Studs at the Pussycat Theatre

The other night I watched a DVD (released in 2006 by Raincoat Theater, a division of Media Blasters) of the 1980 Marilyn Chambers film “Insatiable”—One of the bonus features on that DVD was footage of Marilyn Chambers (the film’s star) at a premiere of that film at this theater in May of 1980, including where she was putting her hand prints into the cement in front of the theater. This was during the daytime and there was a crowd of about 50 watching from outside the theater (all men). The footage also showed a little bit of the lobby including a shot of Vince Miranda. (Chambers narrates the footage, which is well worth watching.)

“Insatiable” was considered Chambers porn comeback after a foray into mainsteam film (the most notable being “Rabid”, directed by David Croenberg in which she plays a vampire) and was hyped for a time due to a scene in which she has sex with John Holmes. The film premiered here and would essentially become the last theatrical XXX film to have financial success with a cross-over (ie couples) audience. This, of course, had to do with the advent of VHS, and even at this point, theatrical XXX audiences were going back to being essentially male.

This article “When Cathouses Ruled California” has much history on this theater, and the entire CA Pussycat chain, told via interviews with theater operators and employees. Lots of photos too, including many credited to cinematreasures contribs – View link

It appears as though the above link is inactive.

According to an online search it appears that it now known as “Studs at the Pussycat Theatre”

the management is planning to initiate a “womens night” at studs, where from 11pm until closing groups of 3 women or more get FREE ADMISSION on the 1st and 4th Saturdays of the month..its partly to head off a judgement from a complaint of discrimination by women who claim that they were refused admittance into Studs in 2007 because they had no escorts..
A MAJOR Asian pornstar is planning an appearance at the theater on July 3 2010 to film a porn “documentary” for BANG BROS.

Whose idea was this? The building looked a lot better before the black paint made it look like into a dungeon. This would have been more fitting if it were the mid-60s, when so many of the businesses along S & M Boulevard had a sinister “adults-only” appearance.

How about painting a politically correct rainbow across the front? It would be a more positive statement, and maybe, just maybe, Ellen Degeneres would do one of her ‘tard dances in the auditoriums that could be painted off white. Reality, what a concept.