This story aired in the May 28, 2026 episode of Crosscurrents.
A different kind of bar scene has grown across the Bay Area since the pandemic: listening bars. Derived from a tradition that took off in 1930s Tokyo, they're businesses that play high-fidelity music from vintage speakers. But are these special places made for listening one-hit wonders… or here to stay?
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Story Transcript:
REPORTER: Will Herrera loves music — like, really loves it.
Sound of Will searching through records
WILL HERRERA: There's one in particular that I really want to share because I think its hook is just so good.
REPORTER: He bought his first turntable at 16-years old. He says it gave him the ability to express his energy through music and that changed his life. As he talks, he shuffles through the bar’s record collection.
HERRERA: I've been a bartender my entire life. Um, and that was kind of an extension of music. I could still be there and use my hands and sculpt something that was for the person directly in front of me.
REPORTER: Now he can do both as the bar manager at Harlan Records, a vinyl themed bar in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Every night, Will and other bartenders curate the music for the evening,
Shelves line the walls with hundreds of vinyl records to choose from, but HE PULLS A VINYL OUT from a secret stash under the bar: Kingbutch by Butcher Brown
Harlan Records is one of several bars and restaurants featuring vinyl records that have opened around the Bay Area in the past few years. They’re based on the idea of listening bars, or Jazz Kissas, -- a tradition that began in Tokyo in 1929. Jazz was extremely popular worldwide, but most records had to be imported from the United States and were too expensive for the average person to purchase on their own. Then during world war two, the japanese government cracked down on western imports.
HERRERA: Neighboring countries or American citizens who had access to this music would bring this contraband and share it with the Japanese community who would host private listening sessions.
REPORTER: After World War II, Kissas offered an accessible, community space to listen. These sessions would take place in underground cafes, soundproofed warehouse lofts, and other secret spaces where people would come grab a drink and sit without talking. But the Bay’s modern versions of these kissas, including Harlan records, don’t usually require their guests to be completely silent.
HERRERA: In our society, we would never dream of telling someone what to do. I would never say have you walk into a bar and say, Nava, it's nice to see you shut the *bleep* up for 45 minutes.
REPORTER: But even if they’re not true to the original concept, these businesses continue to soar in popularity.
To learn more about vinyl bars in the Bay Area, I spoke to Cesar Hernandez, a food critic at the San Francisco Chronicle.
In his work, he’s seen restaurant trends come and go, and he says, listening bars aren't different.
CESAR HERNANDEZ: I think that a lot of restaurant goers, like, it's sort of become like a Mad Libs plug-in for like, what you might expect the next restaurant to be. It's gonna have matcha, it's gonna have like birria, or it's gonna have like, vinyl listening bars component. I think that these are just sort of the things that we have gravitated towards.
REPORTER: Higher-end businesses have started to invest in the high fidelity craze. LIKE - Celebrity chef Dominique Crenn now has a listening bar in San Francisco called Bar Crenn — an attachment to her expensive three-michelin starred restaurant.
HERNANDEZ: I think it is a little sad that if its origin was finding space to listen to music with others when it's curated specifically for a certain clientele that has money, I think it does cheapen it a little bit.
REPORTER: But despite the trendiness, listening bars are difficult to run. at a time when most bars struggle to make ends meet, listening bars come with added costs and extra tasks.
HERNANDEZ: to like have someone on staff that will be able to turn every record or like switch them out. It's a lot of labor.
REPORTER: One Sunday evening, I decide to grab a drink at Bar Shiru, a business that might be the closest fit to a traditional “listening bar” in the Bay Area. Shiru is owned by Daniel Gahr and Shirin Raza, a married couple who decided to leave their tech job IN 2019 to open the bar after a trip to Japan. When I walk in, the only sound I can hear is the vinyl playing –– the soulful soundscape of Until the Quiet Comes by Flying Lotus.
I sit right next to the DJ booth of the dark, sound-proofed bar, as co-owner Daniel flips the records every few minutes. He paces between the DJ Booth and the host stand, greeting guests as they come in.
On Sundays, the bar hosts a deep listening session where guests are asked to remain silent for an hour as the music plays.
"There's so much literal and figurative noise in this world right now. It feels really special to be able to sit somewhere and just focus on music with other people." - Daniel Gahr, co-owner of Bar Shiru.
DANIEL GAHR: Over the last, you know, 10 to 15 years, we've had the, uh, ability to play any song on demand at any time, like literally in our pocket. So I think it's interesting to give into the experience of someone else thoughtfully curating a night of records.
REPORTER: While I’m here, only about ten other people sit to listen. Others enter but leave before the session is over, like Nico Wilson, who was hoping to grab a drink to celebrate her friend's birthday.
NICO WILSON: I think for what we are trying to do as a group of friends to hang out and chat and catch up, um, it's kind of the opposite of what we wanna do.
REPORTER: But others came specifically for this quiet, almost meditative, experience LIKE Andrea Prysock, who sits alone at the bar and colors as she listens.
ANDREW PRYSOCK: It's really fun to just disconnect on purpose. It just helps my brain turn off
REPORTER: Across the room, Jared Mitchell and his partner Natasha Hyman nod along to the music. Jared is a frequent visitor of the bar.
JARED MITCHELL: Vinyl is really fun to listen to because it's, um, you know, it, it has more depth and just like those crackly sounds or nostalgic, and it just, it's, it's, it's a beautiful sound. I love it.
REPORTER: In the seven years Bar Shiru has been open, Daniel says they have yet to turn a profit.
GAHR: I purchased fewer and fewer records over the last, you know, from basically 2022 to 2025. There's just not a lot of money. To be budgeted towards that.
REPORTER: Daniel’s seen a lot of his friend’s businesses close over the years. Costs keep rising…but he’s counting on this community of music lovers to help Bar Shiru stay open.
GAHR: I love the idea of creating a space that is purely for listening. Um, there's so much literal and figurative noise in this world right now. It feels really special to be able to sit somewhere and just focus on music with other people.
REPORTER: This new era of Bay Area nightlife is pulling from old traditions, taking full advantage of the resurgence of vinyl to draw in a new audience. But, it’s too soon to say if the Bay is really ready to sit back and listen.
