Vitali Imports

This is a neat little store that you’d miss if you didn’t know exactly where to look. There’s not much of a sign out front, and it’s sandwiched between a Taco Bell and a La Pizza Loca on the south side of Whittier Boulevard.
Forget about your local music shop or violin store when you need supplies. This is where the violin stores by their supplies! Strings, parts, you name it, they’ve got it!
And since I’m an amateur violinmaker, I should also tell you that they have an ample selection of wood and tools so you can make your own beautiful music!
What’s particularly neat about this shop is that they’ve got a small-​but-​interesting collection of early string instruments. Lutes, viols, stuff that’d make a Renaissance troubadour go positively bonkers. For a time, Vitali looked like it was going to go out of business because of Chinese competition, so I was able to buy some of their collection.
They’ve since recovered and took their collection off the market… but I’m still holding out hope they’ll sell me that 1720s French guitar they’ve got hanging around somewhere.
They do mail order too!