WHERE THE HIP SIP

Come December, L.A. will have its first video coffee house, patterned after bookstores up north where you can sip, browse and hang out. Vidiots, the tiny video rental store at Pico and 2nd in Santa Monica, will expand into an adjacent unit, offering a coffee bar, film books, scripts, a new documentary section and occasional live music and performance art.

“We want to give L.A. a place where people can discuss Brian Eno’s ‘Thursday Afternoon’ or Spalding Gray’s ‘Swimming to Cambodia’ over a cup of coffee while they’re picking out their videos,” said Pat Polinger, who opened Vidiots two years ago with partner Cathy Tauber. The store quickly developed a cult following, partly because of a special section of alternative films.