, and there is no need to spend money. I think even just that, alone, is invaluable.

Sets from Vinyl Dreams