{"id":37983,"date":"2022-06-29T07:43:18","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T11:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=37983"},"modified":"2022-07-13T16:45:10","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T20:45:10","slug":"relics-of-the-recent-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/06\/29\/relics-of-the-recent-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Relics of the Recent Past"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nIt’s weird to think that Blockbuster<\/em> is gone. I wasn’t a regular customer because there was another chain closer to home, but they were everywhere. At the height of the popularity of video rentals, I always felt that large urban centers such as Philadelphia could use more<\/strong> video rental outlets. The stores we would frequent would often have long lines and the selection of new releases were quickly picked over by the early birds. We would often settle for some cinematic mediocrity that existed merely to pad out the shelves of video stores.<\/p>\n

\"Blockbuster<\/a>Back then, the biggest complaint vocal consumers had were the late fees that the big chains particularly Blockbuster would levy on videos not returned on time. People actually tried to get legislators involved because they flaked out on returning a video they may have taken an hour picking out and waiting in line to rent. It was ridiculous. I had a roommate who would rent four VHS cassettes from a shop; get home; hunker down to watch the movies and fall asleep halfway through the first picture. I never knew what he was thinking. Was he going to stay up all night watching movies? No. He would hang on to them for a week and complain bitterly about the late fees. Yep, that Don “The Dragon” Wilson<\/em> martial arts opus was absolutely worth the mortgage-sized late fees.<\/p>\n

\"Price<\/a><\/p>\n

People forget the early days when renting VHS and BetaMax tapes was a Mom-and-Pop business. Usually a convenience store or a liquor store would bring in video tapes to supplement a regular business. Back in the ’80s, there was a drug store — I think it may have been Green Drugs<\/em> at 5th and South Streets in Philadelphia — that rented video tapes and the VCR to play them. Of course, you had to put down a hefty cash deposit. I remember it was at least a $50 deposit just for the tapes. Video cassettes were pretty pricey back then, and these shop owners weren’t taking any chances.<\/p>\n

Now these videos are considered worthless. Thrift stores and flea markets are glutted with them. I recently found a grocery sack stuffed with audio CDs and DVDs on a street corner near my house with the word FREE scrawled on the bag with a ballpoint pen. The movies were mainly romantic comedies and Adam Sandler movies so I left them for the next guy. I did get some pretty decent CDs from that large brown bag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s weird to think that Blockbuster is gone. I wasn’t a regular customer because there was another chain closer to home, but they were everywhere. At the height of the popularity of video rentals, I always felt that large urban … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31,5084],"tags":[33,5371,5372,645,571,456,457],"class_list":["post-37983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blast-from-the-past","category-whats-on-tv","tag-1980s","tag-betamax","tag-blockbuster","tag-dvd","tag-rental","tag-vcr","tag-vhs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-9SD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38295,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/07\/19\/the-sign-remains-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":37983,"position":0},"title":"The Sign Remains","author":"Joe","date":"July 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I think I had just finished my post about the former ubiquity of the once mighty Blockbuster chain of video rental shops when I spotted this sign on my commute to work. Perched high up on a very tall pole above Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia is this sign for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Untitled","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52201065156_c04e2377d9_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52201065156_c04e2377d9_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52201065156_c04e2377d9_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3530,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/08\/12\/end-of-an-era-part-ii-electric-boogaloo-or-the-other-shoe-drops\/","url_meta":{"origin":37983,"position":1},"title":"End of an Era, Part II – Electric Boogaloo or The Other Shoe Drops","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"August 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A while back I wrote about the TLA Video store off of South Street shuttering its doors. Now comes word that the store on Locust Street in what's referred to as Center City in Philadelphia is closing down for business as well. It's a shame, but, like a lot of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Gojira-227x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":34781,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2020\/07\/11\/in-praise-of-physical-media\/","url_meta":{"origin":37983,"position":2},"title":"In Praise of Physical Media","author":"Joe","date":"July 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been kicking around ideas for this article for a while. Originally it was going to be one of my frugal\/cheapskate posts, but recent events have changed it into something else. A friend of mine has done the unthinkable and cancelled his internet service. He had dumped Cable TV since\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weird World of the Roku"","block_context":{"text":"Weird World of the Roku","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/weird-world-of-the-roku\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/cd-673227_640.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/cd-673227_640.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/cd-673227_640.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36745,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2021\/11\/02\/be-kind-please-rewind\/","url_meta":{"origin":37983,"position":3},"title":"Be Kind – Please Rewind","author":"Joe","date":"November 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes I have a great notion, and a lot of times I have merely middling notions. It was while pursuing one of these middling notions that I came across a treasure trove! I was trawling the fabulous Internet Archive which is a great junk heap of pictures, prose, video, audio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Price Break! VCR for $699!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/2410\/2406851836_44cf723857_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/2410\/2406851836_44cf723857_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/2410\/2406851836_44cf723857_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5006,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/11\/02\/attaining-unattainable\/","url_meta":{"origin":37983,"position":4},"title":"Attaining the Unattainable","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"November 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Did you know you could sleep with Raquel Welch for $1.98? This cheesy ad for an inflatable pillow printed with Raquel Welch's likeness ran in comics for years, but I scanned it from Our Fighting Forces featuring The Losers No. 138 which was published by DC Comics in 1972. What's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I Miss About Comics"","block_context":{"text":"What I Miss About Comics","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/what-i-miss-about-comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Welch.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Welch.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Welch.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14443,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2013\/09\/23\/the-ultimate-experience\/","url_meta":{"origin":37983,"position":5},"title":"The Ultimate Experience?","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"September 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The early '80s was a curious time for movies with studios chasing down the movie that they would hope would be the record-breaking blockbuster. In the wake of Star Wars, science fiction and fantasy were in and all of the studios were chasing the next boxoffice bonanza that could be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/helmet.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/helmet.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/helmet.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}