As a kid I felt lucky to have spent so much time with my grandparents. My folks were divorced, so weekends and summers meant extended stays at my Grandparents house in Crenshaw (Mid City LA), and my Gramma's apartment in Little Tokyo (DTLA). 

It was during these early trips to my Grandparents when I spent the most time with my Grampa Don. I realized early on my Grampa pressed records for a living. His face would light up every time someone talked with him about his work. Some of my earliest memories of vinyl records are of my Grampa handing my Mom a stack of vinyl records . These records were the fruits of his craft.

My Grandfather worked with Columbia Records at their pressing plant in Hollywood from the 1940's until the plant shuttered in the 60's, then went on to work with Alco record pressing on Santa Monica/Vine for another 20+ years until he retired. He started off as a press operator and eventually graduated to become an electroplating technician, crafting the Father/Mother plates the record stampers are made with. His dedication to the craft had him working long hours, leaving little time for much else during his working years. 

Grampa's later years
In my adolescent years as I started to collect records of my own, my Grampa began to develop Alzheimers disease. He started to forget simple things, and then more elaborate things, and eventually everything. It was a long slow goodbye to the Grampa I knew and loved - it was heartbreaking.

Because of his progressing disease we never had much of a chance to talk about how much I grew to love collecting vinyl, about the trips I'd taken with friends to go hunt for treasured records. About how much I loved the craftsmanship and sound of vinyl records, and everything that went into making them. 

Although Grampa Don been gone for many years (R.I.P), he's a huge inspiration for Art of Records. CLRCASE is a way to showcase the artistry and craftsmanship of  vinyl records. 

Love you Grampa, miss you always.

Adam