I can still remember the first time I ever stepped foot into the Vidiots video store. I was fourteen, and I wore faded black oversized jeans and a tan vest. My braids were pulled up into a high ponytail, and I had on my brand-new pointed-toe Uggs: this was my “good outfit.” I walked past the endless aisles of DVDs, their covers blurring together in a wash of color and nostalgia. The air smelled faintly of dust and window cleaner, mixed with the buttery scent of popcorn from the theatre lobby. I remember tracing my fingers over movie titles I recognized, but I soon found myself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of media filling the aisles. 

In my head, the video store was a time capsule, and I felt like I was reliving some 80s kid’s memory. I also felt like the whole place had a heartbeat, and I was tiptoeing through it, trying not to mess anything up. 

Founded in 1985, Vidiots opened in Santa Monica, California, by two visionary women, Patty Polinger and Cathy Tauber. Robbie McCluskey, the Vidiots Director of Video Store and Volunteers, and a longtime employee from 2013, shared that Vidiots “quickly became known as the cool, hip indie video store, because we would carry the movies that the big chain stores wouldn’t.”  While big video retailers focused on popular Hollywood blockbusters, Vidiots branched out into cult films, queer cinema, foreign imports, and rare documentaries. This love for niche physical media kept their video store alive and thriving amongst the community.

The original Santa Monica Vidiots location closed in 2017 due to the rise of streaming services and declining revenue. Robbie put it simply: “Netflix was just taking over.” Santa Monica’s love for physical media had lost its spark, and the store became more of a tourist backdrop for Instagram photos than a real community space. 

In June 2023, however, Vidiots reopened in its new Eagle Rock location, and everything changed. It was no longer just a video store but also a movie theatre. The colorful DVD store and daily screenings drew in a new audience —helped by its proximity to Occidental College, Eagle Rock High School, and a Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt shop.

I first heard about Vidiots in my freshman year of high school from one of my close friends who lived near the theater. I told her I was looking for volunteer work connected to live theatre or film, and she mentioned that she had already spent a few hours there sorting DVDs, alphabetizing shelves, and switching out labels. When I walked in for my first shift, I immediately fell in love with the artistry of the space, and I remember thinking, “I have to come back here” as soon as I left.

After a couple of months, I was gaining arm muscle from carrying stacks of DVDs and racking up free movie tickets. I discovered a new love for film and media, and I even started researching 35mm film and script formatting, wondering if screenwriting was something I might want to pursue. 

Additionally, I would notice the young kids running through the colorful aisles with their parents, couples browsing movies together, and solo film lovers wandering in after a screening. Sometimes I felt like I was in a movie myself, watching the sun set through the glass windows while I would sit on the video store floor holding DVD cases and adding movies to my watchlist.

I had a raw fascination with the space, and this interest led me to the realization that streaming movies and shows at home feels disposable or easy to forget. But holding a DVD case, seeing the artwork, reading the director’s notes, or weird plot summaries on the back makes the work feel intentional—almost like the movie carries a part of the artist with it. 

Physical media preserves stories exactly as they were meant to be kept. At Vidiots, every shelf feels like a tiny archive of someone’s passion, someone’s history, someone’s favorite movie that would never show up on Hulu’s front page.

Vidiots is where I found my truest love for art and where I realized that physical media isn’t outdated. It’s a reminder that art is meant to be held, shared, preserved, and experienced in community, not just streamed and forgotten.

Click here to purchase tickets to their holiday-themed movie screenings this December.