John Lennon dropped big bucks at House of Oldies record store

Any store would be thrilled to have a member of The Beatles browse their shelves. But when John Lennon would wa💦lk in to the West Village record store House of Oldies during the early 1970s, owner Bob Abramson had an extra reason to be glad.

“He used to buy 45s by people like Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis𒀰 for his jukebox quite frequently,” Abramson tells The Post. “If the bill came to $200, he would say, ‘Why don’t you make it $400 — just call Apple Records.’ So I would call [Lennon’s assistant and sometime lover] May Pang over there, and I’d get double the money! He loved the little guy — a man of the people.”

In the age of streaming — when record stores 💎seem to close every other week — Abramson is bucking the trend. This year, he celebrates 50 years of business, relying on his loyal regulars to keep him afloat. “Most of my stuff dates from the 1950s to the 1990s, and I ✅keep it all in very good condition,” he says. “My customers are very fussy!”

⭕Over the years, he’s seen music-obsessed celebrities come and go (and return again). Back in the late ’70s, John Belushi would swing by (“my daughter was 10 years old, and she would wait on him”), George Carlin would do impromptu sets between crate digging (“his schtick was so funny — people would be mesmerized”), and Quentin Tarantino would seek out instrumentals for his moꦓvies.

Justin Timberlake, David Bowie, Steven Van Zandt and Mike Myers have also dropped in over the years. Meanwhile, Jimmy Page is still a regular: The Led Zeppelin guitarist maintaiꦉns a deep lov൩e for the 1950s rock ’n’ roll and rockabilly that fascinated him as a child growing up in England.

“He buys a lot of really expensive first pressing albums,” says Abramson. “Gene Vincent is his favorite. E🐓ddie Cochran, Elvis originals, too. Some of them are several hundred 🌠dollars each. Ninety-nine percent of the time, no one else recognizes him, which is good, because I want him to concentrate on buying records!”

Abramson took over the store in 1969 from previous owner Richard Clothier. Originally, it was on Bleecker Street, before moving to its current spot at 35 Carmine St. in 1980. Now 76, he still loves his work. “I look forward to coming every day,” he says. “The only thing that gets me more excited𒀰 are my two kids and grandkids.”

Inside, it’s barely more than a gangway, wit💝h deep-filled wooden racks on either side, and the real ꦆrarities placed carefully on the walls. Rock heavyweights The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix are all present and correct, as is one of the store’s old West Village neighbors. “Bob Dylan is by far my biggest-selling artist,” says Abramson. “For every Beatles album I sell, I sell five Dylan albums. Maybe more.”

Abramson has noticed a recent trend that could see him (and his fellow brick-and-mortar record store holdouts) prosper for a few years to come. “I get younger kids coming in all the time now,” he says. “Sometimes I ask them why they’re spending $25 on an album when t🐈hey could get it on CD for $7.99. They say with real conviction that they think vinyl sounds better. I’ve known that for 50 years!”