The Penn Stater Magazine

City Lights Go Out

January 20, 2010

The Daily Collegian is reporting that the inevitable has finally come to pass: City Lights Records, State College’s last standing record store, will close its doors at the end of the month. Anyone who knew or cared about City Lights knew this day was coming, not least its owner, Greg Gabbard, who last March told the Collegian that he “won’t be here this time next year.” Sadly, he was right.

When I came to University Park in 1992, there were four or five record stores between College and Beaver. City Lights has been the last man standing for a few years now, at least since Mike’s Music & Video on Calder Way dropped its CD inventory (it’s since gone altogether); the others have been gone far longer. Since moving back to town three years ago, I’ve made an effort to walk to City Lights around lunch time whenever I coveted a new release or needed to pick up a gift. Sure, I could’ve downloaded the same music without ever leaving my desk, or driven to Best Buy or Wal-Mart and probably saved a dollar. (And if I needed reminders about the inefficiency of the process, I got them when, more often than not, the “Sorry, We’re Closed” sign was still up in City Lights’ subterranean window, 15 or 20 minutes after it was supposed to be open.)

But these were minor annoyances, and easily outweighed by the knowledge that I’d be greeted by a guy who knew and loved music, who was always happy to talk, and was never snobby about his knowledge or tastes. If he didn’t have something in stock, he’d order it for you and, usually, have it in a couple of days. The experience, the brief conversations with a fellow music lover, were worth the wait. A short student film from 2008 captures Greg and the City Lights vibe pretty accurately.

I don’t really know Greg—we recognize each other when we pass on the street, and he knows my face when I come in, but I’m sure he doesn’t know my name, and equally certain he doesn’t remember me as the semi-regular of 15 or 16 years ago, coming into pick up a bootleg live CD or dumping half my music collection on him in exchange for beer money. But I know I’m not the only one who will miss City Lights; if only there were more of us, I wouldn’t be writing this.

I’ll take some solace in the fact that, according to the Collegian, City Lights will live on in an online format. Of course, it won’t be the same, and I plan to get my fix while I still can. I’ve been meaning to pick up that new Black Keys/hip-hop project. Hopefully I’ll see Greg tomorrow at lunch.

Ryan Jones, senior editor

Entry Filed under: University Park campus. Tags: City Lights Records, Greg Gabbard.