Washington is known for the birth of grunge, with bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sound Garden, and Foo Fighters getting their start here.
But you’ll also find music greats like Jimmy Hendrix, Dave Matthews, Macklemore, Kenny G, Umi, and many more who call the Evergreen State their home.
With this rich and colorful music past and present, there are more than a few record stores to explore throughout our region - here are some near our Link light rail stations!
Roosevelt
Seattle Records CDs cassettes and Henry Ward art gallery
A cool 0.6 miles from our Roosevelt station sits one of Seattle’s most eclectic (even by our PNW standards) record store art gallery mashups with Seattle’s own Ryan Henry Ward. You may recognize his colorful, fun-loving work featuring regional creatures and the prominent sasquatch. Explore their selection of new and old records while enjoying the work of one of Seattle’s more prolific public artists.
U District
Did you know there’s a secret record store beneath the famous Neptune Theater? Okay, maybe not so secret, but if you didn’t know, now you do. A quick hop, skip and jump away from the U District station is a vast collection of vintage records available for browsing and purchase.
Family owned and operated since 1974, Al’s Music, Video & Games is a true Ave original. Stroll 0.2 miles from the station and find thousands of records waiting to be perused. Check out every corner, crevasse (and definitely the crates under the tables) to find your next hidden gem.
Searching for that specific, ‘out-of-print’ vinyl that you just can’t seem to find anywhere? Golden Oldies might just be the perfect place for you. They specialize in these hard-to-find records while also carrying new and used favorites, plus, they’re only 0.7 miles away from the station.
Capitol Hill
From Fleetwood Mac to Mac Demarco, Seattle Spin Cycle has crates on crates for any vinyl lover to wistfully sift through. This overflowing record collection sits 0.2 miles from Capitol Hill station (seriously, the owners’ collection outgrew his apartment, so he had to convert to a storefront).
A Capitol Hill section in a record store article is nothing without mentioning the hub of the neighborhood, Pike Street. Zions Gate Record Store is in the heart of it all with a true classic feeling only flipping through hundreds of records can give. Only 0.4 miles from the station, you’re most likely going that way anyway, so why not give it a quick stop?
What’s better than one Pike Street record store? You guessed it, two. This 90’s origin record store offers secondhand and multi-genre LPs and vinyl. You may even be lucky enough to stumble upon some rare or out-of-print treasures.
Who doesn’t love coffee and music, better yet, records? Just 0.5 miles from the station sits Porchlight Coffee & Records. They make a mean specialty coffee and offer a solid selection of new and used vinyl.
Our farthest record store yet, but well worth the journey for house and electronic genre fans. Selector Records is 0.9 miles from the station and is a true underground dance music record shop (their words, not ours).
Let us know what we missed by tagging us @SoundTransit on social media.
And stay tuned for part two, which will feature more 1 Line record store picks!