Laserdiscs and Videotape

Remember laserdiscs? They never really caught on, did they? Sure, they looked nice, and I guess the picture quality was impressive, but they were still pretty clunky (or at least by today's standards). Can you imagine buying "Honeymoon In Vegas" or "Honey I Blew Up the Kids" on laserdisc? Would you really let those artifacts take up space in your home? Once upon a time, I guess, a few people did.

Here's a strangely compelling little clip rife with technological obsolescence, shot within the confines of the long-vanished Tower Video on the Upper West Side in the balmy days of 1990, when laserdisc technology was still the go-to medium of the discerning cinephile. Marvel not only at the piles and piles of VHS cassettes, laserdiscs and other ephemera of the day displayed in all their laughably pricey glory, but also the fashions -- vests over t-shirts, pony tails, Cosby sweaters, "Friends" haircuts, Indiana Jones hats, etc. -- all being sported by the gaggle of hapless clerks, insufferable film geeks and their unwitting patrons. One wonders where are all these folks are today.

I gather this was all filmed for some random cable access program. By the tail end of the clip, the cameraman leaves Tower to wander aimlessly around the Upper West Side, accosting and oggling passing women. It's a curious little time-capsule item.

If memory serves, there was another Tower Video downtown (on Lafayette Street and East 4th) and even one on the Upper East Side on E. 86th between Third and Second Avenues. That location, if I'm not mistaken, is now a Chinese restaurant. Anyway, enjoy this trip back in time to twenty-three years ago.

And remember ... be kind, rewind!