In 2002, Los Angeles Violin Shop Founder Owen Lee began his violin adventure by importing violins, violas, cellos, and basses from around the world. In 2003, he officially established his business, which would become LAVS, as the Universal Musical Instrument Wholesale Company. Through diligent effort and excellent customer service, Owen built strong relationships with many well-known violin shop owners across the country and learned that there was a need for restoration services for instruments made by third-parties. Thus, in 2008, LAVS began learning about violin restoration and making and offered these much-needed services to the LA musical community.
In 2011, we put our acquired knowledge to work by setting up a violin workshop in Downtown Los Angeles and launching our workshop brand “Owens & Parkley” instruments. In 2014, we moved to our current location at 3350 West Olympic Boulevard and officially changed our name to Los Angeles Violin Shop to help us continue to expand and grow.
We have always looked for new ways to bring the best quality work and resources to Los Angeles, which is why, in 2019, we launched our first annual Authenticate LA event and partnered with experts from the Vatelot-Rampal and Jean-François Raffin ateliers in France — Jean-Jacques Rampal, Jonathan Marolle, Yannick Le Canu and Sylvain Bigot – to provide world-renown certification and authentication services to our clientele here in LA. We brought this event back in 2020 and look forward to its continuation in the years to come!
In addition to our focus on the finest instrument making and restoration and internationally-respected certification and authentication, we have always been community-minded. In 2020, we began to explore new ways in which we can more actively give back to our community and promote arts education in Los Angeles and launched our LAVS Foundation to serve and help aspiring musicians in Los Angeles.