Music Works is an El Cerrito Mom and Pop Charmer!

A quaint music shop with decorative window dressing caught my eye during a walk from del Norte BART to a Moeser Lane copy center. A red wooden treble clef, like the swirl of a barber shop icon, wooed me across the street for a closer look.

My curiosity was rewarded by reams of ukeleles hanging on hooks in neat and appealing rows. It was a perfect opportunity for a photo shoot.

Enter a hospitable store host named "Carlo Lacsina" and I bubbled over with questions.

"How did this establishment thrive with so many ukeleles?" (properly pronounced "OO-ka-le-luhs?" in Hawaiian)

I said, "YOU KA LAY LEE" like a foreigner, barely hiding my flush of embarrassment.

Once corrected, I would not make the same mistake.

From my conversation with Carlo, I gathered that Music Works was a resilient business in a competitive climate of instrument establishments. Swarming with Yukes or "OOKS," not to mention guitars, it had managed to survive the recession.

Corporate heavyweight, Guitar Center, located just a half-mile or so down the busy street wasn't as fortunate. It hadn't much clout or appeal and subsequently closed.

But Ifshin’s, the violin specialty shop on Fairmount near the El Cerrito Plaza, was one of those places doing well in hard times.

"Joanne and I are in our 32nd year of business in El Cerrito," co-owner Duane "Pudgy" Wong said in an email reply when asked about the store's history. "We began in August 1980, at a different location: 11484 San Pablo Avenue.  Back then, there were three businesses who shared the same parking lot:  Rod's Hickory Pit (restaurant), Golden Gate Lanes (bowling alley), and J & A Music (now Music Works). That property later became a Target store, and more recently the home of the new Safeway store.  

"We moved from that location to our current location (11225 San Pablo Avenue around 1986-87), and changed our name to Music Works. So, we have been in business for over 30 years in El Cerrito, about 25 of them at our current location."

If you walked a few blocks south, you'd pass City Hall, the DMV and Police Headquarters.

***

A  Store where a Picture was worth a Thousand Words

Panning around Music Works with my Sony Cybershot digital, I captured its colorful environment.

With a glut of ukeleles of every shape, size and form fueling the psychedelic imagination, store proprietors had still reserved space for piano instructional materials and sheet music. (Hooray for a piano blog tie-in!)

Add in a petite room that housed a Kawai console for piano lessons, and the triad of ukeleles, piano books and instruction was COMPLETE.

(Music Works also offered percussion classes. With its snazzy display of drum sets mounted high and advertised instrument rentals, the place was percolating with rhythm.)

So if you happen to be in the neighborhood, visit this unique ukelele plus hub and enjoy a splash of color. While you're at it, don't forget to take advantage of a 10% teacher discount on all music purchases.