Studs at the Pussycat Theatre
7734 Santa Monica Boulevard,
West Hollywood,
CA
90046
7734 Santa Monica Boulevard,
West Hollywood,
CA
90046
10 people
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Showing 51 - 75 of 102 comments
There’s a cover article in today’s San Diego Reader, detailing the histories of all the downtown theaters once run by Vince Miranda, at one time co-owner of California’s Pussycat Theatre chain. This is one of the theaters chronicled in the piece, which is built from a series of email interviews with Cinema Treasures contribs Dan Whitehead and Tim David (David is Miranda’s godson). Unfortunately, the online version doesn’t have any of the great photos and graphics seen in the printed version – I wrote the piece and will probably put scans of the graphics on my own webpage before much longer, after the next issue comes out. Here’s a link to the article on the Reader site:
View link
This is our second major feature on southern CA theaters in about a year (the other, “Field Of Screens,” is just on San Diego drive-ins and can be found on the Reader site with the search bar). If anyone here likes the article(s) and would like to encourage the publisher to greenlight more, feel free to leave your thoughts about the piece in the comment section after article. The paper really pays attention to reader comments!
http://www.sdreader.com/ed/cover/
Advertised as the Left Bank Theater at 7734 Santa Monica in July 1969, per the LA Times. Featured were “Split-Level Lovers” and “Male Call”.
LA Times was advertising another Tomkat theater at 9055 Santa Monica on 9/15/72. The theater on this page was still showing straight porn at that time, according to the info above. Does anyone recall a theater on CT listed at the 9055 address?
Vince Miranda is spinning in his grave. It is horrible what has become of this once very nice, and historic theatre.The present owner, whos name I will not mention… should be hung by his balls from the tallest tree in West Hollywood.I really do not think anyone could pick a uglier,less tasteful paint color. The “Monica Cat” has lived it’s 9th life… and is now dead in my opinion.
I would love that, Oklahomo Cowboy!
Typo, should read- Oklahomo Cowboy.
Playmate & Mujerado, hope to see you there!
Thanks for the info, guys. Next time I’m in town the Tomkat will be included on my agenda.
By the way, my moniker is Oklahomo Cowyboy.
The theater isn’t under LAPD vice jurisdiction. The Sherriff’s Dept is the law enforcement in West Hollywood.
Plenty of dirty, fun stuff happens within these hallowed walls, Oklahoma Cowboy. It happens during ever hour of every single day.
From what I’ve heard about LA vice squad it’s hard to believe any sexual activity, except what is shown on the monitors, happens within these walls.
Trouble in 1967:
http://tinyurl.com/33rlyh
I owned businesses surrounding the Pussycat Theater for years. This was dusing the 1970s when Deep Throat ran there exclusively. Every night a busload of Japanese tourists would be dropped off in front of the theater.
I owned “The Institute of Oral Love”, just east of the Pussycat and “The Academy of Nude Wrestling”, 2 doors west. Around the corner I owned “The Church of Spiritual Sexuality”, “The Sybil Gland Institute”, “The 69 Club for Sexual Gourmets”, and “The Emerson School of Massage” where you could “Get Educated by massaging a nude girl to taperecorded instruction. They were fun times…I miss them.
Have any couples attended the striaght prono side of the theater? If so, can you give us the best day/time to meet other couples there?
I worked at the Hollywood Pussycat theatre during the Heyday of Deep throat. There were 666 seats, I counted them, and they were numbered. Tickets then were $5 each. The movie was barely 63 minutes long. Quite a haul per show, considering we filled every seat for every show even to 4am when we eventually closed. There were lines around the block most days. Jim Lytell was the area manager and Malcolm Thomas/Malcolm Hardy (depending on when you asked him) was the manager. In the beginning, at least once a week, the police would come into the theater and cart the print off.. Malcom would convince the audience to stay in the theatre and within five or so mintues of the police leaving, someone would trot ‘round the corner with a new print and the show would go on. Once Linda Lovelace did make a promotional showing at the theater. She seemed nice. Then there was a scandal in which there was reputed to be a run of 100,000 duplicate tickets. We were all required to take lie detector tests. If they passed all those tickets at $5 a pop, (and I think they did) wow, someone made out! The place was lots of fun to work in, though it seemed like a circus sometimes. I have a one-sheet from Deep Throat that was used at the theatre, although it’s a bit sun bleached, I’ll cherish it forever. Anyone ever notice that Linda never bared her breasts in the film?? Occasionally Japanese tours would show up with about 50 people. The tour leader would purchase the tickets, they’d file in. sit for about 10 minutes and leave again. All in all, I loved working there.
It wasn’t that big of a theater to begin with.
Here’s an aerial view of the theater. The building backs right up to someone’s home!
View link
Two of the old ovular, flashing Pussycat logos have been rescued from storage and have been hung inside and outside the theatre, which now shows straight porn in addition to gay smut.
There is a movie clip of this theater back in a 1948 Short Subject which I think was released by RKO Pathe ( the opening credit is chopped off the print ). The print is available on line as a download which will play on Windows Media Player 10. It is free. You will need broadband connection to download it.
http://www.archive.org/details/LetsGoToTheM is the URL.
At that site right click on MPEG2 link in left hand side of frame and choose Save Target option to download it to your computer. This will take some time. Many other LA theaters are shown. You can freeze frames to stop action for viewing.
To get back to the history of this theater instead of what goes on there now, here’s a few listings from the LA Times; I didn’t realize this theater showed such great movies at one time:
(Feb. 11, 1948)
John Garfield Lilli Palmer in
“Body and Soul"
Monica, Los Angeles
7734 Santa Monica Blvd., H1.0337
(Sept. 7, 1958)
Julien Duvivier’s latest supspense hit, “Deadlier Than the Male,” opens an exclusive Los Angeles engagement Friday at the Monica Theater. “Law and Disorder,” a British crime thriller starring Michael Redgrave, Robert Morely, Ronald Squire and Lionel Jeffries, is the companion feature.
(Nov. 25, 1958)
As the result of a survey conducted among the patrons of Sunset and Monica Theaters a series of foreign films has been booked for preholiday showings. The opening program, starting tomorrow at both theaters, will be Gina Lollobrigida and Gerard Philipe, “Beauties of the Night,” directed by Rene Clair, and “Fan Fan the Tulip,” with Gerard Philipe in the title role.
(March 1, 1959)
The prize-winning Swedish film, “The Seventh Seal, has been held over at the Monica Theater and the opening of "Forbidden Fruit,” starring Fernandel and Francoise Arnoul, has been postponed until Friday.
(March 1, 1965)
COURT RULES FILM NOT OBSCENE
BACHELOR TOM PEEPING
ADULTS ONLY
2nd Big Hit!
Brigitte Bardot
“Strip-Tease"
MONICA
7734 Santa Monica Blvd.
mujerado: You might be thinking of the Century Theatre.
There used to be an old neighborhood theatre on Hollywood Blvd a half-mile east of Western Ave that went to gay porn. They had live shows and used to sell out quite regularly. It was finally sold when the owner died, and destroyed. Anyone out there remember its name?
Adult Theaters were fun, miss going. We as a couple enjoyed going the the Studio in Buena Park, up the street was a Pussycat that was run down an attracted more of a gay crowd. Also, Long Beach had one on Ocean that was fun. Does anyone know of a nice theater were couple go in OC or LA area? or even San Diego area?
You can attribute the demise of adult theaters to home video. No one needs to go out and spend ten dollars to watch a porno movie anymore.
I saw my first adult film at the Beach Theater in Atlantic City. The theater was around the corner from my high school (no repressive zoning requirements then) and I was terrifed that some teacher would spot me, or worse, would be in the audience. I was fourteen years old. I remember that the ticket was five dollars, which was mucho dinero in 1975. When I walked into the auditorium, the first thing that I saw was a wide screen shoot of John Holmes unfolding the part of his anatomy which made him famous. I felt rather inadequate. The rest of the film was an anti-climax, if you will pardon the pun.
You guys seems to know a lot about adult theaters. I recall passing by a theater near the corner of La Brea and Pico with “XXX – In Back” above the door. I was about 15 at the time, and it intrigued me that adult films could be shown in a theater atmosphere.
Anyway, my question: what is the theater called? Going north on La Brea, one would make a left on west Pico and the white theater building is on the left side.
uh ok