Need to learn the difference between a Titano and a Weltmeister? Looking for the best place to get your polka on? Dave's Accordion School & Caballero Dance is the unofficial epicenter for all things accordion. Owner Dave Caballero has sold, repaired and taught the instrument since 1971, the same year he met his wife Veronika, a German immigrant. Veronika added violin lessons and dance lessons in the 1980s, but the store's heart is the squeeze box. From the doors and windows, the sounds of oom-pah-pahs evoke images of German beer gardens or the slow sweeping solitude of buskers on Italian street corners. Whether he's equipping Weird Al Yankovic or Danny Elfman, Caballero pushes the limits of polkafication and brings the sou
l of the accordion to life. 3058 Glendale Blvd., Atwater Village. (323) 663-1907, davesaccordion.com.

—Drew Tewksbury

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