How Modesto’s Gottschalk Music is clearing what was salvaged after arson

Nine months after a fire put Gottschalk Music Center out of business, what remains of the longtime Modesto business is housed in owner Jan Leer’s garage and repurposed party room.

She’s selling and giving away brass and wind instruments, reeds and sheet music that were carted from the smoke-damaged store shortly after the arson fire in November 2024. Moving the salvaged contents required three trips using a four-horse trailer.

Hauk Graham, head of the Modesto Symphony Youth Orchestra, said he saw a post about the available items on Facebook.

“We are always looking for donations of instruments, gear and percussion items,” Graham said. “There’s a large need in the community for music-making equipment. If there is anything I can get to help our students, I’m thrilled to do it.”

Graham said he’s particularly interested in percussion items, xylophones, marimbas and violas, which can be hard to come by.

“A lot of our students don’t have the money or the space to have their own, so we provide a lot of instruments,” he said.

Leer said generally the items are discounted 50% or more. The rest she plans to give away to whomever needs them.

Leer’s daughter, Denise Stanley, is a lecturer and piano teacher in Australia, but came back to Modesto to spend a month sorting and organizing the recovered materials.

“I also gathered three generations’ worth of archival materials from the store, as well as from various local bands connected to Modesto’s rich musical history, including the Jazz Society and the Dixieland Jazz Band,” she said. “Once fully organized, we aim to donate these archives to the Modesto [McHenry] Museum.”

The Gottschalk Music Center was a mainstay in Modesto since 1951, but was suddenly and permanently closed following the fire. Some of the items still smell faintly of smoke.

“Everything we have looks like this,” Leer said, showing some of the records recovered from the building. “Some of them are brown and some of them are half-brown.”

Leer and her family have been members of the Modesto community for generations. She was a retired music teacher when she and two other partners purchased Gottschalk in 2011.

Now she’s trying to do what she can to keep her employees paid and settle the store’s remaining debt.

“I’m thankful for my employees, I couldn’t ask for better people. I mean, they stuck with me.” Leer said.

Gottschalk will be in business, though not through its storefront, until the leftover items are sold. So far, many of the items she’s been able to offload have gone to friends of contacts she’s maintained through MoBand.

Stanley has helped her mother find buyers or interested parties on the music center’s Facebook page, but found the Facebook marketplace unreliable.

“However, once we shifted our focus to posting directly within the music community — particularly targeting schools — we started gaining more meaningful traction.”

Among the items for sale are some harder-to-find instruments like a C trumpet and children’s violins.

Stanley added that a good number of people have inquired, but she would love to see more follow-through from those who express interest.

“There’s still an entire store’s worth of merchandise, and we’re offering it at significantly reduced prices to clear it out. If anyone is interested, they can browse updates on the Gottschalk Music Center Facebook page.”

Interested parties can also call 209-360-4023 to set up an appointment.

This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 12:00 PM.