A Drummer's Musical Instrument Store Near Me in Hollywood: Professional Drum Shop

Professional Drum Shop, at 854 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90038, is a store that sells nothing but drums, cymbals, percussion and the parts that keep them working. Bob Yeager opened it in 1959, and his family still runs it from the same stretch of Vine Street south of Hollywood's busiest blocks. When a drummer types musical instrument store near me anywhere in central Los Angeles, this is the room with the hand-drawn sign, the photo-covered walls and decades of session stories.

The shop's own About page says it was established in 1959 by Bob Yeager with Chuck Molinari, and that it exists for the sole purpose of assisting drummers with whatever they may need. It describes the business as equal parts retail drum store, online retailer, museum and drummers' hang. That mix is still obvious the moment you step in from the sidewalk, because the merchandise shares space with framed history.

Yeager's stepsons grew up inside it. Jerry Keyawa told The Drummer's Journal in 2015 that he started in 1967 when he was nine, while Stan was 11, cleaning drums and cutting up cardboard for their stepdad. A NAMM oral history recorded in 2014 lists Jerry as vice president and notes that he and his two brothers run the store, carrying on the Bob Yeager tradition of solid customer service.

Jerry is the family storyteller, and the best tales involve famous customers. In The Drummer's Journal interview he recalls the 1970s, when the shop had just started accepting credit cards and his father ordered him to phone Visa on every charge. The next customer through the door was Neil Diamond, picking out a drum set for his kid, and the Visa operator laughed so hard that Jerry was sure the singer could hear it.

Later that same afternoon, Jim Keltner called to ask whether the shop could stay open five minutes past closing. He arrived with George Harrison, who wanted a Christmas present for Ringo. Yeager tried hard to sell him a 100th anniversary Gretsch set, the most expensive thing in the store, and then took Harrison's credit card without calling it in. During the 1960s, the magazine adds, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Art Blakey and Papa Jo Jones were all regulars.

Cymbals are the reason many players make the trip in person, since no product video captures how a ride opens up under your own stick. The online catalog lists crashes, rides, chinas, splashes and hi-hats from Zildjian, Sabian, Paiste, Meinl, Istanbul Agop, Kasza and Royal Cymbals, plus low volume cymbals, crotales, gongs and band and orchestral models. The world percussion side runs from LP timbales and guiros to udus, tongue drums and even waterphones.

Some recent listings give a sense of the range. A 22-inch K Zildjian Paper Thin Crash is listed at $629.95, a 15-inch Paiste 2002 Sound Edge Hi-Hat at $604.00, and a 17-inch Istanbul Agop Xist Dry Dark Hi-Hat at $471.84. Bring the stick model you actually gig with, and ask to hear two similar cymbals back to back, because small differences in weight and wash show up quickly in a small room.

Drum sets on the menu come from DW, Gretsch, Ludwig, Pearl, Rogers, Slingerland and Tama, and the snare section adds Canopus, Schagerl, Gruv-X and Pork Pie. A recent listing for a Gretsch USA Custom 6.5 by 14 Lightning snare in mirror chrome shows $809.00, while a Ludwig 26-inch Legacy Maple Zep four-piece shell pack in natural maple reaches $4,295.00, built around an oversized bass drum.

Apartment drummers and hybrid players are covered too. Time Out pointed out the electronic kits sold here for people with neighbors, and the current catalog features the Roland SPD-SX PRO sampling pad at $1,499.99 alongside triggers and practice pads. Sticks are the everyday purchase, and a pair of Vic Firth American Classic 5A drumsticks is listed at $14.99, next to brushes, rods and mallets for orchestral percussionists.

The banner across the shop's website reads Repairs and Service, and Time Out called it a go-to repair and equipment shop for drummers. The staff write that they see common problems with DW pedals in the shop every day, and they have posted videos showing how many of those fixes can be done at home with the right tools, linked to the exact replacement parts sold on the site.

That parts inventory is the quiet strength of the business. The site carries lugs and claws, snare wires, throw-offs, tension rods, mallet repair kits and individual drums that let a player rebuild a kit instead of replacing it. The banner also promotes custom drum kits and orders, and the shop sells Beato bags in standard and custom sizes made in the USA, a practical fix for an odd-sized floor tom that never fits a stock case.

Professional Drum Shop keeps working-musician hours. It is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 am to 5 pm, Saturday from 9:30 am to 4 pm, and closed on Sunday. A weekday morning is the calmest time for a long conversation about a snare or a pedal repair, while late Saturday is tighter because the doors close an hour earlier.

Treat the counter like a working space. Tell the staff what you play and what music you make before asking for recommendations, since this family has been outfitting Hollywood drummers since 1959. Ask before striking a cymbal on display, keep the volume reasonable when another customer is talking through a repair, and give the old photographs time. Anyone outside Los Angeles can take the virtual store tour on the shop's website, guided by Stan.

The shop's location was never an accident. The Drummer's Journal credits part of its early success to its proximity to Capitol Records and the Musicians Union. The union's former home, the Musicians Union of Hollywood building on Vine Street, stands across Vine Street. Designed by Gordon B. Kaufmann and completed in 1950, it housed the union until 2017 and is now a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument linked to the Wrecking Crew.

Walk south to Melrose Avenue, where Vine Street ends, and then east toward the Paramount Pictures studio lot on Melrose Avenue, home of a film company founded in 1912 and still headquartered there. Metro Local line 210 serves Vine Street, and the Metro B Line stops at Hollywood/Vine station farther north. In 2024 the landlord put the building up for sale, but the shop's 2026 website still lists the Vine Street address.