101 Music has grown into a North Beach institution since it opened at 1414 Grant Ave. in 1985. Owner Tom (who asked that we only use his first name) opened the second location at 513 Green St. in 1995, now home to an array of vintage sound equipment, plus a basement cache of enough vintage records to make a vinyl enthusiast's head spin.

Employee Stephen Phillips was a customer long before he landed a job at 101 Music 11 years ago, but has since become a familiar fixture at both locations (which are, after all, only a few hundred feet from one another).

We stopped by 101 Music the other day to chat with Phillips about working at the store, his perception of the neighborhood, and, of course, rock 'n' roll.

Where are you from and how did you get here?

I'm from all over. I was born in LA and I grew up back east. Then I hobo'ed around five years and ended up here.

When did you land in San Francisco?

'77.

What brought you here?

<Laughs> My thumb. My mom was living here, I missed California growing up back east so I always planned to come back.

What do you like most about working here?

That you get to work by yourself and just rock out all day, meeting folks.

Do you ever get bored?

Yeah, but there's always something to do. Even when it's slow, I never have time to do everything I need to do. But yeah, it can be boring at times.

What kind of music are you into?

Rock 'n' roll.

What's the best rock band of all time?

There's so many I love, but I've always liked The Beatles the best. 

What sets them apart from everybody else?

Well I grew up with them, and they just made great songs. Great performances.

What do you do outside of working at 101 Music?

I used to be in a couple garage bands, but not now. I do a little art, painting. Stuff that shows in the neighborhood here. I've sold a bunch, so a lot of it is scattered around, but now and then I'll put some stuff in local shows. Sometimes in Live Worms, some of the other galleries in North Beach.

How has North Beach changed since you first ended up here?

Not a whole lot has changed, except for the fact that people come and go. The biggest change is the rent. It's pretty much the same culturally. It's probably turning more into Chinatown then Little Italy, slowly. But overall, it's pretty much the same.

How has the rock 'n' roll scene changed since you got here in the '70s?

Well, there's always these young guys coming up, and a lot of them look promising, and some go on to do great things. I don't think that's changed—it's always been that way. A lot of them seem to be on their way, but they break up or fall apart or whatever, go on to other things or for some reason they kind of stagnate. I think it's always been that way and I still see it happening today.

Do you think there's still a general rock 'n' roll vibe in San Francisco today?

I don't see like a huge San Francisco wave going on right now. Of course, a lot of the old bands are still here and are still a big part of the city, like Santana and Journey are still around, but a lot of them are long gone. A lot of the old-timers are just still around and part of the local scene, like Harvey Mandel who'll still play at the saloon now and then.

We lost Paul Kantner this year, so that was a big loss. He was a good neighbor. He used to come in the store a lot and I always liked talking to him. No matter what he was talking about, it could have been his laundry, he always made it interesting.

What do you think sets 101 Music apart from other independent music stores?

Well I think the main thing Tom's going for is to have stuff that people can't find anywhere else. So a lot of things that maybe we could sell a lot of—because everyone wants them—might not be what we're about. But that hard-to-find thing that they come across ... that's what we're about. There are also not many stores like this around. There used to be several in the neighborhood but we're the only ones now.

Will there always be a place for rock 'n' roll in San Francisco?

I hope there will be a place for rock 'n' roll in the future, in the world! But sometime you kinda got to wonder. At this point, it's an established thing, it's been around and it seems like it will always be around. But you look back on history a few hundred years, how much of the art and other things are just lost? A couple hundred years from now, if people look back on what was happening now, they may just get a little footnote about The Beatles, or The Stones, and that might be it. But we could speculate about the future all ding-dong day! I just hope it's around for a while.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.