NZ Visual Diary - entry 202

Real Groovy Records

I had to ask my wife about the final disposition of our vinyl record collections. Although like most I moved on to other media (audio cassettes, 8-Track tapes and CDs), I held on to our vinyl until the move to New Zealand, if for no other reason to enjoy from time to time a perusal of album covers. The art work of a commissioned album cover was a thing of beauty, and often in the 60s and early 70s of psychedelic phantasmagoria.

On a walkabout of Auckland’s city centre the other day, I noticed (for the first time) the neon sign anchored firmly by aged iron works, adorned above by remnants of yesteryear ornamentation and aside by a pair of handsome oriel windows.

Real Groovy Records, the sign a burst of colour and Art Deco sunburst on an otherwise washed out wall.

I savoured childhood memories of trips to Sam Goody in the Westchester County Mall and nostalgic meandering across aisles of my go-to record shop CD Central from my 30+ years of residence in Lexington, Kentucky.