Crate diggers from San Diego to Oakland are converging on Downtown Los Angeles this weekend as VinylCon! sets up shop at the California Market Center for a two-day run of record dealers, live DJ sets and stacks of albums spanning decades and genres. The weekend-long event runs Aug. 22 and 23, with tickets starting at $12.45.
According to NBC Los Angeles, the convention will include dozens of record dealers along with music memorabilia and ephemera, plus new wave, blues, disco, and other subgenres and alternates on offer across the two-day run. DJs are scheduled to perform throughout both days, keeping turntables spinning between browsing sessions. Dealers making the trip include Strictly Retro from San Diego, Sundae Soul from Oakland, and Slolow Records from Albuquerque, drawing sellers from well beyond L.A. County into the Fashion District.
The gathering is part of a fast-growing multi-city circuit founded by Kobi Waldfogel, who launched VinylCon! in Philadelphia in 2023 after co-founding Denver's Rocky Mountain Record Show in 2021, according to CBS News. Waldfogel has said he wanted to build a record fair accessible to newcomers and veteran collectors alike, positioning the event apart from traditional trade shows that CBS News reports he saw as overly focused on commercial trading rather than music culture. The formula appears to be working locally: the previous Los Angeles edition in spring 2026 drew more than 4,000 attendees to Downtown L.A., per Secret Los Angeles.
Inside the California Market Center's Loft
This edition takes place at the California Market Center, with the show set up in the Loft event space on the 10th floor of Building C, per VinylCon!'s own event details. The complex has a long history in L.A.'s garment trade: built in 1963 as the California Mart, the 1.8-million-square-foot building underwent a $250 million mixed-use redevelopment completed by Brookfield Properties in 2022, according to Commercial Property Executive.
Musical entertainment across the weekend is curated by Philadelphia DJ Skeme Richards, with past and scheduled Los Angeles performers including Cut Chemist, The Gaslamp Killer, and DJ Nu-Mark, according to Time Out. The official artwork for this L.A. edition comes from local poster artist Dave Kloc, whose concept was inspired by the lengths collectors go to find rare records, Secret Los Angeles reports. Kloc is well known across the city for his concert and gig posters, giving the convention's branding a homegrown feel even as it draws dealers from across the country and overseas.
A Global Vendor Lineup Meets Local Institutions
The vendor lineup pairs L.A. mainstays with international sellers. Brick-and-mortar staples like Amoeba Music and Record Safari will share floor space with the Netherlands-based Klinkhammer Records, according to LAist. That mix reflects how the convention connects with L.A.'s broader creative infrastructure, drawing traveling U.S. dealers and specialized foreign collectors into the same room as the city's established record shops, per the same outlet.
Tickets for the weekend range from $9 for Sunday general admission and $15 for Saturday general admission up to $36 for early entry passes, which grant collectors first access to browse before standard doors open, according to Time Out. NBC Los Angeles lists starting prices at $12.45 and up, with tickets available for purchase ahead of the event.
Part of a Bigger Vinyl Moment
The convention lands amid a genuine industry boom. U.S. vinyl record revenues crossed $1.04 billion in 2025, marking 19 consecutive years of growth and 46.8 million LPs sold, according to Forbes, which noted the total was vinyl's highest annual haul since 1983. That growth streak helps explain why event-driven record conventions like VinylCon! have been expanding their circuit to accommodate bigger crowds of collectors.
Los Angeles has seen other signs of the vinyl resurgence beyond convention floors. In March, Hoodline reported on the opening of The Vinyl Room, a Japanese-inspired hi-fi listening bar at the Hollywood Palladium, part of a wider trend of audiophile-style venues gaining traction in major U.S. cities. Whether pop-up conventions like VinylCon! ultimately complement or compete with L.A.'s independent record shops for collector dollars remains an open question as the format keeps growing, though for one weekend at least, the California Market Center will be ground zero for the city's vinyl faithful.
