Video Archives

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title: "Video Archives" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["retail-companies-of-the-united-states", "manhattan-beach,-california", "video-rental-services", "quentin-tarantino", "2022-podcast-debuts", "american-podcasts", "audio-podcasts", "film-and-television-podcasts"] description: "Video rental store" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Archives" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Video rental store ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]

Field	Value
name	Video Archives
logo	Video Archives.jpg
native_name_lang
industry	Video rentals, retail
genre
fate	Closed
predecessor
successor
foundation
founder	Lance Lawson
Richard Humbert
defunct
location_city	Manhattan Beach, California
location_country	United States
locations
products	VHS tape rental, Beta rental
aum
owner
module
website
intl
::

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| romanized_name = | former_name = | type = | traded_as = | ISIN = | industry = Video rentals, retail | genre =
| fate = Closed | predecessor =
| successor =
| foundation =
| founder = Lance Lawson Richard Humbert | defunct =
| location_city = Manhattan Beach, California | location_country = United States | coordinates = | locations =
| area_served = | key_people = | products = VHS tape rental, Beta rental | brands = | production = | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | aum =
| assets = | equity = | owner =
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Video Archives was a video rental store initially located in Manhattan Beach, California, and before moving to Hermosa Beach, California. It was owned and managed by Lance Lawson and Rick Humbert.

History

Filmmakers Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, and Daniel Snyder worked at Video Archives before becoming successful in the film industry. The store was also frequented by screenwriters Josh Olson, Jeff Maguire, John Langley, and Danny Strong.

Video Archives closed in 1995, after which Tarantino purchased its video inventory and rebuilt the store in his home.

In a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone, Tarantino called it "the best video store in the Los Angeles area," saying, "Video Archives is like LA.’s answer to the Cahiers du Cinéma." In 1992, Roger Avary described it as "less a video store than a film school [...] we'd have these intense, eight-hour-long arguments about cinema. Customers would walk in, and they'd get into it. It became this big clubhouse of filmmaking—and probably the best filmmaking experience anyone could ever get."

Video Archives is also the namesake of the Video Archives Cinema Club, the 20-seat micro-cinema at the Tarantino-owned Vista Theatre.

Podcast

On July 19, 2022, Tarantino and Avary launched a podcast named after Video Archives called The Video Archives Podcast with Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary. The podcast revisits movies from the store and discusses the films. They are joined by producer Gala Avary and guests such as Eli Roth and former employees of Video Archives.

References

References

1. (September 11, 1994). "COVER STORY : A Chat With Mr. Mayhem : Quentin Tarantino quickly acquired quite the reputation for violence. His 1992 film 'Reservoir Dogs' was a cult hit. Now comes 'Pulp Fiction.' Is he trying to outgun himself or all of Hollywood?".
2. MacFarquhar, Larissa. (13 October 2003). "The Movie Lover".
3. (July 16, 2020). "Movie Reviews". [[New York Times]].
4. (2008-05-11). "Roger Avary - The Quentin Tarantino Archives". tarantino.info.
5. Fernandez, Jay A.. (July 18, 2007). "Producers, writers face huge chasm". [[Los Angeles Times]].
6. (2 June 2022). "Ex-Video Store Clerks Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary Launch Podcast to Talk VHS Tapes".
7. Wild, David. (1994-11-03). "Quentin Tarantino: The Madman of Movie Mayhem".
8. Mcalevey, Peter. (1992-12-06). "All's Well That Ends Gruesomely". The New York Times.
9. (30 June 2021). "Quentin Tarantino Talks About Nearly Casting Mickey Rourke As The 'Death Proof' Lead & Making Stage Play Versions Of His Films".
10. Spangler, Todd. (June 2, 2022). "Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary Set to Launch 'The Video Archives Podcast'".
11. (19 July 2022). "Listen to the First Episode of Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary's Video Archives Podcast".
12. (2024-11-26). "The Video Archives Podcast with Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary".
13. Sturges, Fiona. (2022-07-25). "Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary reminisce in Video Archives podcast — review". Financial Times.
14. (2024-12-17). "Roger Avary Movies: What To Know About Joe Rogan's Podcast Guest with Quentin Tarantino".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::