Whammy! Analog Media, the VHS shop and microcinema in Echo Park, celebrated its third anniversary on Sunday, February 10, with a day of live music.  While bands were scheduled to play from noon until 8 p.m., I was only able to check out the 4 – 7 p.m. stretch, which included performances from Chaki, Major Entertainer and Pride Month Barbie. 

A theme running throughout the afternoon was how special Whammy! is and that’s true. It’s actually one of the few places in L.A. that legit lives up to the overused descriptive “hidden gem.” Although the shop’s address is on Sunset Blvd., you won’t notice it from the street, you have to walk down Rampart and enter through the alley. Once you step inside, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to another past that’s cooler than the one that actually existed. Trust me, you would not be able to find many of the movies here at the corporate video stores that now stoke nostalgia in people. And you certainly wouldn’t be bobbing your head to “Mesopotamia,” the funkiest of the B-52s’ jams, while you browse.