Lower Haight. Forty thousand 45s, and one man who knows all of them.

Shop: Rooky Ricardo's
Address: 429 Haight Street
Town: San Francisco, United States
Formats: Vinyl, 7"
Crates: Soul, Pop, Funk, Disco, Blues, Jazz
In the shop: Step-free access, Listening booth

Dick Vivian has run Rooky Ricardo's on Haight Street for thirty-eight years - the name is his own joke on Ricky Ricardo, thought up long before he had a shop to put it on. It is a 45s shop above all: over forty thousand records, weighted to soul, oldies and the girl groups of the fifties and sixties, with a record player on the counter and no expectation that you will buy anything quickly. Vivian has mentored a generation of Bay Area shopkeepers and DJs, Nick Waterhouse among them. In August 2025 he was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer and the city raised money for his treatment