A steady stream of water is bubbling up through a drain in the basement at Bop Street Records on Ballard Ave. in Old Ballard, flooding parts of a large storage area housing 250,000 vintage records.
“We don’t know where the water is coming from,” said Bop Street Records owner Dave Vorhees. He said the water began bubbling up though a drain Friday night, and both the City of Seattle and Roto Rooter have been unable to pinpoint the source. Then Saturday afternoon, water began bubbling up another drain a few feet away. A sump pump is trying to keep up with it all.
About an inch of water has formed in several large pools in the basement, soaking boxes of records sitting on the floor. “I don’t even want to know,” Vorhees said when we asked about the damage estimate.
Among the quarter million records in the basement is Vorhees’ own personal collection of 45’s. In between customers, he’s drying them off, one by one.
“Conway Twitty is one of my favorites,” he said, drying off the record with toilet paper and adding it to a large pile on the music stage. “I think we’re salvaging enough,” he said. “It may be a good excuse to reorganize them.”
Bop Street Records has been in Ballard since 1984, and it’s been described as “vinyl heaven” and a “pilgrimage for any audio snob.” The store remains open as workers try to stop the flow of water. We’ll keep you updated.
Update: Bop Street tells us the water stopped when the rain stopped falling on Saturday night, but they still haven’t identified the source of the problem.
He should throw on Milli Vanilli's album “Girl You Know it's True” if he has it, it might give him some answers.