The Midnight Hour Records, a touchstone in the City of San Fernando, while moving out, celebrated its sixth anniversary this past weekend. Although it’s a spot to purchase vinyl and your favorite sounds – to the local community, the independently owned store has been so much more.
It was a concert venue, a local history museum, a gallery space and a welcoming community space for those who felt marginalized. Operating under an ethos of “community over commodities,” the store proudly displayed flags representing LGBTQ+ pride, Palestine and the Black Lives Matter movement on its front windows – a bold display in a tight-knit Latino, yet oftentimes conservative small city resistant to change.
Amid struggling bridal shops and furniture stores, Midnight Hour Records located itself in the middle of the San Fernando Mall and soon changed the foot traffic in the area from a largely immigrant base to younger customers, including activists who wanted to see change in their small town. There, you could purchase an anti-ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] T-shirt and use the space to gather and paint a protest sign.
To their dismay, the store is now nearly empty. This week, owner Sergio Amalfitano, with the help of a few others, has been packing up all of the equipment and merchandise, including vintage vinyl records, cassette tapes and VHS tapes.
The Midnight Hour had its last day of operation in the City of San Fernando on Aug. 24, and by Aug. 31, everything is expected to be moved out before a new location opens in North Hollywood.
Reflecting on the past six years, Amalfitano said they were successful in creating a genuine sense of community and pulling together a network of artists, musicians, activists, community members, teachers and students throughout the San Fernando Valley, especially in the Northeast part of the valley, which oftentimes is ignored.
“There are people who got engaged because they met at our store and got married. They took their engagement photos here,” Amalfitano said. “There are people who have said, ‘I started coming here when I was 13. I never had friends, didn’t know what music was about, but I found them [here].’”
His kids have also grown up in the area. His daughter, who is going to celebrate her quinceañera, got her dress at one of the local shops. And his 3-year-old son affectionately called the store “Daddy’s house.”
A Lively Community Space
The Midnight Hour was considered home to diversity that included goths, punks, the LGBTQ+ community and people from all walks of life.
Amalfitano said he has always taken the position that music reflects the artist’s culture, language, history, politics and community – so it would make little sense to sell to people pieces of their culture without understanding and appreciating that same culture.
“We have people of the LGBTQ community … who feel marginalized by the politicians and the community at large, like [they were told] be yourself, but keep it under wraps,” Amalfitano said. “We have always said we accept you and embrace you fully. No matter what age, race, gender expression, sexuality, nationality or whether you’re ‘illegal,’ we don’t care about those things. You’re human, and we love and respect you.”
Amalfitano was careful to make the distinction that his store was a community space, not a “safe space,” meaning they didn’t limit themselves to one group or another but were open to the whole community as long as they were respectful.
City of San Fernando resident Justan Torres, 38, has been going to The Midnight Hour since it opened. He’s been part of the punk rock subculture since he was 14, but said that back then, if you wanted to get anything punk rock, you had to travel outside the valley.
The Midnight Hour opening in the city meant that, for the first time, the subculture was accessible to him. It meant a lot to him as an adult, and he was glad for the youth who are starting to get engaged with it.
“The store has provided so many intergenerational opportunities because punk has been around since the ‘70s,” Torres said. “You see [both] teenagers … and senior citizens because it’s one of those subcultures that you don’t grow out of. It stays with you.”
But The Midnight Hour wasn’t just a place for people to make fond memories – it was a rallying point for activists and the community during tough times. After Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2024, the store hosted benefit shows to raise funds for the people of Palestine. Following the immigration raids in Los Angeles in June 2025, The Midnight Hour distributed free “protest kits” with items to help keep demonstrators safe and hydrated.
“In my point of view, we were successful, regardless of finances,” Amalfitano said. “We were successful in our mission of finding a true community and sharing that with each other.”
Poor City Management
There are a number of reasons why the store is closing, including tariffs and inflation raising prices not just on his merchandise, but basic necessities, and fewer people shopping due to fear of being deported by immigration authorities.
But a big part has been the City of San Fernando and the local City Council. Amalfitano expressed his frustration with the council’s reluctance to take a progressive stance and support the large number of mostly younger residents who crowded the council chambers to urge the city to adopt sanctuary city status; not everyone on the council appreciated the change the store encouraged. Its Instagram page became a vessel for communication and organizing.
He also found it counterproductive when the local council dissolved the San Fernando Mall Association and put an end to the San Fernando Outdoor Market, which he pointed out brought people to the city to explore and shop.
One particular grievance was the City Council spending $250,000 on holiday lighting, which he said could’ve been used to promote local businesses, set up a directory or provide Wi-Fi for them to use.
“It became harder and harder to be able to pay rent without taking out more loans or taking out more credit cards,” Amalfitano said. “The City Council could have [used] this money to support the next 14 months of outdoor markets or invest in having events every couple of weeks or have a farmers market.
“Why did they even install the bollards on the streets, which cost them tons of money … if they’re never going to close off the streets?” he continued. “At every level, it just seems like a mismanagement of funds. To me, it just doesn’t make sense, and all of it has cumulatively hurt every single business on the block.”
A New Iteration
The Midnight Hour Records will be moving to the NoHo Arts District, with a tentative opening day set for sometime in September. Amalfitano described it as a different iteration; it won’t be able to host live shows right away due to costs, but he hopes to host more pop-up markets and food trucks in their outdoor area, as well as more movie and artist-related events.
He also noted that a representative from LA City Councilmember Adrian Nazarian’s office has already reached out to him to discuss how they can work with each other – something that no one from the City of San Fernando had ever done.
Although the store won’t be gone forever, Amalfitano understands the sense of loss many in the Northeast Valley are feeling. Some local teachers have reached out, telling him that their students felt his store was one of the few places where they were accepted with open arms.
Torres said he felt devastated when he learned the store would be closing, as The Midnight Hour helped bring progressive events and programming to the City of San Fernando, but is glad that the new location will still be in the valley.
“I feel that ever since COVID-19 and ICE raids, the valley, in regard to community organizing, has experienced a renaissance, and I was grateful that it seemed that The Midnight Hour had centered that renaissance in the Northeast San Fernando Valley,” Torres said.
Amalfitano said he isn’t abandoning the community and is open to partnering with them every opportunity he can. As he leaves, Amalfitano shares a message to those in the community who showed him so much love.
“Thank you for supporting us for so long. We appreciate you. We take our responsibility to the community seriously, and we apologize for having to leave, but we hope that if the community ever needs anything from us, they reach out, and we hope that we can be there.
“This is not the end. This is … a reassessment of how we do things and where we do things, but we’ve always had love for the entire valley, and we’re always going to have love for the Northeast Valley.”
Diana Martinez contributed to this article.