VHS / Video Store Stickers

I don't quite know why collecting VHS tapes is tickling my brain at the moment, but this hobby is now costing me upwards of $8 a month lol. The video store aesthetic is fully in the sweet spot of being gone just long enough to feel special, but still ordinary enough to be dirt cheap. Anyway, here are some of my video store VHS stickers from my latest haul.

World's Oldest McDonald's in Downey, California

Opened in 1953, this McDonald's location in Downey, California is the 3rd McDonald's restaurant to be opened, the 2nd McDonald's restaurant to be franchised by Richard and Maurice McDonald before the involvement of Ray Kroc, and currently the world's oldest still operating McDonald's. On appearance alone it feels like a roadside attraction right out of a movie.  

This McDonald's location is particularly notable because the building still retains its original Googie architecture and design featuring double golden arches and walk-up ordering windows. This McDonald's also houses a small museum full of memorabilia in an attached seating area that was later added, and has its original sign featuring "Speedee" McDonald's original mascot. 

Fittingly, the historic Downey location is also the only McDonald's in the continental US that still serves the original deep fried apple pie. The modern version of the apple pie is baked at all the other locations so this variation does provide one more excuse to come and have a look and experience this really unique McDonald's throwback.

 

Hitachi VM-2000A VHS Movie Camera

I just added some serious Cold War era tech to my arsenal of movie-making equipment with this vintage Hitachi VM-2000A VHS movie camera. Released the same year as Back to the Future and weighing as much as a Buick, this Hitachi camcorder comes with state of the art auto-focus technology and VCR compatibility.

I've also been adding unopened brands of blank VHS tapes to my collection during my province-wide thrift hunts, which might further prove that this "vintage media wall" I've been building really is (at least in part) just a big art installation. Do you remember ever seeing these giant VHS cameras in the wild? This one still had a tape with a little league game from 1991 in it.