Eros Theatre

A Chelly Wilson documentary “QUEEN OF THE DEUCE” is now on youtube with a small paywall.

There were also a few male strippers that would take to the stage once in a while in between the movies, at least in the early 90s. Downstairs in the basement where the restroom was, there was also one single private room with a door, where one of the dancers would be lying down on a bed, waiting to make a “business deal” with a customer.

“Gay porn in the 1970s,” I work with Toby Ross, who was a friend of J. Brian’s. Brian helped him out on REFLECTIONS OF YOUTH and Toby talks about him constantly and still believes he was the best gay filmmaker who ever lived. I’m not sure if you knew Toby or not but he also dealt with Chelly. I’m also very curious who you are. I’d love to chat with you about these movies and your work with Brian.
Email me at if you end up seeing this post.

Joe

Here is an August 1969 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/ycclemr

Eros & Venus
View link

Here’s that same 1991 screengrab from Hollywood90038’s video footage – now that his link no longer works. Thanks for the permission, H.

Please update the seat count to 114 per C/O information posted on Oct 4, 2006.

Hi EdSolero,
yes it is my flickr photo, i took it in 1992 along with the other b/w shots of former theatres on 42nd st and eighth ave that are in my flickr account, the quality isnt great as they are scanned from photos, i wish i had taken close-up photos.

My mistake above. The permits for conversion to restaurant are 1996. That year pretty much jibes with the shutting down of all three porn theaters on this block front (Capri, Eros, Venus). Interestingly, all three have become restaurants.

Here’s a photo from the flickr.com website that’s a little soft and blurry but depicts the east side of 8th Avenue looking north from just below 45th Street. You can see the marquees for both the Venus and Eros Theaters (from right to left) between 45th and 46th Streets. There is a third marquee to the left of the Eros with a parking lot separating them… I think it’s the Capri. When you click on the “back to flickr photo page” link in the upper left corner, you’ll see the caption indicates “42nd st Venus and Strand theaters”… but I think that’s a misidentification. I can’t remember what that might have been except for the Capri.

Anyway, I think the account holder “woody1969” has posted here on CT before as “woody”. Maybe he can offer some clarification as to dates and anything else he knows about these theaters. If you scroll through the photo stream, he has a number of photos from the area including the Adonis and Richard Basciano’s Show Palace on Eighth and 43rd as well as the 42nd Street grind houses. Lot’s of fun.

Interesting article, RobertR. What is that 130-seat New Mini Cinema on Seventh and 47th, discussed just under the photo caption about halfway through the article? The old Mayfair/Demille occupied the northeast corner and I don’t recall there having been one on the southeast corner adjacent to the RKO Palace. I suppose it could have been across the street near the northwest corner of that intersection, but I only ever remember the Castro Convertible showroom and Playland arcade there… Do you think it refers to the Doll Theater which was on the same block as the Demille but closer to 48th? A C of O for that theater cites 160 seats, but the article’s 130 count might have been in error.

The Eros 2 was indeed a separate theatre and it did later become the Venus.