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Local Collector Renews Interest In Harpsichords, Filling Downtown LA Warehouse

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — There is an old, unassuming building in the heart of Skid Row that holds a beautiful secret.

In the basement of an early 1900s factory, Curtis Berak created a warehouse for his passion: harpsichords.

"When I went to college, I studied painting, and when you paint, you have a lot of time to listen to music," Berak said of his early love for the instrument, which looks like a piano but plays like a harp in the way its strings are plucked. "On one record, I discovered the harpsichord and was fascinated by it."

Popular 300 years ago, largely replaced by the piano, Berak brings a renewed sense of life to his harpsichords, building and hand-painting his own collection.

"They sort of sound modern and old at the same time, almost like they're an electrical instrument.

"When I first heard it, I guess what I liked [is that] it was such an odd sound," said Berak, who doesn't play the instrument himself.

He has, however, built a career out of his passion, renting harpsichords to local orchestras.

"I really got busy when Disney Hall opened," he said.

Berak doesn't sell his instruments but says if he did some could go for up to $60,000.

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