A new film is being released on VHS, and there's a renewed interest in the retro format among some film-loving communities here in L.A.
Why it matters: VHS as a format is regaining popularity in a media landscape that has folks tired of their favorite films disappearing off streaming. And that uptick in interest is leading to more mainstream attention on preservation — that includes everything from your favorite VHS as a kid to precious home movies.
The backstory: Independent and nonprofit spaces around L.A. like TAPE, Whammy!, Hollywood Entertainment and the Gardena Cinema are selling tapes and hosting events for folks curious about VHS and preservation.
What's next: Check out the VHS release of The People's Joker on Aug. 14 and stop by Home Movie Day at Whammy! on Aug. 24.
Vera Drew, the film’s co-writer, director, editor and star, says the retro format was always crucial to the movie. “The movie really is supposed to feel like you're watching an otherworldly VHS tape, or something somebody’s personality transposed through this glitchy analog dream,” Drew said of her film, which she describes as a “queer comic book coming of age story.”
The ‘physical’ media community
After months of secret screenings, People’s Joker publicly played at OutFest in 2023 and, this summer, has screened in more than 100 U.S. theaters. But Drew is so happy with the VHS release, adding, “I think that will end up being the definitive version.”
Frank Jaffe, head of film distribution company Altered Innocence, saw it at Outfest and knew he was the right person to release the film. Jaffe wanted to “connect with cool queer cinephiles,” and to make sure the film had what’s called a “physical” release — something tangible that viewers can touch, hold and feel. Basically, something that won’t disappear if your streaming subscription of choice loses or sells the film rights.
“One small reason why people are into physical media is the community that you can build through it,” Jaffe said, imagining friends lending their DVD or VHS copies to each other. (For the Gen Xers out there who swapped mixtapes, you know what we’re talking about here).
And that kind of community is what’s been driving this renewed interest in VHS, especially right here in Los Angeles.
VCRs are buzzing again in the city...that's right! Watching a movie on VHS is back! But in 2024, with streaming and Blu-Ray, why watch something on tape? HTLA producer Victoria Alejandro spoke with VHS vendors, collectors, and other tape aficionados around the city (including filmmaker Vera Drew of "The People's Joker") to understand the subculture, the community, and let YOU know why tapes are back, baby!
Guests: Filmmaker Vera Drew, head of Altered Innocence Frank Jaffe, Michelle Halac and Alex Gootter of Hollywood Entertainment, Erik Varho and Jessica Gonzales from Whammy!, Eliana Oropeza from Aztec Pickers, Jackie Forsythe from AMIA
Hit pause and rewind! VHS is making a comeback
#299:
VCRs are buzzing again in the city...that's right! Watching a movie on VHS is back! But in 2024, with streaming and Blu-Ray, why watch something on tape? HTLA producer Victoria Alejandro spoke with VHS vendors, collectors, and other tape aficionados around the city (including filmmaker Vera Drew of "The People's Joker") to understand the subculture, the community, and let YOU know why tapes are back, baby!
Guests: Filmmaker Vera Drew, head of Altered Innocence Frank Jaffe, Michelle Halac and Alex Gootter of Hollywood Entertainment, Erik Varho and Jessica Gonzales from Whammy!, Eliana Oropeza from Aztec Pickers, Jackie Forsythe from AMIA
At the end of June, the Gardena Cinema, L.A.’s last family owned movie theater, hosted a VHS tape swap in partnership with the video store Whammy! It drew in all sorts of fans and curiosity seekers from New Beverly Cinema projectionists Danielle Wakin and David Chien (who grew up just down the street from The Gardena Cinema) to volunteers like VHS aficionado Conor Holt.
Theater owner Judy Kim speaking to New Beverly Cinema projectionist David Chien at the Gardena Cinema tape swap.
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Victoria Alejandro
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Over a dozen vendors tabled inside the 800-seat theater with crates of tapes. Every possible genre and niche was on display, from mainstream 90s horror to Mexican films from the 60s to punk concerts from the 80s.
Eliana Oropeza, who sources and sells tapes with her husband under the name “Aztec Pickers,” drove all the way down to Gardena from Fresno. She said they found out about the event through a tape collectors Facebook group that has over 100,000 members.
Oropeza's husband at the Aztec Pickers' VHS table.
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Victoria Alejandro
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Oropeza said Aztec Pickers gets their tapes mostly from estate sales or other long-time collectors, which often means there’s a lot of storytelling that goes into each tape.
“That sharing of knowledge, it’s like old times, right? We're coming here, of course, to sell, and also to learn,” Oropeza said about the culture surrounding tape swaps. “And when we talk to each other, it brings the community together, you know?”
How did I not know that existed?
Community and a love of film is what drives the folks behind Hollywood Entertainment, a featured vendor at the tape swap, and a nonprofit that boasts adventurous and underseen programming for film events. The three founders, Alex Gootter, Michelle Halac and Mike Perry, care about sharing things that never made it off of tape onto Blu-Ray or DVD, or got wide distribution.
Michelle Halac, Alex Gootter, and Mike Perry of Hollywood Entertainment selling VHS at the Gardena Cinema.
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Victoria Alejandro
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The three film lovers got together in April 2020, streaming rare, unavailable and unrentable films online under the name “Moviepassed,” raising money for community and art spaces during the worst of the pandemic lockdown. They’ve since changed their name and moved their screenings into brick and mortar spaces around the city — and across the nation — including 2220 Arts + Archives, Whammy! and the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.
“The best compliment we can get after something is ‘How did I not know that existed?’” Gootter said.
It’s not hard for a film to fall through the cracks.
For example, movies like The Wrong Guy, a 1997 Canadian comedy starring Dave Foley and Jennifer Tilly, are impossible to stream due to a snafu with the film rights.
“You were lucky to see it if you happened to catch a Tuesday afternoon rerun on Comedy Central in like, 2000,” said Michelle Halac. So, the trio at Hollywood Entertainment managed to hold a screening of it in 2023.
“The three of us have spent our lives digging for treasures like this,” Halac said.
Don’t throw away those tapes
The name on everyone’s lips when discussing the state of tapes in L.A. today is Whammy!
It’s an actual video store on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake run by husband and wife team Erik Varho and Jessica Gonzales, who opened the space in 2022.
Erik Varho and Jessica Gonzales prepare to open Whammy! for the day.
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Victoria Alejandro
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“We love being literally underground,” Gonzales said of their basement space with an alley entrance. The shop is covered wall to wall in VHS tapes for sale, with a microcinema in the back that seats around 50 people.
Varho and Gonzales also care about featuring films that were only created for the direct to video market, or giving directors who never thought they’d get to see their work with a crowd the chance to do so. “For people to come out and celebrate works that maybe they hadn't been asked to celebrate in a long time, I think that does speak to the core of what's magical about VHS,” Gonzales said.
And celebrating movies that are “stuck on tape” can help plastic waste from entering landfills. “I think about all the tapes being thrown away every single day…they're not particularly recyclable,” Varho said. “If you can adopt a few into your home, that just helps so much.”
The Whammy! membership troll beckons you to join.
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Victoria Alejandro
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Now, if you’ve thrown out your VCR in the past few decades, which is likely, you might be wondering how to adopt a tape into your own home. Whammy! has a sister nonprofit to help with that. Gonzales started TAPE — that’s Teach, Archive, Preserve, Exhibit — in September of last year. The nonprofit offers VCR rentals, analog camera rentals, digitizing services for tapes and general workshops for all things film related.
Gonzales hopes TAPE can fill a little bit of the gap left by the Echo Park Film Center, which offered similar services until its closure two years ago. The collective shuttered their physical location after 20 years in business.
What about our home movies?
Jackie Forsythe, Whammy!’s technical director, says this work is also crucial for preserving people’s memories. Forsythe is a recent graduate of UCLA’s Master of Library Sciences program and while there she was part of a student chapter of AMIA, the Association for Moving Image Archive.
The AMIA zine stands out among free media preservation zines at Whammy!
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Victoria Alejandro
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Forsythe’s passion is home movies. “They're meant to be seen by people who love you and who you love. And so when we lose access to them, it's devastating,” she said.
On Aug. 24, Forsythe will be part of the team behind Home Movie Day at Whammy!, an event where people can make an appointment to have their tapes looked at, digitized, and even learn how to clean and maintain their VCRs. And, if participants want, they can have their home movies screened in the microcinema.
While those hard plastic tape shells might not break down in a landfill, the tape itself has a ticking clock before it starts to degrade. VHS has an estimated 30 year lifespan, so helping people digitize and preserve is key in the case of precious memories.
The act of screening is crucial to preservation, Forsythe said. “I think the key to getting people to care about things is to have a culture around viewing it.”
VHS Resources in LA
Be Kind Video A throwback video store in Burbank with a modern twist, selling and renting VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, and 4K discs. https://bekindvideo.com/
Home Movie Day @ Whammy! in partnership with TAPE Come and get your home movies digitized, screened and more on August 24th, 10am - 4pm https://tapeanalog.org/videoday
Aaron Schrank
has been on the ground, reporting on homelessness and other issues in L.A. for more than a decade.
Published March 31, 2026 5:55 PM
This April 2025 image shows an agency logo on a wall inside a LAHSA Commission meeting.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Topline:
The Los Angeles region’s homelessness agency missed a Tuesday deadline to submit a federally required annual audit of the agency’s financial records, which could jeopardize its federal funding.
The agency's interim CEO blamed the blown deadline on leadership turnover and competing demands on the finance team.
Why it matters: LAHSA manages hundreds of millions in federal dollars for homelessness services across L.A. County. Missing the audit deadline could put that funding at risk.
LAHSA officials say the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — or HUD — seems understanding. LAist reached out to HUD for comment but hasn't received any.
How we got here: An outside auditor said LAHSA was supposed to turn over its financial statements around December but didn't submit them until March. The auditor's draft report also flags a "significant deficiency" in how LAHSA detects accounting errors — a finding LAHSA may contest.
What's next: On Tuesday, LAHSA officials said the single audit would be filed within the next few weeks.
LAHSA also said it has tapped accounting firm KPMG to overhaul its financial systems. The agency's interim CEO acknowledged that the current system "is not working at all."
The Los Angeles region’s homelessness agency will miss a Tuesday deadline for submitting its federally required annual audit of the agency’s financial records, which could jeopardize its federal funding.
LAHSA executives blamed the delay on a “perfect storm” of leadership changes and competing priorities within LAHSA’s finance department, including an L.A. County review of LAHSA’s delayed payments to contractors.
“Our staff made a good-faith effort to meet the deadline,” interim CEO Gita O’Neill said at a LAHSA Commission meeting Tuesday. “However, over the past year, we've experienced several transitions. As a result, we could not get all the required materials to the auditors as quickly as needed.”
Each year, LAHSA, like all non-federal agencies and organizations that get substantial federal dollars, is required to hire an outside auditor to determine whether it’s properly tracking and reporting the taxpayer funds it manages.
LAHSA’s single audit report for last fiscal year was due March 31, nine months after fiscal year 2024-2025 ended. Earlier this month, LAHSA officials said they were on track to meet the March 31 deadline.
Justin Measley, lead auditor for the firm CliftonLarsonAllen, had warned that LAHSA was months behind schedule turning over records.
At a meeting Tuesday, Measley explained that because of LAHSA’s earlier delays, the firm would need at least an additional week to complete a quality-control review process.
“We’re moving at the fastest pace we possibly can,” Measley said.
On Tuesday, LAHSA officials said the single audit will be filed “at the earliest possible opportunity,” within the next few weeks.
Federal funds at risk
LAHSA manages hundreds of millions of federal dollars each year, through grants from the U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.
O’Neill said the agency has been communicating with HUD officials regularly about the missed audit deadline and is “hoping for understanding.”
Janine Lim, LAHSA’s deputy chief financial officer, said she’s also been talking with HUD.
“They seem amenable to our situation and to our stated timelines,” Lim said. “So, we are hopeful that this will be a good outcome, despite having missed the deadline.”
HUD did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment Tuesday.
What went wrong
Measley said LAHSA’s financial statements should have been turned over around last December, but LAHSA only submitted them this month, after blowing through multiple extended deadlines.
Measley said he contacted LAHSA’s governing commission about the overdue documents March 3.
He said he also previewed his firm’s findings, noting one “significant deficiency” in its draft report, related to LAHSA’s timeliness in detecting accounting errors.
LAHSA could contest those findings, officials said. That would add additional back-and-forth between the homelessness agency and accounting firm before the audit report is ready to file.
Justin Szlasa, a LAHSA commissioner who chairs the audit subcommittee, told LAHSA’s CEO he’s concerned that there was no time provided for LAHSA’s governing body to review the audit report.
“Next year, we will absolutely do that,” O’Neill responded. “I think this year, we were under the gun, and so we felt it was the most important thing was to get it uploaded on time.”
O’Neill said the agency hired accounting firm KPMG to help modernize LAHSA’s financial systems, with a focus on its contractor payments.
“We have an outside, trusted voice to help us create a system that works going forward because the system we have is not working at all, in finance,” O’Neill said.
President Donald Trump has escalated his efforts to influence American elections, signing an executive order that the White House says seeks to create a list of confirmed U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state and use the U.S. Postal Service to "verify" mail ballots are for voters.
Why it matters: Trump has long railed — baselessly — about widespread illegal voting by noncitizens and mail voting fraud. The executive order comes as Trump's Justice Department is seeking sensitive voter data from states, and is engaged in more than two dozen lawsuits for that data. The administration claims it needs the data to enforce states' voter list maintenance. The order also comes as Trump pressures Republicans in Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a sweeping election overhaul that would impose new voter identification and documentation requirements. That bill is stalled in the Senate due to Democratic opposition and the legislative filibuster.
What's next: Trump said he believes the order is "foolproof." But election experts have already said the order — which was first reported by The Daily Caller — would face immediate legal challenges.
Updated March 31, 2026 at 20:44 PM ET
President Trump on Tuesday escalated his efforts to reshape American elections, signing an executive order that seeks to create lists of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state, and instructing the U.S. Postal Service to send mail ballots only to verified voters.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he believes the order is legally "foolproof." But election experts said the order was unconstitutional, and voting rights advocates and Democratic state officials quickly pledged to sue to block the order from going into effect.
A previous executive order on elections, signed about a year ago, has been blocked by federal judges who said the president lacked the constitutional authority to set voting policy.
The Constitution says the "Times, Places and Manner" of federal elections are determined by individual states, with Congress able to enact changes.
"This Executive Order is a disgusting overreach from the federal government and shows how little the Trump Administration understands about election administration," Adrian Fontes, the Democratic secretary of state of Arizona, said in a statement Tuesday. "We will not let this order stand without a fight and will meet the federal government in court," he added.
Arizona is among more than two dozen states Trump's Department of Justice has sued over access to sensitive voter data.
The Trump administration claims it needs the data to enforce states' voter list maintenance. Federal judges in three states have dismissed the Justice Department's lawsuits in those states.
In another case, a DOJ official admitted in court last week that the department plans to share that voter data with the Department of Homeland Security, to run it through the so-called SAVE system to search for noncitizens.
Trump has long railed — baselessly — about widespread illegal voting by noncitizens and fraud associated with mail ballots.
The new executive order — which was first reported by The Daily Caller — takes aim at both.
It instructs the Department of Homeland Security, working in conjunction with the Social Security Administration, to "compile and transmit to the chief election official of each State a list of individuals confirmed to be United States citizens who will be above the age of 18 at the time of an upcoming Federal election and who maintain a residence in the subject State."
The order then "requires the USPS to transmit ballots only to individuals enrolled on a State-specific Mail-in and Absentee Participation List, ensuring that only eligible absentee or mail-in voters receive absentee or mail-in ballots," according to a White House fact sheet.
Trump's executive order claims that "additional measures are necessary" to secure voting by mail, a form of voting he has used himself — including last week — but also falsely maligned for years. In the 2024 general election, nearly a third of all voters cast mail ballots.
The Postal Service should also review the design of mail ballot envelopes to protect "the integrity of Federal elections," the order says.
Collectively, the provisions would be a significant change to how mail ballot programs are currently administered in American elections, which are largely carried out by state and local officials.
"Our government's citizenship lists are incomplete and inaccurate. The United States Postal Service is overburdened and inadequate. This combines a car crash with a train wreck," the Brennan Center for Justice, which advocates for expanded voting access and sued to block Trump's 2025 election executive order, said in a statement.
Rick Hasen, an election law expert at UCLA, wrote on his blog that the order is likely unconstitutional. And regardless, he added, "the timing here makes this virtually impossible to implement in time for November's elections. … It seems highly unlikely any of this could be implemented for 2026, even if it were not blocked by courts."
The order comes as Trump pressures Republicans in Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a sweeping election overhaul that would impose new voter identification and documentation requirements.
That bill is stalled in the Senate due to Democratic opposition and the legislative filibuster.
The Supreme Court is also expected to rule this year on whether Mississippi should be allowed to count mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but received by election officials after Election Day.
The legal challenge, which could have sweeping implications for mail voting nationwide, was filed by the Republican National Committee and Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.
Copyright 2026 NPR
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Federal agents stand guard outside of a federal building and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in downtown Los Angeles during a demonstration in June.
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Spencer Platt
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Federal immigration officials arrested more than 14,000 people in the greater Los Angeles area in 2025 — the majority of whom had no criminal record, according to an LAist analysis of new data from the Deportation Data Project.
What’s new: In 2025, federal officials arrested 14,394 people, up from 4,681 the year prior. Forty-six percent of people arrested had criminal convictions, 15% had pending charges and 39% had no criminal charges or convictions.
Why it matters: Federal officials have highlighted the arrests of the “worst of the worst” in the immigration raids that began in June, including "murderers, kidnappers, sexual predators and armed carjackers,” but haven’t published the details of the number of people who had criminal records.
Federal immigration officials arrested more than 14,000 people in the greater Los Angeles area in 2025 — the majority of whom had no criminal record, according to an LAist analysis of new data from the Deportation Data Project.
The data project, an initiative between UCLA and UC Berkeley, publishes federal data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
In 2025, federal officials arrested 14,394 people, up from 4,681 the year prior. Forty-six percent of people arrested had criminal convictions, 15% had pending charges, and 39% had no criminal charges or convictions.
In a December news release, the Department of Homeland Security said it had arrested more than 10,000 people in the L.A. area since immigration raids began in June of last year, including "murderers, kidnappers, sexual predators and armed carjackers,” but did not publish details of the number of people who had criminal records.
The data from the Deportation Data Project shows that arrests in L.A. spiked in June, and about two-thirds of people arrested that month had no criminal convictions.
More than 313,000 people were arrested by ICE nationwide in 2025, according to an LAist analysis.
In a statement, a DHS spokesperson said the agency has not “verified the accuracy, methodology or analysis of the project and its results” and said “this only reveals how data is manipulated to peddle the false narrative that DHS is not targeting the worst of the worst.” The spokesperson said 61% of people ICE arrested across the country either had criminal convictions or pending charges.
The agency has regularly published press releases identifying people they have arrested and who they have called “the worst of the worst,” including from the raids in L.A. in June. But an LAist investigation and reporting from other outlets has found that some of the people on those lists already has been in custody and were serving lengthy sentences.
Like many vendors along the El Salvador Corridor in Pico Union, Maria Godoy sells goods alongside others on the sidewalk of Vermont Avenue between 11th and 12th streets.
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Gary Coronado / For The LA Local
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Topline:
Small businesses struggling financially in the neighborhoods of the neighborhoods of Koreatown, Pico Union, Westlake, MacArthur Park and Highland Park could qualify for to help pay the bills.
About the grants: Individual brick-and-mortar businesses can qualify for grants ranging from $5,000 to $10,000, while street vendors can receive about $3,000, according to city officials. A total of $400,000 is available through the program, and applications are now open. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez announced the program’s goal, describing it as a way to support locally owned businesses navigating rising operating costs, shifting customer patterns, and the impacts of recent wide-scale events, like the ongoing immigration raids, along with wildfires, and broader economic uncertainty.
Who is eligible: To qualify, businesses must have a valid Los Angeles business license and have been operating in Council District 1 since December 2020, with some flexibility for street vendors. They also need to show they’ve been financially impacted by any largescale events, like the COVID pandemic, immigration enforcement, or the broader economy. Funding will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, with applications remaining open until funds run out.
Read on . . . for information on how to apply.
Small businesses struggling financially have another program they could qualify for to help pay the bills.
The program is for businesses in Council District 1, which includes the neighborhoods of Koreatown, Pico Union, Westlake, MacArthur Park and Highland Park.
Individual brick-and-mortar businesses can qualify for grants ranging from $5,000 to $10,000, while street vendors can receive about $3,000, according to city officials. A total of $400,000 is available through the program, and applications are now open.
Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez announced the program’s goal, describing it as a way to support locally owned businesses navigating rising operating costs, shifting customer patterns, and the impacts of recent wide-scale events, like the ongoing immigration raids, along with wildfires, and broader economic uncertainty.
Small businesses struggling financially have another program they could qualify for to help pay the bills.
Who is eligible?
The program is open to independently owned businesses and street vendors located within District 1.
To qualify, businesses must have a valid Los Angeles business license and have been operating in Council District 1 since December 2020, with some flexibility for street vendors. They also need to show they’ve been financially impacted by any largescale events, like the COVID pandemic, immigration enforcement, or the broader economy. Businesses that changed owners can also apply if they’re essentially running the same operation.
How can the money be used?
Grants can be used for daily operational expenses, including rent, payroll, utilities, overhead and other business costs. Roochnik said the funding could also help businesses cover missed rent payments.
Who is running the program?
The grants will be distributed in partnership with the PACE Business Development Center and New Economics for Women. The two organizations provide support to small and immigrant-owned businesses across Los Angeles.
How will recipients be selected?
Funding will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, with applications remaining open until funds run out, Roochnik said.
What’s the goal?
Hernandez said the program is meant to help stabilize neighborhoods that have been affected by immigration enforcement and economic hardships.
“These small businesses are the backbone of our neighborhoods,” she said, adding the funding is meant to help them “stay open, keep workers employed, and continue serving our communities.”
Naomi Villagomez Roochnik, CD1 communications director, said the announcement was made during a press conference at Delicias Bakery and Some, a longtime Latina-owned business in Highland Park. The neighborhood has experienced significant rising rents due to gentrification and the location was meant to highlight the kinds of businesses the program is meant to support.
Is this a one-time program or part of a larger effort?
The grant is part of a pilot program, with the possibility of it expanding depending on demand and outcomes. The council office has launched similar aid efforts in the past, Roochnik said, such as food distribution and rental assistance.
Businesses that may not qualify for this specific grant can be connected to other resources, according to Roochnik, including the city’s legacy business program, which is for businesses operating for at least 20 years.
