Paree Adult Cinema and Live Show
753-59 7th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10019
753-59 7th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10019
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Perhaps one of the most disreputable establishments of the “Adult Cinema” variety in its very short day, the Paree Adult Cinema and Live Show opened in November, 1970, on 7th Avenue between W 49th Street and W 50th Street on the site where NY theatre impresario Earl Carroll had built two eponymous showplaces that operated during the 1920’s and 1930’s (the second of which was a stunning 2,500-seat Art Deco style palace that lasted only a few years before conversion to a restaurant/night club).
The Paree Adult Cinema actually opened on the second floor of the office building that housed the Earl Carroll’s entrance and ticket lobby (the Carroll Theatre itself ran parallel to W 50th Street behind this structure) in space that had previously been a pool hall. Admission was $3.00 and patrons were offered a continuous program of hard-core films and live sex acts as well as “massages” at $10.00 per half hour.
When management of Rockefeller Center discovered on the day before Thanksgiving, 1972, that they were the principal landlords of the Paree Adult Cinema, they quickly announced that a deal to buy-out the establishment’s lease would be arranged and that the theatre would be closed the next day. However, the theatre’s operators took advantage of the holiday to sneak in for one last day of business before being closed by workers that Friday.
The operator of the Paree Adult Cinema and Live Show was N. Carroll Mallow, who (according to a 1972 NY Times article about the closing) “also operated the San Francisco sex cinema at 1541 Broadway and the Doll Theatre at 719 7th Avenue”.
Contributed by
Ed Solero
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Recent comments (view all 29 comments)
I think a lot of the “dirty” was going on in the porn theaters and those musty old 2nd-floor taxi-dance ballrooms that managed to survive into the ‘70’s and '80’s. When I used to get off the Subway at Seventh Ave and 53rd Street, walking down into Times Square was always a matter of dodging street-hawkers trying to lure you inside the various adult establishments that lined the strip. Never mind that my pals and I were like 15 or 16 years old!
I hasten to add, that there was some definite dirty going on in some of the straight theaters in the area… If one would classify any of the grinds on 42nd Street as “straight” theaters! I just mean non-porn houses. Some of those rest rooms and balconies were as rife with carnal activity as a room at one of the many short-stay flop houses in the area!
Saps, I understand your well intended contribution. It is what makes cinematreasures work for many of us.
Moviemanforever, what are you afraid of? It happened already, buddy! Please tell us what your roll was or stay away and deny.
“It was really unique and will never be duplicated.”
I have to agree….
MovieMan, too bad you missed the entire Times Square experience — from visiting the Lyric and New Amsterdam on 42nd Street, up the square to the Paramount, State, Criterion, Astor, DeMille, Rivoli and especially the Capitol. And why not stop in at the Adonis, Cameo, Tivoli, Pussycat, World and Victory, all old movie theaters repurposed in their last years for the adult trade. Nobody ever got an STD sitting in a theater seat admiring the proscenium.
That’s the Times Square experience I meant — the lights, the sounds, the sights, with a hint of danger and excitement around every corner. The roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd….“Annie” playing next to “Anal Intruders!” It was really unique and will never be duplicated.
…And how!
“I seriously doubt if anyone in an adult theater spent any time admiring the proscenium.”
Check out the Adonis page and you will find out you are also wrong about that, aside from being homophobic, racist and apparently fattist.
You remain a pompous boor. You are the only one making personal attacks (calling me trashy, promiscuous, imperious and low-class. I resent being called imperious!)
When it comes down to it, you can get an STD at the Waldorf-Astoria if you'e with the wrong partner, so don’t be so lofty.
Anyway, you said in a previous post that you went to two adult theaters and never touched anyone and never went back. (You went dancing instead — how was all the drug use and unsafe behavior in THOSE venues?)
In reality, you never even considered having your so-called “Times Square Experience” in any event. (It seems every city and town in America had porno theaters at the same time; nothing unique to Manhattan.)
There was (is) so much more to the area than merely hooking up. That is the Times Square Experience we have spent years here discussing. And plenty of our members DID just sit there and admire the architecture. (Ed, that’s your cue…)
Listen, I’m only a cheerleader, but I spent many hours in the movie houses that once lined W. 42nd Street, Broadway and Seventh Avenue back in the ‘80’s. Pornography was never my thing – Kung Fu and horror films were my usual vices. I enjoyed seeing films at these theaters for a variety of reasons, including the fact that admissions were cheap, the bill of fare included double and even triple features along with red-band trailers (never got those in Queens!) and the often hilarious running commentary from folks in the audience. And, yes, I would sometimes find myself looking past the grime and decay and admiring some of the stunning architecture within those dirty walls.
For a budding cineast such as myself, Times Square was a wonderland. The history of the area is frequently sordid but it is also endlessly fascinating – and I’m happy to have been able to experience some of it while I was able. In fact, I still patronize many of the surviving and re-born establishments whenever I get the chance.
Anyone who would dismiss Times Square based on their disapproval of what may be happening on the fringes is seriously closed minded, and this poster had already admitted to that. Most of it still happens today behind the facade of the new Disneyscape, as vice never dies.
I never understood the mindset that could blame a sexuality transmitted disease on a building. I suppose if we shut down the Port Authority in Times Square it would end teenage prostitution in America.
AIDS is still thriving in many parts of the world without a porn cinema in sight, including sections of NY and LA.