Publisher
Postermat
Ben Friedman was born in New York City and grew up in upstate New York. After World War II, he moved to San Francisco, where he started his career as an egg broker in Petaluma, known as the self-proclaimed egg capital of the world. Later, he teamed up with a friend to invest in a store on Grant Street that sold bankruptcy goods, primarily clothing. Over time, Friedman accumulated a vast collection of water-damaged records, totaling around 100,000 albums. As his partner eventually departed, he found himself with half the store empty and plenty of blank walls. Initially, he named the store "Gorilla Records." A poster wholesaler then suggested adding posters to complement the records, and this idea proved so successful that the clothing and miscellaneous items were phased out. He subsequently rebranded the store as the "Postermat."
