Counterpoint Records & Books

If you want to find 1970’s Israeli records, Slovak satirists, a coffee table book about powerful black women, or a play by Solzhenitsyn, this is your place. I am biased; I love, love, love used bookstores. The selection on plays is eclectic and more extensive than you’d find at Barnes and Noble.

This is a great used book/​record/​video store. I love it. I usually go straight for the vids/​dvds as they often have unusual, and rare, things on offer. The record selection is fun and the books are plentiful, and varied. It would have been 5 stars but, there is one particular employee there that is so unfriendly, so indifferent, that I don’t even bother going in when he is there.

They will rip you off if you sell your stuff there. Not a very good selection here. Congrats if you find a gem! It’s not impossible. But the organization & layout of the space makes you go blind if you browse for too long. The cashiers here always seem bored & irritated.

Great shop. Walking in the store you feel like your transported back in time. Vintage vinyl cassettes and books real cheap. They even sell vhs movies if you can find your VCR. The only thing that was missing is perhaps some old indie rock playing in the store. I think some music would add more to the magic of the store. Also an old arcade machine would be cool too. If your ever around this area stop by this store and buy something too.

I love this place ! But man, you guys are under achieving with the service. Lighten up and learn to have more than «yes/​no» in your customer service vocabulary.

This a great used book and music store. Prices are fair and the collection is wonderful.. With books both rare and popular. Also… they will buy books if the item is right. It is hard to find parking but once you do it is worth the trip

Was just passing by when this bookstore caught my eye. I can never resist a bookstore so I went in, and this place is filled with books all the way to the ceiling. I browsed for quite a while and finally decided on three books, all for under fifteen dollars. Yay!

This is an excellent general used bookstore with a good selection of CD’s at moderate prices, and a decent general collection of records. The classical lp selection is excellent as well, but a bit overpriced. I have been to this store several times before and the employees were pleasant and helpful, but the last time I visited on a Sunday before the Christmas holidays they never showed up to open the shop, leaving many of us holiday shoppers very disappointed and annoyed.
I hope the employees would make more of an effort to show up for work, especially when many of us come from far away to visit.

As a bookstore this place is pretty disappointing. Weak selection. Seemed like a lot of records though.

if you can find parking and you have at least an hour or more on your hands, it will be worth your while. I highly suggest the rock and soul sections. you can also find a good book or dvd as well.
***do NOT park in the Gelson’s parking lot, they WILL tow you***

A bookstore and record store gem in the heart of Franklin Village. A crazy selection of obscure finds and rare gems… they even have video cassettes and tapes… A fun little place to wander in and get lost for a while amidst the floor to ceiling shelves filled with old books and rows of records, tapes, CD etc. Enjoy!

This place is darling! So many used books, CDs, records, VHS, and tapes. It was like going down memory lane in some of the aisles of music. A little gem in Franklin Village.

Commenting on books only.
I love this place. Great for killing time before meeting people at Birds.
They always have a rack of books on sale outside and I have a very hard time resisting whenever I’m in the area.
Inside, they have a great selection and a ton of interesting categories. Great for browsing if your already on the block. I think for people who actually collect books too they have a great selection.
I give 4 not 5 stars because I think the book selection is a bit old and outdated. I think the best used bookstores try their based to keep more recent history and current events books in the rotation, not just older ones.

I came here looking for books. Compared to other used book stores, I thought the selection was very limited and I couldn’t find anything that I wanted.

I came here one night looking for vinyl records.
This store has a «collectible» vinyl section. The «collectible» section basically consists of anything popular youve ever heard of, and probably the stuff youre looking for — priced at collectors prices ($ 10, $ 20, $ 30+). Mind you these are used records.
The OTHER section (gen pop) is made of all the filler records you sort through at any other record store or Goodwill.
It kind of takes the thrill away of digging. I guess its a compliment to the staff for understanding demand.

Commenting on records only.
For a long time this place’s records were pretty sad… tattered and overpriced. Not sure what happened, but they’ve really gotten their act together vinyl-​wise. It’s a good place to go for collectibles. Pricing is competitive and there are titles there I’ve never seen elsewhere. There are a couple good bins of new arrivals when you walk in, and over to the left a bit are more bins of collectibles, mostly priced at exactly $ 10 or exactly $ 20, nothing in between. Some great stuff in here too. Finally the A-​Z and other sections yield good fruit on occasion.
Still not as amazing or useful as Amoeba, but they’ve definitely caught the clue here. A recommended second stop in Hollywood after hitting the bigger store. Parking’s a madhouse on this stretch of Franklin; try finding a spot on Bronson south of Franklin (a lot of diagonal spaces on the freeway overpass).

This place is a jem. The guys that work in there are really down to earth, knowledgable, and willing to help you. They have a huge selection of books on pretty much everything you could possibly think of.
Their record selection is one of the best I have run across in LA… huge variety of music… world music. country. rap… old radio shows… LOVE IT.
They also have a pretty decent movie selection… used so the process rock.
If you are running low on cash and enjoy reading or need some inexpensive children’s book this is a great place to go.
They always have a rack outside of books that are sold for 25 cents– 1 dollar.

Counterpoint is another Franklin Avenue gem, a single instrument in the symphony of this gorgeous, amazing neighborhood.
The first thing I love about Counterpoint? THE SMELL. Okay, that kinda sounds weird. But it’s got that library and old books sort-​of odor which I adore. And I could seriously spend hours here thumbing through the classics on paperback or hunting down some old records.
And the staff is completely nice. They don’t get bitchy if you’re just in there to look, which I appreciate.
Lots of good finds, very cheap. Love this place!

Probably my favorite used bookstore in LA – I can always find something! And last time I walked out with three books for $ 10.
I always feel completely comfortable making three rounds before I make any decisions.

You know what they say about Goodwills in wealthy neighborhoods? Supposedly, since rich people buy a lot of nice clothes, their discards, often barely worn, are golden. You can apply similar logic to a used bookstore in Los Feliz. The young people who live in this area often have literary pretensions. Hence, they like to buy good books. Sometimes they read them, but sometimes they just keep them on their shelves for a while and sell them in mint condition to Counterpoint.
Case in point — the multiple copies of «The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,» practically unopened and marked down to one-​digit prices. There was a whole stack of these, and I understand why. It’s a thick book by a well-​regarded, accessible author, the presence of which makes your bookshelf look smart yet not too pretentious. But it’s long and not particularly fast. Hence, the wide availability secondhand.
Snark aside, Counterpoint really is an excellent used bookstore. I’m particular about the condition of my books, and I won’t buy used books that look beaten up in any way. Most of the books here look great. As for content, I tend to evaluate bookstores on fiction alone, and the selection here is beautiful. The better part of a huge wall is devoted to novels, and the variety and quality of titles is really impressive. The shelves are littered with McCarthy and Roth, and I walked out with a pristine copy of Joan Didion’s first novel for a nominal $ 6.
There are also a lot of DVDs and all sorts of books in other genres. I noticed there’s a whole section on improv, which seems appropriate considering the bookstore’s location right next to the Upright Citizens Brigade. As I checked out, I noticed a $ 5 copy of one of my favorite bad movies ever, «Crank.» Apparently, prices vary, but the cashier said most DVDs hovered around the $ 5 mark. He was very friendly, and rounded out a great bookstore experience.
I love used bookstores and Counterpoint is one of the best around. I will make a point of coming by for a browse whenever I can, hopefully to buy rather than sell unread books.