Licorice Pizza (store)

Licorice Pizza

Founded	1969
Headquarters	12230 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City, Los Angeles, California , United States of America
Products	Records, Compact Discs, Cassette Tapes
Website	https://www.licoricepizzarecords.com/

Licorice Pizza is a Los Angeles record store chain that inspired the title of Paul Thomas Anderson's 2021 film of the same name. ^[1] The term is a colloquial expression for vinyl records, comparing them to the color of licorice and the shape of a pizza. ^[2]

James Greenwood opened the first Licorice Pizza record store in July 1969 in downtown Long Beach. ^[3] In the next fifteen years, multiple locations spread throughout Southern California. They became known for highly knowledgeable staff, all-request sound systems, getting new releases first, and giving away free licorice. ^[1] He recalls that the Licorice Pizza name was selected because he heard it to describe a record on the Bud & Travis... In Concert album and it sounded better than "Jim's Records."^{[ citation needed ]}

Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons , worked at one on Sunset Boulevard in the early 1980s, where he first printed and sold his comic strip Life in Hell . ^[4]

One of the stores can be seen in the Ridgemont Mall in the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High .^{[ citation needed ][ importance? ]}

In 1985, Greenwood sold the company, which was ultimately absorbed into the massive record store chain Musicland, and the Licorice Pizza name disappeared as it was rebranded as Sam Goody. ^[5]

The brand was largely dormant for decades, though rights to use the name on apparel had been secured by another company. Current owner Kerry Brown bought those rights, then worked through the process of taking ownership of the trademark not just for a store, but for the record pressing business, and various categories of merchandise. ^[6]

References

1. Bell, Sadie (2021-11-24). "The Real Licorice Pizza Was an Incredible SoCal Record Store Chain". Thrillist . Retrieved 2022-03-04.
2. Raga, Pippa (2021-12-29). "Where Did Paul Thomas Anderson Get the Title 'Licorice Pizza' From?". Distractify . Retrieved 2022-03-14.
3. Nichols, Chris (2021-09-15). "A Look Back at Licorice Pizza, the SoCal Record Store P.T. Anderson's New Movie Is Named After". Los Angeles Magazine . Retrieved 2022-03-04.
4. Chocano, Carina (2001-01-30). "Matt Groening". Salon.com . Archived from the original on February 4, 2007. Retrieved January 14, 2007.
5. Gellene, Denise (1986-04-23). "Licorice Pizza Chain Will Be Sold to American Can Unit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-09-17.
6. Appleford, Steve (2024-10-14). "Revival of L.A. record store Licorice Pizza serves a slice of vinyl nostalgia". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-09-17.