Memory Lane: Guitars ‘R Us, Hollywood

It has been more than 10 years since Guitars ‘R Us in Hollywood closed its doors, and I still miss it. I discovered this shop around 1990 and it was one of the only reasons I would ever have to go up to Hollywood from Long Beach.

The shop was located at 7406 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, across from the Guitar Center. It was kind of a dimly-lit dive, with funky old carpet and Miami Vice-like paint splashes across the walls. I had to use the bathroom there once on an emergency basis. Ick. The most striking feature was the front counter which was covered to look like a giant amplifier. I wonder whatever happened to it.

But, despite the squalor and cramped space, the walls were covered with the most amazing instruments, and there were guitars on stands and vintage amps all over the place.

You could find the usual high-dollar Gibsons, every model of Rickenbacker ever made, and tons of pre-CBS Fenders (this is where I got my 63 Jazz), but there was also an amazing collection of really bizarre sparkly guitars and more Mosrites than I ever saw in one place before.

The shop was run by Howie Hubberman and Albert Molinaro. I must have started frequenting the store after Howie was no longer involved, because I only dealt with Albert any of the times I went in there.

Albert could be cranky, especially with young goofy folks who came in wanting to buy stuff that he did not sell, like strings and picks, or people that wanted to buy crappy student-quality instruments. But, he knew more than anybody I ever met about old Fenders, and apparently his personal collection was something to behold. When they write those 100-pound coffee table books about vintage guitars, they take pictures of HIS instruments.

Albert could also be a really nice guy. Rumor had it that he produced Coco Montoya’s first album with virtually no expectation of getting anything in return.

The shop closed up the later 90’s, and I only found out about it when I stopped by and found an empty store. Some folks told me that it was because the rent got too high. That is some pretty valuable real estate, I suppose.

Maybe he just saw how things were going, and decided to move on. Albert was very hip to the ways of the future. In the back of the shop he had one of those little tombstone Macintosh computers that he was using to contact Japanese buyers for his instruments. That was the first e-commerce I ever saw.

After closing the shop Albert built high-end Fender clones under the name Guitars-R-Us to sell in the Japanese market. These hand-built instruments are amazing, and still command very high prices over there. I recently saw a Red GRU Stratocaster on sale for around $3500. Not too shabby. I think he stopped producing them in 2004, or so.

Today, Albert does a brisk business on eBay (user name “largeal”), where he sells guitars and parts, as well as high-end bicycle components.