Musical Instrument Stores in Erie PA 1970

Old Time Erie ads from the 1970 General Telephone book, courtesy of Jeff George.

Did you take music lessons in Erie, PA in 1970? Or play in a band? If so, you should recognize a few of the music stores listed here. The Osiecki family had the market cornered with a one, and a two and a three and a four stores. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Here's the list of retail musical instrument stores:
Dick Bulling's Music House of Erie, 1128 West 26th St. (2 blocks east of present store)
Discount Piano & Organ Sales, 504 West 8th St.
Erie School of Music, 2501 Peach St.
Froess Piano & Organ Co., 556 West 8th St.
Markham Music, 25 West 11th St.
Moore Music, 1007 West 6th St.
Osiecki Brothers Music Center, 2201 Parade St. and 828 West Erie Plaza
Osiecki Music Co., 1105 Parade St. (Later called Rodney's)
Osiecki Music Co., 3441 Peach St.
Ronzitti Music Store, 2603 Peach St.
Tune Toppers Music & Studio, 1809 State St.

There have been many retail stores that sold guitars, amplifiers, keyboards and drums over the years in Erie, Pennsylvania, but this one is limited to stores that existed in 1970. 

Click here for another article about Osiecki's

Enjoy more Erie history at: oldtimeerie.blogspot.com

Osiecki Music Center 22nd and Parade St. in Erie, PA

Osiecki's ad from 1959 General Telephone phone book.

I would like to offer a public apology to Val Osiecki for spending so much time in his store drooling over guitars and amps that I could never afford. I lived on East 22nd Street (upstairs of guitarist Preston Lindey) from 1975 to 1985 and I was in the store at least once a week to see what new trade-ins came in. The guitars hung on a rack behind the front counter on the south side of the store. I'm pretty sure there was a Fender Mustang (12-string?) and a Gibson Melody Maker hanging there for many, many months.

There were used amplifiers on the second floor at Osiecki's and I eventually found one that I had to have--a Fender Princeton. And once I had an MXR Distortion pedal, I could make that thing scream. It had a gritty, street tone that allowed me to play along to the Ramones and Sammy Hagar, among others. I broke a ton of 'E' strings due to my lack of patience. Val would just shake his head when I would come back in to buy another one.

Osiecki's was a cool place to hang out. It got kind of crowded in there on Fridays. I imagine everyone was stocking up on supplies for weekend gigs. The store sold Peavey guitars (which seemed to come in three colors- blonde, natural and black) and amps.

At some point Osiecki's moved from 2201 Parade Street to 2426 Parade Street before they finally shut their doors. The old ad from the 1959 phone book shows Harry and Jerry Osiecki playing the accordian.

Osiecki's had a branch in the West Erie Plaza in Millcreek Township in 1971: 
http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2012/05/west-erie-plaza-map-1971-dipsons.html