Finyl Vinyl – 89 2nd Ave. East Village New York 10003 – updated February 25, 2025
Sadly no longer with us. East Village NYC
Finyl Vinyl opened in 1985 on 6th Street in Greenwich Village. I used to go to the shop when it was on 2nd Avenue, just around the corner from St. Marks Place in the East Village. That’s where the store was when it closed in 2007.
It was a smallish shop, and, as with many record stores, the baby of its owner, Robert Cohen. Never saw anyone else running the store anytime I visited. You didn’t go to get the latest new releases from the current hit makers. You went for reissues of obscure albums and comps Cohen had dug up.
Robert Cohen always had a good recommendation of excellent tunes you hadn’t heard before. Bought some great records there over the years, particularly comps of (to me) very obscure stuff. One – Kent Stop Dancing, The Sequel, is still in my regular rotation. It has both Joe Arnold – Cooking Gear and the Knickerbockers – Can You Help Me, each of which I highly recommend. Or you can listen to Earl Harrison’s Humphrey Stomp. No earthly idea how the compiler of this comp selected his tunes. Lots of 60s soul tunes, but also some garage rock and surf. The liner notes describe a mythical movie: “The movie opens with a group of deranged hippies skiing down Mount L.A. Sporting mirrorred granny glasses and mauve suits, they are led by none other than the legendary Kim Fowley, who manages to rip-off ‘Watch Your Step” while negotiating the slope. …. After a quick leak and an orange Jubbly, it’s the main show.” And it also has a previously unreleased version of Erma Franklin doing “Higher & Higher” a song she cut for her fabulous Sister Soul record but did not include in its vinyl release.
Robert also turned me on to The Real Kids – All Kindsa Girls (you must buy this, he advised) and early pre-fame (is that really a word?) Bob Seger. Bob Seger you say? Try East Side Story and get back to me on that. Always loved going there to talk about music.
What the Press is Saying
Here’s an article from the Village Voice in 2007 Requiem For A Record Store about the store after it closed.
Vinyl People
Recently discovered this short documentary – Vinyl People – which interviews Robert Cohen and other lovers of vinyl. That’s Robert appearing in the screen below in Finyl Vinyl. The documentary was produced by Howard Silver for WNET City Arts. Also interviewed in this short are Norton Record’s founders Billy Miller and Miriam Linna. True to himself, Robert advises that his pleasure is turning those who come into his store onto something new. Quite true. Hat tip to Diane Malkin of the Manhasset Public Library for helping me to find this video.
Bob Seger and the Last Heard – East Side Story
Here’s Bob Seger and the Last Heard performing East Side Story on Rockin’ Robin Seymour’s show Swingin’ Time. Swingin’ Time was an American Bandstand type show, hosted by Robin Seymour, then a famous Detroit based DJ. A number 3 hit in the Detroit market, Seger wrote East Side Story in 1966 for another Detroit band, the Underdogs. His performance launched his career, and was the first for his then new band. It’s a rock song, but filtered thru Detroit’s soul influences, like many Detroit artists of that era. It was covered by the English Freakbeat band the St. Louis Union in 1966. They added horns and a searing guitar lead in place of the organ. Ah, but they lost the bongos.
Robert Cohen and I became great friends at FINYL VINYL . I purchased many albums from there. My favorite was a Sun ra album titled ATLANTIS for$125. Met Q tip there as well