Barbary Coast [Los Angeles]

Biography - Barbary Coast [Los Angeles]

USA

Between the records that came down to me from my dad and what I’ve found in the dollar bins, I own six of the first twelve LPs on this label and its predecessor.
The label began in 1955 as San Francisco Records (whose address is variously given as 217 Kearny Street, 562 Kearny Street, or 625 Powell Street, S.F.). Their catalog numbers followed the format TM xx (for the Talking Machine series) or M 330xx, with no numerical repetition. They also had a Jazz Records imprint which issued only two LPs.
A late 1958 Billboard ad said that “Barbary Coast Records has purchased certain masters from San Francisco Records, and these records are now available on the Barbary Coast label.” The Barbary Coast was S.F.’s notorious nightlife district at the turn of the 20th century, but surprisingly the new label was based at 4430 Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. At first, it used stickers to cover the old company name on the unused sleeve stock on hand. (My copy of M 33005 has four stickers: two front, one rear, and one spine that overlaps 1/2” onto both sides. The actual label on the LP is still that of the original San Francisco Records.) Both company logos included the acronym FFC for Full Fidelity Control. Barbary Coast Records adopted the existing M 330xx catalog number format, and the few TM xx numbers were merged into it seamlessly (for example, TM 5 became M 33005). Later releases switched to a BC 330xx number format, continuing the existing numerical sequence. Some later albums were issued in stereo, with an S suffix added to the catalog number.
New releases seem to have stopped after BC 33027 in 1959. But some albums were reissued with new covers or titles, using type fonts which looked 1970ish. In the end, the sleeves and labels showed an address in Woburn, Mass. Surprisingly, one album which was still in print at the end was the very first one, which over the years had been renumbered from TM 1 to M 33001 to BC 33001.

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