accessAtlanta is your weekly podcast about things to do in and around Atlanta and beyond. This week, we’ll hear about a Woodstock man’s unusual hobby.
Man caves often feature neon beer signs, autographed sports jerseys mounted on the wall, a big-screen TV and maybe a foosball table or a Ms. Pac-Man machine. But Anthony Sant’Anselmo of Woodstock decided to go a different route in his classic suburban home on a cul-de-sac. Over the past three years, his basement has been transformed into a 1980s-era video rental store he named Mondo Video stocked with 6,000 VHS tapes and side rooms focused on films for kids, sports lovers and food.
Credit: RODNEY
Credit: RODNEY
He painstakingly created “distressed” brick walls going down the stairs and into the main room to evoke a Manhattan nook-style video store circa 1986. He had a friend design a special Mondo Video logo of a girl on a Pee Wee Herman-style scooter with VHS tapes on the back. He installed a saloon double-door for a small “adult” section. Movie posters (“Risky Business,” “Mac and Me”) and cardboard cutouts of “E.T.,” Chevy Chase, Richard Pryor and Paul Hogan of “Crocodile Dundee” fame accent the space. He even built out shelves that are actually hidden doors into other rooms.
Rodney Ho spoke with Sant’Anselmo about his basement makeover and he’ll bring us that conversation.
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