Flick Theatre
719 E. Fremont Street,
Las Vegas,
NV
89101
719 E. Fremont Street,
Las Vegas,
NV
89101
2 people
favorited this theater
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Thank you for the clarification. I re-posted it as “Screen grab from “Red Heat” 1976, credit Ray Dennis Steckler, director, screenplay & producer.“ As I could find no production company name to credit. 1978 was apparently one of several re-releases it had before it made it’s way to DVD. I always do a reverse image search to find the original credited sources of photos, but this one came up with zero then and now.
The image with the ambulance is not a photo. It is taken from the 1978 pornographic movie “Red Heat”.
Several years back, I did some research - it was a project of mine on past Vegas movie theatres - particularly in the ‘60s & '70’s. As posted above, the Flick opened in (“69, DUDE!” - Bill & Ted). And for the first month or so, it started showing independent features - the first one being a return engagement of the Bob Dylan documentary “Dont Look Back” {NO - that’s NOT a typo on the word Dont}. (“Dont Look Back” originally had it’s 1st-run engagement in either '67 or '68 at the Guild Theatre.) And the Flick was originally a single screen theatre. After it’s 1st-run engagement at the Cinema Arts (a porno house “down the street” from McCarran Airport), the Flick became the permanent Vegas home for Linda Lovelace & “DEEP THROAT” - for literally years, it was shown with that other porn “classic” “The Devil & Miss Jones” - I guess that was theatre 1. (There was “a Vegas tradition” as well - being when one turned 18, you went to the Flick to see your first porno flick{s} - namely “DEEP THROAT” & “The Devil & Miss Jones”). And for years in theatre 2 was either “Insatiable” with Marilyn Chambers, or “Debbie Does Dallas” - at one point in time, the Flick ended up running both of these together. So, in the long run, these were your choices - “DEEP THOAT” & The Devil & Miss Jones", or “Insatiable”& “Debbie Does Dallas” - rarely anything else. Ok - question here - how many of you actually saw “DEEP THOAT” more than once? Me - at least twice. But let’s be honest here - Linda Lovelace wasn’t that good-looking and she couldn’t act herself outta a paper bag. But I’m guessing that it did its business because of what Linda actually did. (Hence the title… . . And the guys were probably going - “SHEESH, I wish my wife / girlfriend could/would do that to me!”
“Deep Throat” promotional ambulance, August 1980 photo added courtesy Gerard Legrand.
Two screens early in 1976. Opened November 1969.
Opened with “An evening with the Underground” with offbeat films. Adult programming started in 1970. Grand opening ad posted.
First time there or any porno theater was December 1977 on a two-night bus trip. I must have walked passed it 3 or 4 times before going inside.
The last few years it was open the left side showed xxx films and the right side allowed people to take in sleeping bags, blankets,… to sleep anywhere-in seats, in the aisles, on the floor behind the screen while non x-rated films were projected on the screen. Once everyday everyone had to leave so they could clean it. Same fee on both sides.
Two theaters and a book store, Apartment up stairs, which later after the theater closed became and cheap flop rental for a time
Let’s revive it!
Yep! I remember this place. It did have a big auditorium. I went there with my girlfriend in 1987 and saw a double bill of some movie I don’t remember that we walked in the middle of and “Hot Pursuit”. The second had an elaborate plot with a private eye trying to chase down a porn movie made by a now superstar status pop singer who’s terrified that if the movie surfaces it’ll ruin her career. I definitely remember it being on 35mm and everything as it was a huge screen. Popcorn was available in the snack bark (Yccch!) and yes… during the movie, my girlfriend and I had to relocate once ‘cos some guy parked in the row behind us started hooking his horse.
The battle between the awesomeness of seeing regular movies in the theater and the convenience of renting them on NetFlix or downloading at home rages on but I think it’s safe to say catching an X-rated movie on the big screen is pretty obsolete. Except that… believe it or not in my new home town of Portland, OR there are not one but TWO adult movie theaters. One of which has been in continuous operation since 1970!
Here is a photograph I took of the Flick Theatre building in January 2009:
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/3215182881/
Memories being hazy as they are for me, I can’t 100% trust that I’ve pegged this theatre accurately as having been a twin. The thought has creeped into my mind that perhaps the two sets of XXX twin-bills that I recalled seeing way back in the summer of 1980 were shown on an alternating basis at the Flick on a single screen? The only reason I suggest this is that I do have a recollection of sitting in the theatre just about dead center of the room and remembering the auditorium as reasonably big. I dunno. Seems more likely it was a twin. Just posting to see if any Vegas locals might join in and confirm any information about the Flick’s history.
It was at this theater, back in 1980, where I saw my very first XXX porn movies. I have lived in NYC all my life (save for a year in Miami when I was young) but in August of ‘80, at the age of 15, I flew out to Las Vegas with my great-grandmother to visit my great-uncle. I remember riding by this theater while on a city bus heading to another destination. I’d seen other XXX theaters in NYC – in fact, I walked among them on numerous occasions during frequent trips to the grind houses in Times Square – but I had never really been tempted to venture inside a real porn theater. Something clicked on this occasion, however, (maybe it was that this theater seemed somehow cleaner and safer than those I was accustomed to seeing in NY) and I made a mental note of the theater’s location.
One day, I asked my uncle for permission to take the bus downtown to do some sightseeing, and – to my amazement – he agreed. I walked to the bus stop and took the ride from North Las Vegas to Fremont Street and tentatively approached the Flick’s box-office. I noticed that the theater was a twin, with one theater playing the infamous “Deep Throat” & “Devil in Miss Jones” and the other pairing up “Debbie Does Dallas” with “Behind the Green Door.” Something about “Debbie” star Bambi Woods appealed to me and helped me to decide on which ticket to purchase – or rather, attempt to purchase, since I was convinced I’d be turned away with no proof of age.
To my surprise, the person at the box-office (I’m thinking it was a lady, but I can’t really remember) took my money and punched out a stub for me to enter to the theater and I was off on my first foray into adult cinema. There were only a few patrons in the theater and I admit to being a bit uncomfortable and anxious at first… but I settled in once I realized no perverts were coming over to accost me. After the films were over (or after the program ran to the point where I first walked in), I scooted back to NLV on the bus – but with the thought that I’d have to take this trip again before I left Vegas to check out the Flick’s other double-bill! Fortunately, I was able to do just that just a few days later – with my uncle, aunt and great-grandmother being none the wiser. So I left Vegas with great photos of me at Hoover Dam, standing in front of $1 million in cash behind a glass wall at Binion’s Horseshoe, with the clowns at Circus Circus, $300 dollars I won at Keno (my uncle collected for me) and great memories with my family – but best of all, my private little secret of having snuck off to see what are probably the four best known porn flicks of the ‘70’s.
Once back in NY, I think that this experience emboldened my to convince my buddies to check out the uncensored hard-core version of “Caligula” at the Lyric Theater on 42nd Street.
If anyone has further info on the current status of this theater – or recollections about its days either before or during its porn operations – it would be greatly appreciated!