National Video Center

The National Video Center was a video production company with studios in Washington, DC, Boston, Atlanta, Connecticut and New York City until June 2002. National Recording Studios opened in 1959 in Manhattan at 730 Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets - Recording Studios were on the 6th floor which included Studio B, and insert shoot stage for the fledgling National Video, located on the 11th floor. Original owners were Irv Kaufman, Hal Lustig, and brother Carl Lustig. Andrew Lustig eventually became the CEO and owner of National Video Center and Recording Studios.

National moved its headquarters to the former West Side Airline Terminal at 460 West 42nd Street (which was on Theatre Row (New York City)) as well as maintaining a huge music recording studio in what used to be the ballroom of the Edison Hotel. Studio shots from the film Tootsie were filmed in the West 42nd Street studio TV-1, and the closing shots of the movie are the exterior of National's building. In the 1990s, National Video Center launched divisions based in Boston and Westport, Connecticut. National Westport was short-lived, but National Boston Video Center spun off two more divisions; National Ministry of Design and Rumblestrip Audio.

The company's divisions in Boston (National Boston, NMD, and Rumblestrip Audio), as well as Napoleon Videographics (now known as The Napoleon Group), are still operating to this day. National Video Center worked with clients such as MTV, PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC, Discovery Networks, A&E, USA Network, and many more. In 1992 NY1 launched its initial studio on the fourth floor. In the mid 2000s, 460 West 42nd Street was demolished for a 59-story apartment tower.