A slight scratch from the turntable. Quiet chatter from guests. Sound waves vibrating from a record player.
The aural experience is at the heart of John Wright’s latest ambition, a vinyl lounge in Solvang called Analogue Room. He likes the idea of considering the space a listening room, not a bar.
“It just seemed like a great space as a hub for the community in this part of town, and it had this inviting feeling of kind of a hidden sort of gem,” Wright told the Sun one afternoon before opening. “The vinyl part came after some travels and finding other vinyl listening rooms that seemed to be popping up around the country, and I thought it was a great idea.”
Vines, vinyl, and vibes
Analogue Room is open Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m. Visit at 1693 Mission Drive, suite 105, in Solvang. For more information, go to analogueroom.com or @analogueroomsyv on Instagram.
Analogue Room debuted in July, nestled next to Chomp and the Santa Ynez Valley Creamery, with a small menu of food and beverages to accompany the music.
Wright is a jack of all trades—he also owns Buellton’s Standing Sun Wines and works in contracting, architecture, and winemaking. He’s no stranger to blending the disciplines.
“I guess I’m just a die-hard creative. I can’t stop thinking about what else I can do,” Wright said.
At Analogue Room, creations from nearby vintners fill out the wine list. Wright’s goal at the beginning was to feature other wineries, but he said his bottles will soon become the house pours.
“We have local wines that are all from around here that are small production. I mean, some of the producers are doing 50 cases,” Wright explained.
He’s also brought in a few varieties from Europe, as well as domestic and European craft beer. Visitors can also order nonalcoholic options or a low-percentage spritz.
When guests get hungry, they can choose from a small menu of pizza and salads headed by chef Joe Blanchard. Pepperoni and Margherita on focaccia crusts were the first classics to hit the menu. One square slice is filling enough for a meal but not too heavy or greasy. It’s simple, quick, and fresh.
“It’s about an inch thick, and we par bake it,” Wright said. “It’s, you know, three-quarters of the way cooked, and then we just have to top it. We put it in the oven, which is a high-end, electric pizza oven, and so it takes about eight minutes to cook.”
The owner is almost ready to add two new pizzas to the menu, likely a sausage and mushroom pie and another with arugula and prosciutto. He and his two managers stop at the farmers market down the street on Wednesdays for fresh produce to dress the pizzas and fill salad bowls. Currently there’s a Caesar and a market salad on the menu.
Perhaps even more attractive than the beverages and bites is the record player. Analogue Room’s growing album collection is on display behind the bar. There’s a little bit of Fleetwood Mac, Queen, and Dionne Warwick. Also, Al Green, The Rolling Stones, and The B-52s.
An easygoing vibe kicks off in the late afternoon crowd, building to a more upbeat, rock ’n’ roll atmosphere. Expect some hip-hop in the mix as the night crawls on; the lounge closes at 10 p.m., sometimes later. Analogue Room can have a lot of personalities.
“We’re trying to bring the experience beyond the bar,” Wright said. “The layout is nice and open. It’s fairly bright but in a very moody setting. It’s not particularly dark, and at night it glows.”
Wright loaned his experience with construction and architectural design to the months of interior work. He and his guys handcrafted the tables, bench, bar, and shelves. Though it’s not vibrant in color (besides a soft orange glow), the space is vibrant in texture.
“The combination of the wood and the leather and the plaster. The product that we used for most of it is called Baltic birch, and it has this striped pattern on it. That’s the edge of a piece of plywood,” he explained. “We would take strips of plywood, and we would cut it into 1-inch and three-quarter-inch strips, and then we would flip it on its side and glue them together … very time consuming.”
The technique resulted in a vertical striation, Wright continued, that the builders also incorporated into the tiled kitchen walls and much of the décor.
“The idea is that it mimics the vertical records on a shelf,” the owner said.
Visitors often peruse the collection, bringing down albums and placing them in front of the record player as a request to hear them. When General Manager Blake Economus is working, he’s usually the one spinning records, but Wright’s plan is to also invite featured DJs to come in for nightlong sets.
Wright remembers listening to albums with his father while eating dinner. He recently picked up his dad’s record collection and said memories came flooding back of the albums he heard growing up. At Analogue Room, visitors get to have that experience of listening to one album all the way through over a meal.
“The story here is the whole album. If you were just listening to individual songs and jumping around from artists to artist and genre to genre,” Wright said, “you miss the flow of the whole album.”
Staff Writer Madison White admires the art of going analog. Reach her at mwhite@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in August 6 – August 13, 2026.
