The Vintage Arcade Superstore in California, US, owned by Gene Lewin, is 11,000 square feet of pinball machines and arcade cabinets for sale that span several decades.
Lewin and his 15 employees, mostly technicians and artists, don't operate the store as a conventional arcade open to the public.
Their business is in resurrecting the lights and sounds of video game nostalgia, a sentiment with which Lewin is long familiar.
"I started playing pinball in '72 when it became legal in Los Angeles," Lewin said. "I didn't go a week without playing pinball for I don't know how many years."
Not long after, at age 19, Lewin bought his first pinball machine with savings from a job at Jack in the Box.
Oddly enough, the machine was called "Jumping Jack" and themed on the fast-food chain.
After convincing his parents to keep it in his bedroom, Lewin found a better home for it at a billiards place where he split the profits from his coin-operated machine with the owner.
Lewin's "Jumping Jack" was the bar's highest earner.
"When I got my game, I didn't know how to fix it. I couldn't even fix my bike or anything. But when I started tinkering with ["Jumping Jack"], I realized this is something I could actually do," Lewin said. "I even went to arcades and said, 'I'll work for free if you just teach me what to do.'"
Lewin honed his pinball business over the years, placing his machines at various locations including a skate park, hamburger joint and gift shop in Burbank.
This story, written by Jeff Landa, first appeared in the Glendale News-Press. Read the story in full, and see more images,
on the LA Times website.
