Story by Rose Egge, Photos provided by Easy Street Records

For any West Seattle resident who has even a slight interest in music, Easy Street records stirs up feelings of nostalgia. It has become a cultural center for the neighborhood, where you can wander through an eclectic mix of new releases or go treasuring hunting in the used section upstairs. On any given day the shop is brimming with customers searching for an old Neil Young album, warming up with a cup of "Mudhoney" espresso or chatting over a "Green Day" salad.

As the shop on the corner celebrates 20 years of business, owner Matt Vaughan, as well as employees, customers, and local music aficionados look back on Easy Street records history.

Looking back

Today Easy Street is one of the most highly regarded independent record stores in the United States, but when the shop first opened 20 years ago, Vaughan was not even sure his shop on the corner would survive.

In 1987 Vaughan was working at Penny Lane records half a block north of Easy Street's current location on California Avenue when the store's owner, Willie McKay, was trying to get out of the business. A sophomore at Seattle University, the 18-year-old dropped out to take over the store.

"As a teenager, I was a record store junkie," says Vaughan. "I wasn't finding any motivation in college and was undecided on what I wanted to do. The opportunity presented itself and I didn't have time to waiver."

For those first two years Vaughan ran the store by himself. Unable to afford any employees, he worked there every day and kept a bed in the back. Not sure if his store would last, Vaughan began managing and booking local bands, and even headed out on the road with Alice and Chains between 1992 and 1993.

In 1989, property on the corner of California and Alaska became vacant and Vaughan jumped at the opportunity to move his shop.

"I believed in this location," says Vaughan. "I fell in love with this building. It had a nurturing affect on me."

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Junction was not the thriving business district it is today. Vaughan watched many older businesses close their doors for good while frequent crime and shoplifting plagued the area.

But West Seattle was home to many aspiring musicians, and eventually the music scene across the bridge began to pick up. Charles R. Cross, a local author who has written extensively about Seattle music, remembers members of Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Soundgarden all living in West Seattle during the 1990s. He believes that Easy Street helped build an aesthetic around West Seattle that made the neighborhood "an acceptable place to be a rocker."

Before long Vaughan saw his shop become a beacon for Seattle's thriving grunge scene.

"I only thought I'd do this for a short time until I really knew what I wanted to do," says Vaughan. "Seems as though this is what I wanted to do after all."

A new concept: opening the cafe

In the late 1990s Vaughan started hearing more and more conversation about the demise of record stores. Online retailers were becoming more popular, record labels began scaling back and it was clear that file sharing was here to stay.

Meanwhile Joe's Grill, a restaurant next door, had become vacant. Vaughan took over the lease, initially only using the space for storage and occasional parties or in-store performances. Unsure of what the future held for record stores, Vaughan decided to fill a breakfast void in West Seattle by opening a cafe in 2000.

"I felt that we could create something unique and also authentic," says Vaughan.

Although it is successful now, Vaughan initially wondered if he had made a huge mistake. During its first two years the cafe was draining funds from the record shop.

"It was a tough time," said Vaughan. "I was feeling so bad that I was beating up my little record store."

But eventually the food and coffee became more consistent and the staff more friendly. Finally the cafe was receiving good reviews and found a loyal customer base.

"It was a huge mess for awhile ripping down a wall and trying to conduct business," said Kevin Larson, who worked at Easy Street from 1994 to 2002. "But word got out. And we noticed that if we played a cool record while people ate sales would spike."

The cafe had its most successful year in 2008, and today Vaughan says the cafe and the store feed off of each other.

"How many other record stores in the world can you go to and buy the latest Sub Pop release while drinking your second cup of coffee and eating a stack of pancakes?" says current employee Adam Tutty.

A unique customer experience

As Cross says, "you don't go to Easy Street to buy stuff." The shop is more than a just a store, it is a social watering hole where members of the community meet up. A lot of the social interaction that takes place at the store has been fostered by East Street's employees.

Known for being knowledgeable in various genres, some of Vaughan's former hires now work at KEXP, One Reel, the Northwest Grammy Association and The Stranger.

"They are curators of a sort, not merely sellers," says Dow Constantine, a longtime customer. "They shape tastes as well as respond to them. They give good or bad advice, sometimes leading customers to a gem they would not otherwise have discovered."

Cross says Easy Street's West Seattle location is less concerned with being hip, and reflects the neighborhood's proletarian, working class attitude. He describes it as one of the few record stores in Seattle where "no one's going to look down on you if you wanna buy White Zombie versus Bright Eyes."

Talking with customers, their loyalty to the store is undeniable.

"You don't go there for price and you don't go there necessarily for the deep catalog," says Cross. "You go there for hidden gems. It's a place of great discovery. That's the magic that a record store still has for a person that loves music."

Unique shows and celebrity appearances

Constantly trying to make his store stand out, Vaughan says Easy Street's in-store performances separate them from the competition.

"You never know if you might just be seeing the next big thing or legendary artist."

In the 1990s Easy Street hosted performances by such notable artists as Mudhoney, Luna, Jim White and Rocket from the Crypt. After opening the caf