A dad and film nerd constructed an enviable '80s-inspired video rental store in his basement — full with laser discs and an 'grownup' part behind saloon doorways

• For the previous 5 years, an Atlanta dad has been renovating his basement into an eighties-inspired video retailer.
• Anthony Sant’Anselmo, an animator for “South Park”, has designed a number of rooms in his basement in an eighties aesthetic. 
• He estimates he is spent 1000’s of hours and, financially, “across the low 5 figures” on the venture.

Behind a secret door disguised as a bookshelf on the bottom degree of an Atlanta-area residence lies a magical and ongoing development venture fueled by nostalgia and a wholesome serving to of obsession.

For the previous 5 years, 46-year-old Anthony Sant’Anselmo has been reworking his basement right into a video rental retailer from the eighties. Whereas not practical, the area is supposed to commemorate the now-defunct mom-and-pop retailers that dotted small-town America earlier than Blockbuster and Hollywood Video wiped them out, he instructed Insider.

Sant’Anselmo, a father of three, showcased the gorgeous area in a viral TikTok this week, taking 2.2 million viewers on a visit down reminiscence lane. 

Sant’Anselmo is an animator for the satirical TV present “South Park” and an aspiring screenwriter. In 2018, he kickstarted the venture when he moved from Los Angeles to Atlanta to cool down along with his spouse. They’d by no means had a basement earlier than, and he or she grudgingly struck a cope with him: Sant’Anselmo might have free reign of the basement if she oversaw decor for the remainder of the home. 

Mondo Video, as his retailer known as — a nod to the subversive movie style — was in some methods impressed by the childhood Sant’Anselmo by no means had. Rising up in a non secular residence, he wasn’t allowed to see PG-rated motion pictures like “Gremlins” and “Ghostbusters,” he instructed Insider. 

He additionally wished to show his children a couple of relic of the previous and mentioned the venture has grow to be a vital artistic outlet.

“I have been writing screenplays since in all probability 2000 and it has been laborious to promote one,” he mentioned. “This entire video retailer is sort of me doing a hail mary of inventive expression to see one thing of mine bodily manifest.” 

Sant’Anselmo has bonded ’80s infants on TikTok 

Behind the key door, down a moodily-lit staircase, lies the “most important room” of Mondo Video. It is outfitted with a customized neon signal of the shop’s title scrawled in Sant’Anselmo’s handwriting. 

The small print are fastidious, and the development has, at instances, been all-consuming. Laying the black-and-white checkered flooring was “essentially the most tough factor factor I’ve ever carried out,” Sant’Anselmo mentioned, and the fake brick paneling alongside the staircase took 4 months to complete. 

All instructed, Sant’Anselmo estimates he is spent 1000’s of hours and, financially, “across the low 5 figures” on the venture — a complete that he believes is “not as a lot as folks assume.”

That is as a result of many of the fixtures and furnishings – together with wire video racks, a checkout counter (stocked with film snacks), and a whole lot of VHS tapes – have been culled from thrift retailers, Goodwill shops, Fb Market distributors, Craigslist, and eBay. 

And his efforts are paying off big-time on-line. In actual fact, his enviable basement has bonded ’80s infants on TikTok, an older technology that seldom will get to see their childhoods mirrored on an app dominated by Gen Z customers.

“This [is] superior. I am extraordinarily jealous,” one prime commenter wrote. “I would like a complete city that’s caught within the 80s.”

“Children now a days won’t ever perceive the sensation I simply had in my coronary heart seeing this,” one other added.

Sant’Anselmo instructed Insider that after he started the venture, he realized he could not cease. “I began creeping the theme into different rooms,” he mentioned, “and that is when it received actually enjoyable.” 

Earlier than he knew it, there was a children part he calls “Mondo Kideo,” a laser disc wall within the household’s residence theater, a sports-themed film room within the health club, and an “adults solely” part behind saloon doorways hat homes “tacky porn parodies.”

Behind a second secret door is a functioning kitchenette with cabinets stuffed with culinary-themed eighties motion pictures.

There are two rooms Sant’Anselmo hasn’t proven on social media but, he mentioned: A house workplace the place he works remotely and an unfinished area the place he plans to assemble an eighties arcade.

Whereas he is been in a position to feed his passions with the venture, sharing it has impressed TikTok viewers to reminisce a couple of previous earlier than smartphones.

“Rattling, this received me,” one commenter wrote. “I miss life earlier than smartphones and streaming…film evening was an expertise and a time to spend with household and pals.”