There’s something immediately familiar about Beatnik Bandito Music Emporium. On the racks and walls of this record shop are not only clothes, records and guitars, but also the spirit of a different time—an old-school roadhouse around the corner from Santa Ana’s rampant revamping of its historical downtown. While most newer businesses rush to slap a brand-new veneer on an existing building, David Valdez has spent the past four years creating a time warp into the golden era of Southern California culture.
“When I first opened the store, these kids would come off the street, just Mexicanos saying stuff like, ‘It’s like my grandma’s house in here, man; it’s so homey,’” Valdez says from his usual perch behind a glass counter filled with old-school buttons, patches and jewelry he’s cultivated over the years. “It just cracked me up because it dawned on me that . . . this does look like my grandmother’s house. I guess I’ve always liked that old-timey aesthetic.”
Before establishing the shop, Valdez had been laid off from his longtime job at a cable company. His dream was to use his severance money to open the rock & roll clubhouse of his dreams. Opened in 2014, the record and clothing store is a worldwide destination for music-lovers who peruse the record stacks. Valdez even added a guitar-repair shop in the back office for those needing to get their axes fixed.
But its role as a live music venue at night was perhaps its most unlikely. Despite being no larger than a studio apartment, Beatnik is a go-to place for just about every up-and-coming band in the county. Though he doesn’t get as much foot traffic as some of the businesses that are directly on Main Street, Beatnik’s location on Broadway allows Valdez to have shows later at night without disturbing his neighbors.
“I’ve had moshing and crowd-surfing in here—no one’s been hurt, fortunately,” Valdez says.
Though the Anaheim native’s clean-cut Americana rocker look is considered the in thing nowadays, it’s nothing new for Valdez, who has been making music with nearly all the pioneers of OC punk and Americana since the ’80s. Having toured as a drummer with blues-punk bands such as the Pontiac Brothers and playing guitar with his current bands—Echo Sparks, Abby Girl and the Real Deal—Valdez’s roots in roots music are plenty deep. In fact, his first record with the Pontiac Brothers, Doll Hut, came out right before Linda Jemison turned the legendary punk roadhouse into what it is today. “Honestly, [Beatnik] was inspired by the Doll Hut: just an old-timey place, a roadhouse from the ’20s,” Valdez says.
In addition to a wide swath of records and rock & roll artifacts collected from estate sales and swap meets, Valdez displays personal items, each of which has a story he’ll be happy to tell you. Behind the counter hangs a guitar with a signed, hand-painted cartoon from Kustom Kulture icon Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and a rare cardboard album made by Fender in the ’50s that features a recording of his father singing and playing guitar.
“The store is the culmination of those experiences growing up in the culture of Southern California,” he says. “It’s all reflected here.”
