THE MERCHANTS ON FLORENCE AVENUE
Profile: Vicios Punk Shop
From Paradigm Spring 2021, Issue 6.1
BY KARI HAMANAKA
Llegale a tu vicio is a saying, translated loosely to mean get to your vice.
That could mean any myriad of things, depending on who is answering. For the founders of Vicios Punk Shop, maybe it was embarking down what can be the thorny path of starting a business. Or, maybe it’s all the records, vintage apparel and leather-studded accessories they collect and sell.
Vicios bowed on Florence Avenue in Huntington Park Jan. 9 by owners Jaytea, Milo, Jesse and Andy, stocked with an eclectic and well curated assortment of merchandise, ranging from rare records and pins to hand-studded leather accessories and vintage leather jackets and other apparel. The handful of months the store has been opened has garnered strong community support, leather orders from Japan and Canada and plenty of other online inquiries, with a web shop set to go live by the end of this month broadening Vicios’ reach even further.
“It’s not even, to be honest, that we care and are trying to make money off this because you don’t get rich off punk,” said co-owner Jaytea. “It’s all done out of pure love, passion and slight obsession. We just really love the scene and we want to bring it back in those ways of having a community that supports it.”
Less than six months in, and the shop has already become a central part of the community. Every Saturday night Tacos Ponky, which Jesse runs, is set up out front. The studio connected to the back of the store is considering a flea market in May and there’s been work with Cosmetic Plague Mutual Aid on making care packs for those in need. There’s also now the sprouts of an idea to begin hosting events in the back studio space that would bring in a couple local bands, vendors and artists.
“We’ve had neighbors come around just to say, ‘Hey, welcome.’ The coolest part is knowing the community’s got our back and we want to do the same,” Jesse said.
It’s been surprising, they said, how many donations the store has gotten from supporters or the customers who will drop, for example, $200 in one transaction. There’s also the ones searching for rare punk music - all indicators of the interest people have in what they’re doing.
“We have a medium-sized variety of bands, but people are still buying,” Jaytea said. “So it’s good to know we’re in the right ballpark of carrying cool shit people do want to buy.”
About 70 percent of the music they carry is currently imports, many of them local bands.
“We’re almost going backwards,” Jaytea said. “A lot of stores will have all the classic, main heavy hitter stuff. We’re so obsessed with the rarities of certain bands, so we’re pushing that more than having Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, Black Flag and shit like that, which we dig. But, to me, that’s why you have all the other record stores available.”
“We have a lot of contemporary music,” Jesse added. “We have a lot of bands from either the last five years or so from different parts of the world. I think that’s part of the push to educate people all these bands are playing right now, so check them out.”
Avid consumers in their own right of all things punk, the four have been to Japan to either tour (two of the four owners – Jesse and Milo – play in Police Shit) or to travel and have visited the record shops there. They’re also huge lovers of music and anything that falls under the broad category of punk.
That affinity is partially what helped Vicios come together relatively quickly.
“We fell ass backwards into it,” Milo said laughing. “We were drinking in the riverbed and our friend is like, ‘Hey, dude, I got the new studio. Come check it out.’”
That was last summer. So they visited the studio, taking notice of the retail space in the front and going there every day for a month to see if the real estate had become available for rent. When it finally did, they pooled their money. By September they had the keys to the store.
“We had no clue what we were going to do,” Jesse said. “First step was paint the walls black.”
They had previously been orange and neon green.
Over the course of the next three months, the group worked out the inventory. Milo and Jesse had already been operating a record distro out of their garage for two-and-a-half years, which gave them an introduction into sourcing records.
“We have a lot of bands from either the last five years or so from different parts of the world. I think that’s part of the push to educate people all these bands are playing right now, so check them out.”
Jesse had also helped a friend about a decade earlier with East L.A. shop Black Wax Records, which eventually closed less than a year after opening. Despite the store’s short run, Jesse found the experience educational in learning the ropes of running a store and stocking inventory.
Milo also brought his leather work craft into the store.
Jaytea has an eye for style across decades and the impeccable skill of culling up obscure bands and their history.
“Vintage clothes I really like and love different styles,” Jaytea said, explaining how he pictures in his mind a person’s dress based on their taste in music and then makes his selections from there. “I’m also super nerdy about a lot of rare, late 70s, early 80s punk vinyl shit so I definitely was super enthusiastic to carry stuff you won’t usually see at a typical record store.”
“He’ll sell you a pencil,” Milo said referencing Jaytea’s selling ability.
“He’ll tell you where the pencil came from, what the guy who made it ate for lunch,” Jesse said.
“What tree got chopped,” Jaytea added. “It’s not even that I’m trying to sell you. That’s what I mean by nerdy.”
That attention to detail across the four founders comes across in many ways throughout the store, including labels on many of the records that describe the band, its music, genre and period of time it came out of.
“It helps so much and the whole point is to educate people,” Jesse said.
The four grew up in the general area coming up out of the local scene, which is why Huntington Park made sense for a storefront. It also fills a gap in the local record store landscape. With not much in the immediate area, they can cater to those who would prefer to walk to the store or not have to take a long bus ride to trek to the shop.
“We’ve been punks since we were teens and so to still be in the scene, people know us, they want to support us because everybody’s still there,” Jaytea said. “Maybe that’s why we have customers that want to show that support.”
“I think that’s a good point,” Jesse said. “A lot of our sales, we get from donations. Way more donations than I ever expected to receive.”
The support and interest has helped motivate them even when the fatigue and stress of running the store sets in. All four still work separate, full-time jobs outside of Vicios. They also screenprint T-shirts sold in the store and for local bands. In short, it’s a lot on their plate.
They would agree, however, it’s a good problem to have, if it’s a problem at all, considering they’re doing something they love and have a steady stream of friends hanging out at the shop.
“I was breaking down yesterday,” Jesse said. “But nothing worth it comes easy. No one’s going to do it for you and we know it’s all going to be worth it in the end.”
Added Jaytea: “Great things in life, they don’t just fall in your lap. So that’s why everyone’s here busting their ass.”
THE LEGEND OF SPIKY LAD LEATHER
Going to swap meets on the weekends is Milo’s jam.
It’s no surprise then that’s where he also picked up his leathercrafting skills, more specifically at Los Angeles Harbor College in San Pedro. It’s where he got his first leather studded belt when he was a kid.
In fact, it was the vendor who sold him that first belt who ended up being the one to teach him some of the basics of studded leather accessory making.
“When I saw that guy working, I was like, man, I could do this and then I just kind of got to work,” Milo said.
He started practicing on his own at home, making belts and bracelets for his friends working out of a small laundry room in the back of Vicios Punk Shop founder Andy’s house.
“I ended up starting an Instagram page and I didn’t think it was going to hit, but a lot of people started requesting stuff,” he said.
Part of what differentiates Spiky Lad Leather pieces is Milo hand dyes all his leather, offering different colors outside of the standard black. Everything is done by hand, making each piece coveted for its craftsmanship and attention to detail.
“This is like our [version of a] diamond ring,” Jesse said motioning to his studded cuff.
“This is our bling,” Milo added. “A lot of times we get people that aren’t even punk. The other day we got some lady.”
“The whole family,” Jesse said. “They looked like they just came in from church.”
“They walked in and they saw a three-row pyramid belt that was on a mannequin,” Milo said. “The lady, I think it barely fit her, but she really wanted it and made her husband buy it for her. You could tell he didn’t even like the store and he had to pay for that $75 belt.”
▶ For more, visit Vicios Punk Shop or follow on Instagram @spikyladleather