Get ready for Nudie Records: Grand opening will be May 16 in Princeton by the Sea

Elise and Luke Gasper, the founders of Nudie Records, expect the “nontraditional retail space” to be open on Saturdays for shoppers to browse the label’s vinyls, as well as a selection of other curated records from psychedelic rock to outlaw country. They will also be moving their inventory and shipping operation out of their home and into the space, which they envision will become a listening room for the music about which they are passionate. 

“We’ve been living inside of Nudie Records since starting — we’ve also had another child, so the house is just starting to feel very full,” Elise Gasper said. “We also wanted the ability to sell our records in person.” 

The Gaspers first conceptualized Nudie Records during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Luke was struggling to get his own record off the ground. It began with a thought experiment — “let’s pretend we have a record label” — and grew from there, producing the physical records for Luke’s album and eventually, for a bevy of artists from coast to coast and even overseas. 

The artists they work with vary widely, ranging from “psychedelic rock to honky tonk,” Elise Gasper said, and Nudie Records provides them all with a creative umbrella to publish their music in a physical form.

“A label can mean a lot of different things, and we are one piece, the record piece,” Elise Gasper said. “We offer a really clear, really creative place for artists to make their art into something actual.” 

The name Nudie Records has more than just one meaning — it’s a play on common slang for being naked when growing up in Half Moon Bay as a kid, Elise Gasper said, as well as a reference to country music’s iconic and rhinestone-covered or elaborately stitched Nudie Suit, and it’s generally meant to keep things cheeky. 

For the Gaspers, the name also marked a beginning. It wasn’t until a friend designed the label for them with the name Nudie Records that it began to feel like a real possibility. 

“That’s the magic of naming things or following a feeling,” Elise Gasper said. 

Now, Nudie Records is looking to connect with the coastal community with its new, in-person space. The Gaspers see it as a way to share their artists’ music with the world more directly, as well as a natural expansion of a growing business. 

As an inventory and shipping space as well as a storefront, it won’t have typical nine-to-five hours, Luke Gasper said, but will offer a creative, fluid and cozy space for Nudie Records to expand in an organic next direction. 

“We have been looking for a space like this for a while now. The harbor made more sense for us … It can be a little bit more limited,” he said. 

For years, Nudie Records has been welcomed by the Half Moon Bay business community, Elise Gasper said, participating in local pop-ups and selling their records. They’re excited to give back to that community feeling, hosting events of their own at the new shop that feature other local vendors and music tailored to what the coastal community might enjoy. 

“All those kinds of things that really bring in more community, we have the opportunity with the space to do that,” she said.