« Toronto Landmarks: Sam the Record Man »
Los Angeles had Tower Records and Toronto had Sam The Record Man: not only were these iconic record stores, but much like the long yellow banner with its bright red lettering evoked Sunset Boulevard, the twin neon records of Sam’s storefront epitomised the Yonge Street strip as the destination for music fans in the Toronto of the 1970s. The three floors had it all: rock, pop, folk, jazz, blues, reggae, punk, classical, and all sorts of smaller niche markets like children’s albums, foreign language bands, and comedy. You could get lost searching the endless rack of its multiple levels, and I often did.
The chain was started by Sam and Sidney Sniderman in 1937, and the flagship store was established on Yonge Street in 1961. While the double-discs of neon surely helped draw shoppers and make Sam’s a Toronto landmark, it was the wealth of records that kept music fans coming back. I remember my first purchase there—it was Let It Be by the Beatles, for slightly less than $4, and I know that I bought most of my 45s there too through the mid to late parts of the 1970s. I can still see the yellow and red discs of Styx’s Equinox and The Who’s Who Are You dangling on strings from the ceiling as promotional displays of the new “coloured vinyl” phase. It must have worked as a marketing ploy because I still have both copies in my collection.
The linoleum floor was often dirty and tiles curled up under your feet or cracked as you walked by, and the albums snaked up far above my 13 year-old body’s maximum reach, but I loved every corner of the place. I always stole a glance or two at the good-looking sales assistants between finger flips of the alphabetical racks: the young men always wore some kind of cool, faded concert tee-shirt and a nice fitting pair of Levi’s or Lee’s. I admit that on more than one occasion I asked questions to the ones I had a crush on in my teenager years despite already knowing the answers.
The beauty of the Yonge Street strip in the late 70s and early 80s was the proliferation of record stores within two blocks of its Dundas intersection—A&A’s, Music World, and Sunrise Records were all a few steps away from Sam’s, and jumping between them to hunt down bargains kept prices low and allowed me to rapidly expand my collection in a few short years. My favourite aventure was always heading down on Boxing Day, which coincided with my birthday and allowed me to spend gifted money from that and from Christmas and get many popular releases at door crasher prices.
The ultimate tribute I chose to give Sam’s was to let it grace the opening pages of the first book in my series Behind Blue Eyes. It was a downtown destination for all Toronto music lovers, and so it seemed quite natural that one of my main characters would take her birthday money and spend it there. In those first few pages, she is my mirrored self, with the same Pink Floyd shirt and jeans, imitating me in every fashion except one—I never did meet my first love between those endless record racks. I did, however, just like her, walk out of Sam’s and find Eddie Money next door at A&A’s because on that day, the price was irrestible next door.
What is your favourite memory of Sam the Record Man?
Share Article → Music, Toronto Rocks
Reader Comments (10)
Loved the spinning discs that lit up at night. I wondered what they were, and when I found out, I went inside. Only visited Sam's twice in all my Toronto visits.
I would love to visit Toronto to find these little places. Maybe You'll have to take me on a tour. More blog posts!!
That is awesome. I'm sure Sam is greatly honored. :)
This was such a great post. I absolutely believe these stores disappearances from our landscape will prove to be part of the apocalypse... just wait. It's just tragic these stores were unable to survive. I'm fearful of upcoming generations who will only know music in the digital sense, and listening or viewing of it from the computer desk top. Oh the horror. I miss Tower Records. Thank GOD Amoeba is here in LA now as well. It brings some comfort.
Well hell, now what reason do I HAVE to visit Toronto?? If there is no Sam's, what is the use? You made that place sound so great... AWESOME post!
I used to love hunting for old British Invasion singles on 45, and I loved the way LPs were perfect for displaying cover art. The world will never be the same, and I haven't owned a record player in years, but I've still got the vinyl discs!
Great, evocative post. I have similar memories of places from my youth that don't exist anymore. Although in Italy buildings tend to live forever, oftentimes they change owners and get repurposed, losing their magical aura.
Thank you for the wonderful comments. Sara, you must have thorough enjoyed Sam's when you went!
Stephen, anyone commenting here is more than welcome to come on over for an author sleepover and a downtown tour. The spinning neon discs have been preserved and Ryerson University now owns the building, so we are hoping the double records will stay there a long time.
I found out, Elise, that Sam Sniderman is still with us, at age 92, and I just might contact him and elt him know how much his record store marked me as a teenager and later as an adult. I still have a turntable and my vinyl collection, and they are precious to me.
Lisa, the young generation is much more into vinyl than you might think, and the retro feel of it gives me hope. A lot of my students listen to their parents' vinyl collections, and come to school madly in love with Pink Floyd, Queen, and the Beatles, just to name a few bands from a long-gone era. The really cool thing, too, is that my book covers were designed by a 16 year old and one of the next ones will feature round objects, so they're still in tune with the LPs.
Ford, I think the loss of that great art was one of the biggest losses when we went digital, and one of the records I preserved my LPs. I have such great old covers, like Meatloaf's" Bat Out of Hell" and King Crimson's screaming mouth on the cover of "Court of the Crimson King".
Monica, I have received such great responses from fellow Torontonians who went back in time with me and could visualise Sam's and other places.
Stephen, just to let you know, there are more Toronto Rocks blog posts coming about other iconic landmarks. My next planned one is about the famous El Mocambo, where the Rolling Stones played and recorded "Love You Live" in 1978. The El Mo is going to reopen, so I am still looking into it for a future post!
Very good post. I love going to new cities and finding that kind of special places where you can feel so good. In my case, I always hunt down all kind of libraries, especially second-hand ones. And it is amazing when you find one of those :D
What great writing. It took me right back to when I used to fossick amongst the records of our local store. My first album purchase was ABBA - it was probalbly played 1000 times. My father who was Italian had all these Suzie Quatro records that you needed to use a special disk in the middle of the record because they didn't play on a regular turn table. Oh, the good ol' days hay? The music was all so original and everyone had such respect for those big black vinyls. Love it. Thanks.