South Pasadena Shops

There are some of us who find it an invigorating challenge to interface our wireless router's DSP programming portal with our Blu-Ray players so that we can live stream season two of that Danish mini-series from Netflix that everyone's talking about… wait a sec, Netflix doesn't carry that! But chances are Videotheque does, plus 20,000 other classics, cult movies, Kung Fu rarities, German expressionist masterpieces, foreign films categorized by country, Hollywood blockbusters and bombs, t-shirts, movie posters as well as used DVDs and trade-ins. One of the last remaining independent video stores, a visit to Videotheque is like walking into the French Cinematheque in the early Sixties and finding yourself surrounded by opinionated cinemaphiles who know the difference between Pinot Noir and Film Noir and Godard and Goddard. Presided over by owner Mark Wright and his knowledgeable staff, Videotheque is a browser's paradise among South Pasadena Shops. www.vidtheque.com

Mission Wines is a neighborhood wine shop, assertive without being aggressive, bold and authoritative yet welcoming, textured but not dense, flavorful and fruity but never cloying. Run by opinionated and chatty Chris Meeske, formerly a sommelier at Patina, downtown L.A.'s temple of haute cuisine famous for its voluminous wine list, Mission Wines is the place to seek out those hard to find bottles recommended by wine writers and food critics. Mission Wines specializes in small production artisanal wines, but they also carry a good assortment of reasonably priced bottles. Beer-o-philes can sample a selection of micro brews on tap. They hold regular in-store wine tastings, and offer tax-free Tuesdays. And how many South Pasadena Shops offer private wine lockers, where the temperature is maintained at 55 degrees and the humidity at 77 percent (which minimizes cork shrinkage and prevents oxidation, if you were wondering). All that fine wine and no need to climb into your car; it's just a four minute walk to the metro station. www.missionwines.com