Beloved Video Store Vidiots Reopens in Eagle Rock With Hollywood Support

Remember Vidiots, the beloved video store in Santa Monica that closed in 2017?

Well, after a five-year closure, a pandemic, and a crosstown move — it has reopened in Eagle Rock with a soft launch today. In addition to being a rental store with tens of thousands of titles, it also has a state-of-the-art movie theater within the vintage Eagle Theatre as well as a beer and wine bar.

Origin story

Vidiots originally opened in 1985 as a woman-founded video shop and screening space in Santa Monica. With its many movies to rent and classic, hard-to-find titles, it had a devoted clientele of local movie lovers and Hollywood cinephiles. It’s that history and community that led to its revitalization and reopening, said Maggie Mckay, Vidiots executive director.

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"It's all possible because of Vidiots' incredible legacy as a cultural hub in Los Angeles," said McKay. "That's what we want people to see for the first time: Our 60,000 DVDs and Blu-rays and titles on our racks, and have that first hit be a return to browsing, a return to physical media, a return to artists ... and movies that certainly are not available anywhere else."

Vidiots' list of founding members who helped support the reopening of the new space include a long list of independent — and not so independent — film and TV darlings, including Miguel and Justine Arteta, Katie Aselton and Mark Duplass, Mette-Marie Kongsved and Elijah Wood, Karina Longworth and Rian Johnson, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Max Minghella, Patton Oswalt ... the list goes on.

The backstory

Rising rents and a changing neighborhood meant staying in Santa Monica wasn’t sustainable. There were attempts to save it, but Vidiots eventually closed in 2017. But the hunt for a new space and the fight to survive the pandemic ended up being all worth it.

"We've really been put through the wringer," McKay said. "But we're coming out on the other side with what I think is one of the most beautiful theaters in Los Angeles."