Soul Side Vinyl is a veteran-owned and Asian-owned record store on Adams Avenue in San Diego's Normal Heights, opened by Rex and Mark “DJ Syko” Guzman at the 3535 Adams Ave storefront formerly occupied by Soul Shack Records. Rex is a retired U.S. Navy Chief who started collecting vinyl during deployments and brought that inventory into the shop's opening stock. Mark founded the 1200 Kings Crew DJ collective and has performed alongside Special Ed, Dilated Peoples, and Dirty Birdy, with production credits on tracks for Chino XL and Mopreme Shakur — credentials that shape the hip-hop and soul sections of the store's floor plan. Late-night sets at Lestat's on Park draw the same music-culture audience that digs through Soul Side's new-arrival bins on Saturday mornings, connecting the store to the University Heights live-performance circuit. The inventory spans rock, hip-hop, jazz, soul, and electronic genres, with a Japanese-pressing section that stocks import vinyl valued for its heavier-weight wax and mastering differences. Accessories fill a dedicated wall: turntables, anti-static inner sleeves, carbon-fiber cleaning brushes, and storage crates for collectors building home-listening setups. The store hosts listening parties, vinyl swaps, and local-artist showcases, and its buy-sell-trade program converts private collections into cash or store credit without consignment delays. Active-duty military members receive reduced pricing at the register, and the 92116 storefront shares the Adams Avenue block with Madison, whose dinner crowd generates evening walk-in traffic from the adjacent sidewalk. Four decades of record-shop history have occupied this stretch of Adams Avenue, and Soul Side's arrival renewed the storefront's role as Normal Heights's anchor for vinyl culture.