In a trendy pocket of Mexico City, you find Hipodromo: a beautiful neighborhood between Roma Norte and Condesa. In Hipodromo you can find Parque Mexico, lines for greek yogurt stretching around the block, a contrarily trendy Jewish deli, a few of the city's best pastry shops, and the best overall record store I have ever had the pleasure of visiting.

99 Records is a small lobby with a hidden stairway to a dedicated speakeasy/lounge to complement the storefront. Shhh is the intimate upstairs suite to 99 Records with a full bar, patio, seating area, library, and a dedicated listening room with the most complex and intentional stereo system I have ever seen.

Hosting music nights on a weekly basis, I happened to stumble across Shhh on London Jazz night. Here you can enjoy meticulously crafted and high quality cocktails, small yet delicious bites, beautiful design, and candle-lit ambience while listening to an intensely curated vinyl collection. There had to be nearly 100,000 records in the store.

A business that can combine retail and restaurant so seamlessly, integrating a level of design and hospitality that is second to none should be studied. Everything from the dark red color scheme consistent throughout the record shop and the bar to the liquid metal style tables fostered a feeling of creativity and elegance that I've never seen before. Singularity and duality blend together in this storefront on Ámsterdam 62, Hipódromo. Escape reality and dive into a feeling that only music can provoke in this perfectly designed space that will make you feel like a Spanish Rick Rubin.

A Personal Record