Capitol Hill Rewind | Mt. Olympus Imports brought the sounds of Europe and Japan to Broadway – Top Seattle

Exploring the neighborhood’s record-shop history

It seems quaint today, but there was a time when a new record shop on Capitol Hill celebrated its grand opening with a storewide sale and album giveaways. Such was the case for Mt. Olympus Imports, which opened in the Broadway Alley in the summer of 1980, according to The Rocket, offering prizes like complete LP catalogs for the Clash, the Sex Pistols, and the Scorpions, as well as the Oblique Strategies box autographed by Brian Eno.

Mt. Olympus Imports was a pioneering neighborhood record shop—The Record Library, Broadway Record Centre, Bomb Shelter, and Rubato Records would open nearby over the next few years—with roots dating back to 1975 with its first location in a Burien storefront on Main Street. It was an offshoot of a handful of neighborhood Budget Tapes and Records owned and operated by Scott Martin (a.k.a. DJ Les Morely), Greg Norling, and Don Stivers.

“The Burien Budget Tapes and Records was the central hub of our Budget empire,” Martin told me. “It made sense to open an import-only store when the import market was just getting going. Our Budget stores had been buying imports through John Saltzgiver when he was in Oregon. We hired John to come up to Burien to open and run all facets of Mt. Olympus.” Martin and Saltzgiver were part-time radio hosts at KRAB-FM, operated from a former fire station at Harvard and E Union.

According to Martin, Saltzgiver was essential to Mt. Olympus Imports moving from Burien to Capitol Hill. “I wish I had John’s contact info,” Martin told me. “He is really the person to talk to.” I tried locating Saltzgiver via various phone numbers, email addresses, social media, and his former friends and colleagues—all with no success. One person told me he might have seen Saltzgiver selling records in Oregon shortly before the pandemic.

The Capitol Hill shop closed less than two years after it opened, according to The Rocket, and the store relocated to Belltown, where it later changed owners and was renamed Exotique Imports. Saltzgiver also ran a new record store concept out of a most unconventional location—his apartment above the Paramount Theatre downtown, according to a local magazine advertisement. Shoppers could listen to records on a high-tech sound system in the comfort of Saltzgiver’s living room.

Martin shared his memories of the short-lived Capitol Hill store as part of my ongoing interest in exploring Capitol Hill’s music shop-related history.

“It was forward-thinking to move to Capitol Hill.” Given the growing popularity of imports, getting out of the little rock ‘n’ roll “pockets,” where our Budget Tapes & Records were located, was a smart idea. It was forward-thinking to move to a more urban and happening location in Seattle. The Capitol Hill store was not huge, nestled as it was upstairs in the back of Broadway Alley—maybe 600 square feet of retail and storage space.

“Imports opened our ears to so much new music.” Imports were records produced and pressed in Europe and Japan. Much of that music was only available outside the U.S. We got music that was new to us and explored new genres. Import pressings were better quality—particularly Japanese ones on virgin vinyl—and packaging was generally nicer and more interesting. Imports offered an exciting alternative to domestic records and opened our ears to so much new music. It was something we and our customers were into, and given that the import market was just beginning to flourish in the U.S., it seemed an opportune time to get involved.

“Mt. Olympus had more imports than any other store in Seattle.” We sold a variety of stuff—lots of prog rock, kraut rock, punk, post-punk, and English and Irish folk. We sold Joy Division, Sex Pistols, Gang of Four, Cabaret Voltaire, and Nick Drake. Elvis Costello’s My Aim is True was released six months before the U.S. release. In Seattle, the Mercer Street Tower Records was about the only place to find imports in the 1970s. We hired Jeff Batis, who was then the import buyer at Tower Records, to work at Mt. Olympus. He was a definite asset. He brought much knowledge and an unparalleled work ethic! Mt. Olympus had more imports than any other store in Seattle. We also had an established mail-order network and a direct buying setup with labels abroad.

“People made special trips to our store.” Being in Seattle opened us up to a much larger customer base. Word of mouth had spread, and people made special trips to our store. The store was doing great, and, down the road, thoughts of opening another location might have been discussed. I remember meeting customers like Jonathan Demme, Tom Robbins, Bruce Pavitt, and Jonathan Poneman. I know there were many others, but these are the ones I remember. I was a 25-year-old kid who had a chance to be part owner of some record stores. Mt. Olympus Imports was a dream for me. It’s too bad I didn’t have much business savvy back then.

“Mt. Olympus was what was keeping the Budgets afloat financially.” Our success was cut short by being tied to the failing Budget Tapes and Records stores. The factors that caused the downfall of Mt. Olympus were the mismanagement by Don and the naiveté of his partners, being me and Greg. We were busy running our individual Budgets and trusted Don and basically left the books to him. Little did we know bills were not being paid and money was being siphoned. Essentially, Mt. Olympus was what was keeping the Budgets afloat financially. John and I had proposed to Don and Greg a deal allowing Mt. Olympus to break away from the Budgets. Don and Greg would not agree to this. I feel strongly that had Mt. Olympus gone solo, it would have survived and become a premier force in import vinyl and beyond.

“We were all discovering music together!” I visit Capitol Hill from time to time, but the memory and connection to Mt. Olympus are long behind me. I am certainly proud of what was accomplished with Mt. Olympus. It was an exciting time for music, and I was fortunate to have been involved. My favorite thing was turning others on to new music. Most folks who remember the store are now old. I had a garage sale a couple of years ago and sold some of my vinyl. One guy was digging through a box of records, and somehow, Mt. Olympus came up. It was nice talking to someone who knew Mt. Olympus from back in the day. His enthusiasm was familiar. One thing that was so great about the store was that we were all discovering music together!

Capitol Hill resident Todd Matthews is a writer, editor, and journalist whose work has appeared in more than two dozen magazines, newspapers, books, and other publications in print and online over the past 25 years.

 

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