Communist Alert!

The Bijou Theatre closed on September 31. I’m not going to make superlative claims about the place (I’ll leave that to the partisans of the King’s Highway Theater), but it was one of a dwindling number of theaters in which patrons sat in seat arranged in rows and watched pornography projected on a screen.

I never went. I had a brief association with the company for an archival project and was in the neighborhood all the time, but whenever the opportunity presented itself I lost whatever drive I’d built up and went home. You’re just going to have to take my word for it that my aversion had nothing to do with any squeamishness about the exclusively man-on-man material on offer, or about the possibility of unwanted attention (on that last score, I frankly don’t give myself a lot of credit). It’s just how things are with me: “Oh, there’s fun thing to do, nearby, for cheap? See you tomorrow.” It’ll happen again.

I really would have gone during its last week, but in-laws were in town visiting, and much as I like my girlfriend’s mom, I don’t think we’re at the point in our relationship where I feel comfortable taking her to a gay porn theatre. I’ve lost my chance in any case.

Here is an excellent interview with Bijou honcho Steven Toushin, posted on October 1 of this year. He knows a lot, and he’s a great guy.