Recommended uke stores in southern Cali?

In a few weeks, I'm heading to San Diego for work. Before that I'll be visiting my sister in Manhattan Beach for a couple of days. In between, I'll be driving down the coast, probably on the PCH.

So...any stores I should hit while I'm there?

-Pete

Island Bazaar in Huntington Beach, http://www.ukuleleparadise.com/
–Lori

From Manhattan Beach, hit McCabe's in Santa Monica and Kahanamoku's Swimboat in El Segundo. The former is a great strings-only shop; the latter is a surf shop that sells ukuleles!

Ukulele's in Carlsbad

There's also Giacoletti Music in Carlsbad. Phone is 760-729-1335

Besides Island Bazaar in Huntington Beach, there is also A&B music on Magnolia at Garfield, they have a decent bunch of ukes and in Seal Beach is Seal Beach Music on Main Sreet, quite a few ukes there.

Darn, I wish I lived close to Island Bazaar.......what a store!!

McCabe's stopped selling ukes???

In San Diego the places I always hit...

The Blue Guitar
5959 Mission Gorge Rd.
San Diego, CA 92120
(619) 283-2700

The Blue Guitar has a very good selection from low to high. They like to claim that they have the largest slection of Hawaiian ukuleles on the west coast, although I'm not certain of that... especially with Island Bazaar almost literally on the coast, but they do have them.

Moze Guitars
8415 La Mesa Blvd.
La Mesa, CA 91941
Phone 619-698-1185

Moze has a pretty good selection of ukuleles; their inventory may be a little hit or miss. They do have ukuleles made by a local luthier, Fred Shields, that only sells through Moze. Also Moze sometimes has some pretty good used stuff at decent prices.

Buffalo Brothers Guitars
4901 El Camino Real, Carlsbad.CA
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Phone: 760-434-4567

Buffalo Brothers is also in Carlsbad inland from Giacoletti Music. They are remodelling so the last time I was there they did not have quite as many ukuleles, but they still have a good selection. They are a store I wouldn't miss.

Have fun!

John

Wow! Great answers! Thank you! That gives me a reason to look forward to my trip.

In San Diego, there are several ukulele shops. The ones I frequent are:

http://www.carlsbadmusic.com (Carlsbad)

http://www.motuhawaii.com (Pacific Beach)

http://www.sdoldtimemusic.com (North Park)

http://momilanis.com (Oceanside)

http://www.buffalobrosguitars.com (Carlsbad)

http://local.yahoo.com/info-20827135-oceanside-music-supply-oceanside (Oceanside)

http://theblueguitar.com/index2.php

While you are here, you should definately participate in several of our local ukulele group jams (kanikapila):

Sunday: http://www.meetup.com/ukulelesundays

Monday: http://www.sdoldtimemusic.com/Pages/calendar.html
http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1ojeq/2010CityofVistafallr/resources/24.htm

Tuesday: http://www.meetup.com/SDUkulele/
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_StoneAge_Strummers/

Wednesday: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/MoonlightBeachUkeStrummers
http://www.huiohawaii.org/Culture.html

Thursday: http://www.Ukulele_Society_Of_America
http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1ojeq/2010CityofVistafallr/resources/24.htm

Saturday: http://www.momilanis.com/services.html
http://www.huiohawaii.org/Culture.html

Other acoustic jams that are ukulele friendly:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=794038

http://northcountybluegrass.org/

http://www.powayfolkcircle.org/

http://www.meetup.com/acoustic-116/

AND, don't forget a trip th the Museum of Making Music: http://www.museumofmakingmusic.org

Teek said:

McCabe's stopped selling ukes???

Click to expand...

McCabe's continues to be a uke-friendly place, don't worry! That was my first recommendation to the OP, see post #3

janeray1940 said:

McCabe's continues to be a uke-friendly place, don't worry! That was my first recommendation to the OP, see post #3

Click to expand...

Yup. Jim and Liz Beloff are doing a ukulele workshop there right now:

http://www.fleamarketmusic.com/calendar/default.asp

Jumpin' Jim Ukulele Workshop

Sunday, January 23, 2011

McCabe's Guitar Shop
3101 Pico Blvd
Santa Monica, CA

Time: 12:30-2PM

ricdoug said:

While you are here, you should definately participate in several of our local ukulele group jams (kanikapila)

Click to expand...

Thanks for the invite! I will definitely try to do so, although our annual meeting week tends to be hectic and filled with long hours. My bits of free time might not line up. But I am bringing a uke on the trip!

-Pete