Licorice Pizza was a Los Angeles record store chain that inspired the title of Paul Thomas Anderson's 2021 film of the same name.^[1] The term is a colloquial expression for vinyl records, comparing them to the color of licorice and the shape of a pizza.^[2]

James Greenwood opened the first Licorice Pizza record store in July 1969 in downtown Long Beach.^[3] In the next fifteen years, multiple locations spread throughout Southern California. They became known for highly knowledgeable staff, all-request sound systems, getting new releases first, and giving away free licorice.^[1] He recalls that the Licorice Pizza name was selected because he heard it to describe a record on the Bud & Travis... In Concert album and it sounded better than "Jim's Records."^{[citation needed]}

Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, worked at one on Sunset Boulevard in the early 1980s, where he first printed and sold his comic strip Life in Hell.^[4]

One of the stores can be seen in the Ridgemont Mall in the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High.^{[citation needed][importance?]}

Licorice Pizza was acquired by Sam Goody in 1986.^{[citation needed]}

References

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