“If you bake cookies for us, late fees magically disappear…”

By Editor on October 15, 2009 2:21 am

Adam Pfahler is the one of the founders of Lost Weekend, a one-of-a-kind independent video rental store and San Francisco institution, located in a charming and idiosyncratic neighborhood of the city. In this interview with Rohit Chopra, he talks about the history of Lost Weekend, the challenges of running an independent video rental store, and the store’s innovative system of categorizing their film offerings. 

Adam, many thanks for doing this interview with us! Could you tell us something about the origins and history of Lost Weekend?

Lost Weekend started when Dave Hawkins, Christy Colcord and myself found ourselves unemployed in the summer of 1996. We had all been working in the music industry and agreed that to get a “real job” at this point in our lives was to be avoided at all cost. We came up with a simple idea for a small business that we thought would be good for the neighborhood: a big, well-stocked independent video rental store that would satisfy ravenous film fanatics and casual new release renters alike. Dave came up with the name Lost Weekend, which was inspired. After a year of searching for a space, buying stock (VHS was still the format then), finding fixtures and calling all of our friends to get it up and running, Lost Weekend opened its doors on August 1, 1997 with a mountain of credit card debt and virtually no idea what we’d gotten ourselves into.

Could you share your thoughts on some of the challenges in running an independent video rental store, in light of the existence of  video rental megachains as well as internet-based video rental companies?

The challenge has been going up against the major chains you refer to. Aside from maintaing the usual websites to keep people updated on our stock and goings-on, our store is not participating in the internet revolution. We cannot compete with Netflix, which revenue-shares with the studios and thereby gets movies for free. We can’t compete with Blockbuster and Hollywood for the same reason. And we can’t compete with iTunes because we don’t have the power and servers and time to deliver films over the web. So we simply don’t try. We are a neighborhood, walk-up mom-and-pop that is run by people who know and love film. We’ve somehow managed to outlast Hollywood Video down on Cesar Chavez and we proudly display dozens of scissored Blockbuster cards on our wall like so many big-game heads. Go figure.  

Articles and readers’ reviews about Lost Weekend note the fact that, in contrast to a purely for-profit ethos, Lost Weekend embodies and encourages a collaborative ethos built around a shared appreciation for art, music, and culture, forging links between various cultural communities in San Francisco.

We try to be the best film library out there, though we are a bit limited by our space and relitively shallow pockets. In terms of the way we do business, we are fair and accommodating to our people. I know for sure we don’t make nearly as much on late fees and replacement costs as the majors.

We support a lot of the various film festivals that happen in the city. And our contribution to SF’s music, art, film and student scene is evident in our staff. Most everyone who works for us is involved in some other creative outlet. We are happy to be someone’s “McJob” while they pursue their other interests. And we always take them back after time off for tours, installations, school, whatever. We pay a decent wage, feed our staff and provide health insurance to full time employees. I am proud of that. 

Lost Weekend is, among other things, a repository and treasure trove of rare film, out-of-print titles, and boasts a capacious, catholic, and eclectic collection. Is there a philosophical vision that motivates your acquisitions and expansion of collections?

Only our own taste, which fortunately varies wildly between all of us. Sure, we have the entire Criterion Collection, but we also just picked up Leprechaun 2 because we love movies you hate to love and movies you love to hate. I have to say, Lost Weekend has been accused of snobbery and I must call bullshit on that. Also, credit belongs to our regulars for some of the great stuff we carry. We write down their suggestions for titles every day and actively seek them out. This kind of collaboration in “curating” the stacks has been really successful, and cool.  
 
One of the pleasures of browsing the collections at Lost Weekend is encountering the logic and taxonomy of classification. You have film organized by genre as well as by director and nation, staff picks, special two-for-ones, and so on. Did this evolve naturally or is there an idea behind it?

We get bored alphabetizing. It’s easier and more enjoyable to break things up. We have a new section called 80s Teen, with all those Reagan Era, big hair high school angst movies. I’d like to do a Biopics section in Drama and a Post-Apocalypse section in the Sci-Fi area. Maybe a shelf for Parodies and Rom-Com movies in Comedy. I’m just thinking out loud here. This is how it all starts. 

Lost Weekend is a San Francisco and Valencia institution. How, in your view, does Lost Weekend reflect the shifting contours of life in the area and city?

Well, the internet came. And then it left. Then it came back again. We noticed trends on paper, but like a lot of Mission District residents, even relatively recent arrivals, we really felt it just walking around. At a certain point, a bunch of our more eccentric customers just disappeared, which was a drag. Even after just twelve years in the same location, you see patterns of post grads coming in and new families moving away. Businesses come and go. But through all of this, we have changed very little. And I think that’s why we’re still around. I mean, we have a jukebox that plays vinyl 45s and a Defender video game from 1983. I assume people like this about us. 

You have a devoted following of members, whose relationship to Lost Weekend seems to be more than just that of customers. Could you share some thoughts about that.

We know of many couples who met at the store. A few even got married and had kids. And let’s be honest, a lot of couples broke up at the store over late fees or what movie to get. But our regulars are our friends, and friends know that if you bake cookies for us or bring coffee, late fees seem to magically disappear, or at least get radically reduced. Unless it’s The Secret. We always charge full-on for The Secret.

What would you identify as some especially significant moments in the history of Lost Weekend?

Opening the store was huge. After the sun went down, we turned on the neon sign and walked across the street and just marveled at the thing. Also, once the alarm went off and the cops came and nearly shot our lifesize Han Solo cutout. After a tense several seconds, one of the officers said, “Do you guys have ‘A Bridge Too Far’?”

Categories: Interview