Hi Joe:

I've never been to the Berkeley or the San Francisco store but was at the Hollywood store several years ago. It is a huge store and if you go there plan to stay awhile! So many used records, CDs, magazines, books to see. Also, no public restrooms there so if you plan to stay awhile in there - better go somewhere at a nearby restaurant beforehand. I could spend hours in that store! You can't see it all in 20 minutes or so, so if you go, go alone or with someone who loves to spend a lot time in record shops.

Actually, I once spent about 6 hours in a record shop in Takoma Park, Maryland that was a folk music store! I didn't live there and was just visiting Maryland for a few days so it was the only time I could be at that store called, "House of Musical Traditions" (sell instruments on one side and music CDs, books, magazines on the other side (most folk acoustic music) When I was there in the mid-90's they had a lot of used folk tapes by local artists/obscure artists for the most part and it was fun looking through boxes and boxes of stuff besides what was on the shelves. I am sure they don't have tapes anymore as that was in the 1990's when I was there.

Yes, 6 hours in a record shop - I took a short break and went down the street to have lunch at a little café and then back to the record shop. This was after taking a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Maryland. Got off the plane, got a shuttle bus to my hotel from the airport, freshened up a bit (after no sleep on the plane) and took the local city bus from Silver Spring Maryland to Takoma Park to the record shop in the rain. I had heard about the record shop after reading about it in a folk music magazine called, "Dirty Linen" (no longer published for several years now.)

I was in 7th heaven - a record shop with mostly all folk related items. They gave me a large box to carry all the tapes and records I had bought (really heavy) and was not easy carrying all this on the bus back to hotel in the rain and walking several blocks to get back to my hotel after dark when I didn't even know the area very well.

Still...it was worth it as it was a great shop for folk music!
Even got asked out on a date by a guy who worked there to go to a folk music venue the next night! :-)))