I co-managed the Kim’s Video Underground store at 144 Bleecker from 1998 until 2000. Being too young to have frequented the Bleecker Street Cinema, it was nice to at least inhabit the same space. I was at that time putting together a book of New York “scum history” (underground film, music, crime, drug culture, etc) and in my interviews for this book I frequently heard brief anecdotes about the BSC. I often wondered what the legendary cinema was like inside…I’ve only ever seen a single photo…and the general experience of seeing a film there was something I sorely regretted missing out on. Hearing all of these stories makes me want to re-open my boxes of notes and files collected for this book.
Of course, Kim’s Video Underground has a colorful history all its own. During my 2+ years as an employee, I came to be on a first name basis with countless Kim’s regulars, all of whom shared a deep affection for the store. The reputation of the store’s clerks as disrespectful film school punks may be well-founded, but I don’t think too many customers got that impression from the Underground / 144 location of the chain. We were all generally pleasant to deal with, although the odor of alcohol or marijuana in the general area of the rental counter was not unusual. I had the key to the store, and on many nights, after closing Kim’s, I would sleep off a heavy drunk in the store’s dingy basement stairwell, one of its more memorable characteristics. (Anyone over 5'5" had to be very careful entering that dank little vortex of a store.) In the morning, I’d dust myself off, and re-open for another day of business as usual on Bleecker Street. It was a great and horrible time….and it’s the only job I’ve ever missed. The news of its closing was absolutely devastating to me.
Out of hundreds, if not thousands of crazy stories, the one that seems to dominate is the fungal infestation of the “Pee Wee Room”, a cavernous sub-basement at the store’s rear where the porno rentals were displayed. Around the summer of 1999, mold spores somehow reminiscent of the facehugger eggs from the ALIEN films began to sprout from the cum-spattered, water damaged, cheaply tiled floor. These spores reached sizes in excess of three feet, and ranged from lime green to burnt sienna in color. The room was closed by the order of NYC HEALTH AND SAFETY, and I believe Mr. Kim was fined. Eventually, the room re-opened. I had many nightmares about these spores, and probably will again tonight. Of course, the store was infested with mice and large “Palmetto” roaches.
I’ll also never forget about the time Yongman Kim took me out for lunch at his favorite Village-area Korean restaurant…but I’ll spare you.
One last thing….I hope this post isn’t out of place. I couldn’t find any sort of forum or thread devoted to the old Kim’s store….this page is the closest thing to it, I believe. What they’ve done to that classic entrance and its facade is very much in keeping with the widespread destruction of downtown NY’s cultural landmarks over the last 5 years. Still, it came as a brutal shock. Truly the end of a magical era. As another Kim’s fan pointed out, “it shines brighter in memory”…I only wish there was a proper website constructed in the memory of both the Bleecker Street Cinema and Kim’s Video Underground. Both were extremely important to film culture….in NYC and beyond.
I co-managed the Kim’s Video Underground store at 144 Bleecker from 1998 until 2000. Being too young to have frequented the Bleecker Street Cinema, it was nice to at least inhabit the same space. I was at that time putting together a book of New York “scum history” (underground film, music, crime, drug culture, etc) and in my interviews for this book I frequently heard brief anecdotes about the BSC. I often wondered what the legendary cinema was like inside…I’ve only ever seen a single photo…and the general experience of seeing a film there was something I sorely regretted missing out on. Hearing all of these stories makes me want to re-open my boxes of notes and files collected for this book.
Of course, Kim’s Video Underground has a colorful history all its own. During my 2+ years as an employee, I came to be on a first name basis with countless Kim’s regulars, all of whom shared a deep affection for the store. The reputation of the store’s clerks as disrespectful film school punks may be well-founded, but I don’t think too many customers got that impression from the Underground / 144 location of the chain. We were all generally pleasant to deal with, although the odor of alcohol or marijuana in the general area of the rental counter was not unusual. I had the key to the store, and on many nights, after closing Kim’s, I would sleep off a heavy drunk in the store’s dingy basement stairwell, one of its more memorable characteristics. (Anyone over 5'5" had to be very careful entering that dank little vortex of a store.) In the morning, I’d dust myself off, and re-open for another day of business as usual on Bleecker Street. It was a great and horrible time….and it’s the only job I’ve ever missed. The news of its closing was absolutely devastating to me.
Out of hundreds, if not thousands of crazy stories, the one that seems to dominate is the fungal infestation of the “Pee Wee Room”, a cavernous sub-basement at the store’s rear where the porno rentals were displayed. Around the summer of 1999, mold spores somehow reminiscent of the facehugger eggs from the ALIEN films began to sprout from the cum-spattered, water damaged, cheaply tiled floor. These spores reached sizes in excess of three feet, and ranged from lime green to burnt sienna in color. The room was closed by the order of NYC HEALTH AND SAFETY, and I believe Mr. Kim was fined. Eventually, the room re-opened. I had many nightmares about these spores, and probably will again tonight. Of course, the store was infested with mice and large “Palmetto” roaches.
I’ll also never forget about the time Yongman Kim took me out for lunch at his favorite Village-area Korean restaurant…but I’ll spare you.
One last thing….I hope this post isn’t out of place. I couldn’t find any sort of forum or thread devoted to the old Kim’s store….this page is the closest thing to it, I believe. What they’ve done to that classic entrance and its facade is very much in keeping with the widespread destruction of downtown NY’s cultural landmarks over the last 5 years. Still, it came as a brutal shock. Truly the end of a magical era. As another Kim’s fan pointed out, “it shines brighter in memory”…I only wish there was a proper website constructed in the memory of both the Bleecker Street Cinema and Kim’s Video Underground. Both were extremely important to film culture….in NYC and beyond.