Joint Custody is a tiny record and clothing store that just opened below Pharmacy Bar on 18th Street in Adams Morgan.
They are diagonal from Smash, and with a similar store model, I wondered how they could possibly set themselves apart from the iconic wonder that has been the DC area’s go-to for records and punk/rock fashion for years now.
First thing that strikes you when you walk in is much more of a vintage feel. This could be the awesome vintage lamps that are displayed and for sale as you enter.
There’s the display counter at the register full of cool vintage toys and odd-ball gifts waiting for someone to fall in love with them. Like that sex panther lamp, and there is this ship lamp that I might go back and snag.
To the left, there’s a huge wall of rare LPs, including an original 1967 pressing of The Velvet Underground and Nico, with “Peel and See” pink banana revealed. That certainly got my heart racing. Oh, if I only had the extra cash…
As you walk further back, you pass a sick Kiss painting, which I’m not sure is for sale, but it’s freaking incredible.
There is quite a decent collection of records to flip through. I put a rare Echo and the Bunnymen single on hold (of course) and a vintage garage rarity, which, this reminds me, I have to go pick up today.
Anyway, there is a back shelf with Frye and other vintage boots that I’m sure will continue to be filled with goodies, as well as a wall of vintage t-shirts. And when you least expect it, you walk past a bin full of vintage hair metal pins. Load up those jean jackets, kids.
Basically, this is your new favorite spot to dig for records, to make drunken purchases as you walk between Bourbon and Pharmacy, and where you will likely buy at least one last-minute birthday gift for someone you’re trying to impress.
Joint Custody
2337 18th Street NW (Below The Pharmacy Bar)
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 232-3050
jointcustodydc@gmail.com
