A Pro Drum Shop kind of Christmas.
Home For The Holidays
There were no printed invitations. No fliers. No Facebook post. But for a few casual emails, Professional Drum Shop relied—as it has now for over fifty years—on word-of-mouth to get its message out. In this case, the ritual Christmas party it holds each year for friends of the shop and the collective L.A. drum community—not much distinction there. The larger message comes across as a result of their dedication and commitment to the drummers of this town since the beginning, and only continues to strengthen with time: Pro Drum is home base for L.A. drummers.
By now, it’s a bona fide institution. If the fifty years of memorabilia covering the shop’s walls—a substantial timeline of drumming history—leaves any doubt, the newly released 50th anniversary retrospective is a sure cure. Its part in history, family-owned lineage, original location, and lived-in quirkiness help give Pro Drum a true sense of soul—no small virtue for a retail storefront of any order.
A Christmas Story
I was, for a second year in a row now, sadly unable to make the party held Wednesday, December 15th from noon-5pm. I showed up a couple days later to say hi and pick up a disc of party pics from Stan.
He and I were standing and talking below a vintage black four-piece Ludwig set on elevated display next to Buddy Rich’s marine pearl Slingerlands (the last set of drums he ever played). Stan excitedly explained to me that this black drumset was the very first sold at Pro Drum on opening day June 1st, 1959. They had just welcomed it back from its original owner who purchased it at a steep discount after helping paint the place. Stan even remembered drilling holes some years later in the accompanying old ride cymbal.
Somehow, our attention redirected toward a set of ’80s Modular Ludwigs stacked on the floor. It was a recent arrival and belonged to Jon Hyde, the drummer for a band called Detective, signed to Zeppelin’s Swan Song label in the late ’70s. Stan excused himself to the overflowing office and quickly came out with a smile and an era-defining, sleazy-looking Detective LP in hand given to him by Hyde at the time. Brilliant enough. But, he also brought out another old record from that time that he happened upon: a decidedly obscure Jim Keltner solo project. He remembered Keltner giving copies to him and a visiting Elvin Jones after-hours at the shop over thirty years ago.
That’s some soul.
From Us To You
We’ve compiled Stan and Jerry’s pictures of the day, including those ’59 black Ludwigs, in our Pro Drum Xmas party pictorial. Enjoy.
Merry and Happy from Hollywood Drum.
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