A real, true movie fan knows – there is more to life than streaming. It’s bad enough that our local video shops are dropping (correction: have dropped) like flies and that we are now left to scavenge the frozen tundra and pillage across land and sea to rent that hard to find classic for the weekend. It’s a fight, these days, to live the impulsive rush of an under-the-radar staff recommended diamond in the rough on blu-ray, in all of it’s pristine “oh yeah, wow, nothing beats putting it directly in the blu-ray player and I forgot how much better that looks” glory. Video stores (+music stores, for that matter… and run-on sentences while we’re at it) still should have a place in society and our hearts, even if the alternatives are more convenient.
“Hard to find video!” Yet extremely easy to find reflections (where’s the lens polarizer when you need it…)
It’s hard to tell if the bloodletting is over or if more closures are coming. I remember with crystal clarity when powerhouses Blockbuster and Hollywood Video were seemingly first to go, and closed years ago. Still, to this day, nothing has filled the old Blockbuster space in my local neighborhood of St Johns, and it remains a hallowed shell of what once was. Slowly but surely, most others followed. Actually the one that really got me was when the sole survivor was the St Johns’ Videorama location… what with the whole “get a movie after working out at our gym” business model that offered a glimmer of hope and always seemed to have partakers perusing the aisles. Nope! Eventually the corner of the space occupied by the video store was repossessed in favor of more treadmills and ellipticals. Our closest video store then fell to the the 5-6 mile away mark – the Videorama further down on Lombard (near Interstate), which in turn shuttered less than a year later. Literally dropping like flies. I don’t even know where my current “regional” (is that what we’re left to call them?) video store is right now – I think a few neighborhoods over in Alberta but that may have gone out, as well. I honestly gave up.
We’re all in the same boat unless you’re the 1% who happen to live down the street from one of the few/far between survivors and can actually lay claim to a current neighborhood video store. But throughout, one light has remained in this cavernous valley of darkness: Movie Madness. Part video store, part museum, 100% gold.
As with any video store worth it’s weight – you want it, they got it. Shelves from floor to ceiling filled with all the good stuff, and most importantly sorted by how you choose a video. Not just alphabetical – collected. Curated. By actor, by director… and surrounded by a collection of movie artifacts from days of old. I have heard legend of what the Criterion Collection closet looks like and how it’s organized, and my guess our Mecca of Movie Madness is as close as I’ll ever come.
But, I’m not telling any of you anything you didn’t know already. The fact is – if you’re a fan of film in PDX… you’ve been there.
The march of time has led owner Mike Clark to consider options heading into retirement. The best path forward, by far, would see control of the store handed over to the brain trust at the Hollywood Theatre and assimilated into their unique non-profit structure. “Unique” as in a movie theater that operates for the greater good. And now adding a like-minded video store? It’s almost too perfect.
Non-profit status should allow things to be properly enshrined, and provide some interesting cross pollination with the rest of the Hollywood Theatre portfolio. In ways we haven’t fully realized. If we could only get a glimpse of what the future holds in an upcoming Rick & Morty episode, I’m sure we will all be pleased and bathe in the proverbial Szechuan sauce that this non-profit partnership will provide. Dare I say, this idea might actually take something that was already amazing by any measure… and make it better.
If this doesn’t happen, I shudder to think of another owner being able to keep this delicate treasure above water.
I can’t imagine a Portland without Movie Madness, so let’s rally around what Mike and the Hollywood Theatre are trying to do – head on over to the kickstarter page now and pledge your support for the future of the best video store on the planet*.
*to my knowledge.
Update: Movie Madness – saved! Now comes the real fun and the adding of stretch goals. Stay tuned.
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