Scarecrow Video became national news when it went to nonprofit. Kim’s Mondo Video died and became national news. But, especially in the case of Scarecrow, this is just one location.

I live 3.8 miles away from Scarecrow. But, if you’re on a bus, that’s 30-45 minutes, if you’re walking that’s 45 minutes, and if you’re driving, that’s still like 15-20 minutes away. I had an awesome video store near me: On 15th Video. Just a handful of blocks away, this was the last remaining video store in the gayborhood in Seattle.

The second to last video store in the gayborhood was Broadway Video, which closed up shop in March of this year. It was smaller, and much more strangely curated. I never liked it much.

But, On 15th Video had a larger collection in an old fire station. The fire department got a new fire station about 8 blocks away years ago. They had a sizable Gay/Lesbian section, an endcap dedicated to “So bad…it’s good?”, and a full section dedicated to Cult and Cult Directors. They have things from Kenneth Anger films and Alex Cox films. Not Scarecrow-level complete, but generally one can find the harder things there.

It’s sad. I was scheduling rentals in my head Saturday night as I was actively renting there.

The notice was put up by the employees and not the owners. Capitol Hill Seattle is reaching out to the owners, hopefully with the question of “Whyyyyyy????” In the meantime, we mourn.

I could hear the death tones even in the comments of the renters on Saturday. One group, who at least rented a few movies, were looking at some others and saying “Oh, we can stream that on Netflix” in earshot of the employees. Which, sad…

So, in the case of On 15th Video, a cool independent video shop that has served me well for years, Rest in Peace. I’ll miss you, especially for those quick jaunts when I know what I want.