Vinyl Adventures 

Missing Link Records

Store owners by day and club DJs by night, Matt Jackson and Adam Pokorski pride themselves on carrying a hand-picked stock of music they would want in their personal collections. Old blues, bluegrass, country, underground/indie bands, metal and stoner rock, and soul 45s are the pair's specialty ­­— no Top 40 here. The two travel regularly, picking up handfuls of regional records "you didn't know you liked" and bringing them back to Arcata, in addition to tracking down hard-to-find imports. Now in their third location, Missing Link is partnered up and sharing a roof with Dead Reckoning Tavern and its 36 microbrews on tap, but the shop is still all-ages. There's a shelf outside the record room to set your pint while you browse the stacks and get recommendations. Lately Pokorski's been enjoying The Ragtime Wranglers, Almighty Defenders and Sturgill Simpson.

People's Records

Right on the plaza, People's Records is the oldest and biggest record store in Arcata, specializing in new and used CDs and vinyl records, books, DVDs, postcards and posters. Store owner Steve Lovett has been collecting records since he was a kid and jumped at the chance to buy the store from its original owner a while back. Lovett takes pride in keeping the stock fresh and loves when shoppers pick his brain for new (and new to them) music suggestions. New stock comes in every week and most special orders arrive within a week. Lovett's favorite records the week we visited: Damaged Bug's Hubba Bubba and Total Control's Typical System.

The Works

Eureka's record store, founded in 1971, recently moved into its new location right across the street from the Old Town Gazebo. Specializing in new, used, and traded-in vinyl records, CDs, comic books, DVDs, stickers and buttons, store owner Bandon Taylor worked in the store for nearly 20 years before taking it over in 2012. Given his history in the record store business, Taylor knows music from current to classic to classical. He a up the legacy of the broadly curated store, never focusing on just one type of music. The Works is regularly stocked with Top 40, punk, hip-hop, soul, classic rock and beyond, because, as Taylor says, "everything is relevant to somebody." Taylor's current favorite records include Harry Nilsson's Nilsson Schmilsson, Jackson 5's Skywriter and Fleetwood Mac's Bare Trees.

Editor's Note: Missing Link Records has since closed.