Columbia Records Pressing Plant Santa Maria, CA, 14SEP68

JOv2

Well-Known Member
Here are four photos dated 14SEP68 reportedly from inside the plant.

1968-09-14-columbia-covers.jpg

The date seem plausible. Wikipedia claims Big Brother and the Holding Company / Cheap Thrills was released 12AUG68. Note the presence of SP-4140.


1968-09-14-columbia-skate.jpg

Seeing the "go-fer" employees rollerskating to and fro (note the wrist wrap — an on-the-job accident?) is a reminder of just how substantial and timely the record biz was by the late 1960s.


1968-09-14-Columbia-45s.jpg



1968-09-14-Columbia-records.jpg


I remember the Columbia "eye" on the building, which was visible from US-101. As a kid in the late '60s / early '70s, we would drive by this plant northbound on US-101 heading up to San Luis Obispo, Monterey, or Santa Cruz. Once, I asked my dad if we could go inside someday and he told me it was a record factory — not a record store — and that no one could enter except employees…I could only daydream at the cache of unknown LPs and music inside that huge building…
 
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