Documentary honors local folk hero Lou Curtiss

Local film trio producer Elizabeth Schwartz, director Yale Strom, and editor Luke Jungers turned their lens on a new subject: the man behind dozens of local music festivals and the longtime owner of Folks Arts Rare Records.

“[Lou Curtiss] was such an interesting kind of laconic, quiet genius, for lack of a better term, and we just really wanted to honor him in making this film,” Schwartz said.

Their film “Recordially Yours, Lou Curtiss” debuts at Digital Gym Cinema the weekend of June 23. Its run will be extended if there is local interest. On Saturday, June 24, local musicians and community members will celebrate ahead of the 8 p.m. showing. The current owner of Folk Arts Rare Records, Brendan Boyle, will spin antique discs at the event with some of the rarest records at the store.

Folk Arts is currently the largest record store in San Diego with a location on University Ave. Curtiss first opened it on India Street. For Boyle, Strom and many other local musicians, the store was a “mecca” they returned to over and over to learn from Curtiss.

“[He] seemed like a very intriguing guy who had created this space that I really felt was very whimsical,” Boyle said of the first time he met Curtiss. “I was kind of attracted to the fact that it felt like a random American roadside spot— and it was in the middle of San Diego.”

Strom explained that Curtiss would make mix tapes for young musicians introducing them to other artists. He helped national legends like Tom Waits and local musical icons like Sue Palmer hone their sound and influences.

The documentary includes archival footage from the music festivals Curtiss organized, his weekly radio show for 20 years on KSDS and recent interviews with the musicians he influenced. Strom asked each of the subjects to bring a musical instrument with them for the interview and their playing is woven into the documentary.

“That was what brought them to Lou— was their ability to play music. And seek out Lou for more knowledge about their particular genre. So I think the soundtrack is, I hope people agree, but I think it’s damn good,” Strom said.

For Strom, this documentary was very personal. He knew Curtiss longer than he has known his wife Schwartz. His father let him skip high school classes to attend Curtiss’ folk festival, which was the second largest roots festival west of the Mississippi. Strom felt he made it as a musician when he stumbled across his Jewish folk music being sold at Folk Arts.

“My father used to say… it’s worth missing classes because it’s a class in itself, hearing and meeting these great, wonderful nationally and internationally known artists,” he said.

One limitation the director faced was crunching decades of a man’s life into a feature film. Schwartz said they could do a 10-part series on Curtiss without wanting for content.

“He had stories upon stories upon stories,” Boyle said of his predecessor.

Married couple Strom and Schwartz have worked together on several documentaries, including on the Jewish autonomous region in the Soviet Union and socialist American politician Eugene V. Debs. This is the first time the Mission Hills-based artists have turned their camera on a subject close to home.

“Our interests are always far flung. This is the closest to home I think we’ve ever been with a film project. But also, this one really was a complete labor of love,” Schwartz said. They hosted benefit concerts to fund the film. “Nobody took any money to work on this.”

Curtiss is being honored another way. In 2025, Smithsonian Folkways is releasing a Lou Curtiss CD boxset of recordings from his music festivals.

In addition to his folk record store remaining open today, he founded Adams Unplugged, the Normal Heights music festival which is still held annually.

“The story is such a great San Diego story. There was a treasure here in San Diego, and he just didn’t toot his own horn,” Schwartz said. “So we just wanted to let people know about this amazing person who was part of the fabric of San Diego.”