Entry No. 54 — the Pittsburgh file — filed under: records
Get Hip Recordings
Get Hip started in 1986 as a way for members of Pittsburgh garage band The Cynics — Gregg Kostelich, Michael Kastelic, Bill von Hagen — to put out their own records on their own terms, beginning with singles mailed to a fan club. Forty years on it's a label and an international distributor moving stock to and from Europe, Japan, and the States, with a catalog past 20,000 titles and releases by The Fleshtones, The Gories, New Bomb Turks, Man or Astro-man?, and Turbonegro. Kostelich runs it with his wife Barbara Garcia-Bernardo out of a warehouse in the R.J. Casey Industrial Park on the North Side, and the retail counter is inside the working operation. The posted hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 to 6. It looks like a distribution floor because that's what it is, which is the entire appeal.
→ Three more vintage, record & maker shops in Pittsburgh — never the same twice
The story
Get Hip began in 1986 as a workaround. Gregg Kostelich, Michael Kastelic and Bill von Hagen were playing in the Pittsburgh garage band The Cynics and wanted records out on their own terms, so they built the machinery themselves. The Cynics' own catalog is still among the label's best sellers — the 1990 third album, Rock 'N' Roll, especially — but the roster stopped being a house-band project decades ago. Get Hip has put out The Fleshtones, The Gories, New Bomb Turks, Man or Astro-man?, Turbonegro, Nashville Pussy, The Paybacks, Doctor Explosion and Spain's Killer Barbies, with artists drawn from four continents.
The label is now the smaller half of the business. Get Hip, Inc. describes itself as a fully functioning record label and distributor of over 20,000 titles — garage, punk, soul, pop, doo-wop, rock 'n' roll — buying, selling, importing and exporting to and from Europe, Japan and America. Two in-house reissue lines feed it: the Get Hip Archive Series, which resurrects 1950s and 60s sides, and the Get Hip Folk Series for roots material. Kostelich runs the whole operation with his wife, Barbara Garcia-Bernardo.
The address is 1800 Columbus Avenue, inside the R.J. Casey Industrial Park on the North Side, and the company lists itself in that order: label, distributor, store. The store is a counter inside a working warehouse, posted Monday through Saturday, 10 to 6, with the racks sitting alongside the pallets and pick lists that are the actual day job. There is no block around it to speak of — the neighbor at 1800 Preble is Bicycle Heaven, another warehouse given over entirely to one man's subject.
What it's like
You will drive, and you will drive into an industrial park: no street life, no strip of shops, just numbered buildings and a lot of loading dock. Parking is on site. Inside, the retail floor and the fulfillment floor are the same floor, so staff are packing international orders first and fielding browsing questions second — which is fine, because they know the stock cold. The racks run hard to garage, punk, soul, doo-wop and reissues rather than general classic rock, so calibrate before you start flipping. Bring cash. Ring 412-231-4766 before you set out; posted hours are Mon–Sat 10 to 6, but a warehouse's hours bend around shipping. Budget an hour, then go — there is nothing nearby for a coffee afterward.
The move: Drive over Saturday afternoon, spend an hour in the racks with a mutual dare — neither of you leaves without a garage record by a band you've never heard of and can't pronounce — then take it across the river and play it loud. Bring cash.
📍 Before you go Retail hours posted as Mon–Sat 10am–6pm, but call 412-231-4766 before you go — it's a warehouse first and a shop second, and the floor staff are shipping orders. It sits inside an industrial park with no walkable block around it, so drive; parking is on-site and there's nothing nearby for a coffee afterward. Stock skews hard to garage, punk, and reissues, not general classic rock. If you want a specific title held, email ahead rather than hoping it's in the racks.
- 📍 Pittsburgh
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Low-key
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 1800 Columbus Ave., R.J. Casey Industrial Park, Pittsburgh, PA 15233
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Bicycle Heaven — Same industrial complex — 1800 Preble to Get Hip's 1800 Columbus — and the same basic proposition: a warehouse where one obsession was allowed to grow to full size.
- Gus & YiaYia's — Get Hip has no food or coffee within walking distance, and Gus & YiaYia's cart in West Park is about a mile east, which fixes that in the most Pittsburgh way available.
- Pittsburgh Banjo Club at Allegheny Elks Lodge #339 — Under two miles away and the exact tonal opposite: buy a 1966 garage 45 in the afternoon, then stand in an Elks lodge while thirty banjos play at once.
More weird in Pittsburgh
Good to know
Can I just walk in, or do I need an appointment?
Walk in. The brick-and-mortar store is posted Monday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm. But it is a distribution warehouse first and a shop second, so call 412-231-4766 the morning of rather than assuming the door is unlocked.
How do I get there, and where do I park?
Drive. 1800 Columbus Ave. sits inside the R.J. Casey Industrial Park on the North Side, with on-site parking and no walkable block around it. Bicycle Heaven at 1800 Preble Ave. is the immediate neighbor if you want one trip to do two things.
What does it cost?
Nothing to browse — it is a record shop, so you spend what you spend on vinyl. Bring cash. There is also a webstore and gift cards if you would rather scout the catalog before driving out.
Can they hold a specific title for me?
Email ahead rather than hoping: [email protected] for store sales, [email protected] for mail order. The 20,000-plus figure is the distribution catalog; what is out on the retail racks on any given day is a subset of that.
Is this worth it if I mostly listen to mainstream rock?
Probably not. The stock is built on garage, punk, soul, pop, doo-wop and 1950s–60s reissues, including their own Archive and Folk series. Come to leave with a band you have never heard of.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · Wikipedia
last checked: 2026-08-26