Westsider Records

Profile

Formerly Griffin Records, this Upper West Side institution was bought by Westsider Books in 2004 but it still stocks more than 70,000 vintage—mainly classical and opera—albums in a disheveled, narrow room that's been known to attract concertgoers from nearby Lincoln Center because of a most comprehensive selection of vocal, symphonic, and instrumental recordings, primarily available on 33-inch LPs. Sellers arrive each day to peddle private collections and trade up, while aficionados call ahead when searching for that hard-to-find 1938 recording of a Puccini opera featuring Beniamino Gigli and Licia Albanese. Younger listeners tend toward the store's more abridged—though still winning—jazz and rock offerings. — Carolyn Murnick