|
Noted music store is movin' on
(San Diego Union-Tribune, The Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Mar. 7--Who knows what Andrea Soldi Long will find as she packs up the Valley Music store from the spot it's had in downtown El Cajon for 57 years?
Some customers have speculated she might find a remembrance of some of the store's most famous patrons, such as country music great Johnny Cash or the members of the rock band that became Iron Butterfly. A young Frank Zappa bought his first record player there in 1954.
Long, 66, who admits she's the least musically inclined member of her family, has a more practical thought in mind.
"I'm hoping maybe we'll find a huge wad of cash that my father hid," she said.
Long found out two weeks ago that she has to vacate the 3,800-square-foot store by the end of April so the Middle Eastern market next door can expand. The music store will be moving into a 2,000-square-foot site in a strip shopping center a few miles north at Bradley and Magnolia avenues, just outside the El Cajon city limits.
"When you've been someplace for 57 years, . . . it's rough," Long said.
The store has been a landmark in the East County music scene since it was opened in 1952 by Long's father, "Cactus" Soldi, a fiddle player with Western Caravan, a country-hillbilly band.
Soldi had been part of a partnership that also ran the Bostonia Ballroom, a country music dance hall in El Cajon that featured some of the biggest names in country and rockabilly music, including Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee and Carl Perkins.
When Johnny Cash was in town for a show in 1961, he decided he wanted a new guitar. "Cactus" Soldi opened the store and let the singer make his selection, then took his old guitar in trade and had Cash autograph it with a nail.
Long's brother, Jim Soldi, also a guitarist, played with Johnny Cash for four years, then spent two years with Ricky Skaggs. He recently performed with English guitarist Albert Lee at Anthology in San Diego.
Long took over the music store after her father died in December 1990; her brother returned four years later to help out.
The store's location on Main Street, part of a thriving downtown decades ago, is now showing its age. A vacant phone store is located to one side of Valley Music, and a bar and liquor store are across the street.
Victor Gross, who's been teaching how to play stringed instruments at Valley Music for 11 years, said he hopes the new location will draw more customers.
"It's pretty sad, but I think it will be a good move for us," he said.
Long said the decline in customers has led her to do more of her business online.
"Somebody will say, 'Why don't you close the store and sell it all on eBay?' " she said. "I don't want to work out of my garage. I need to see people."
To see more of The San Diego Union-Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.uniontrib.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, The San Diego Union-Tribune
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
INDUSTRIES
Activate Email 
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East, January 20-22, 2010. Miami, FL.
