PERSPECTIVE : How Pornography Helped Do In X-Rated Cinemas

When Buena Park’s Pussycat Theater was demolished last week, dozens of residents turned out to applaud its demise, turning the event into an impromptu party and even drawing support from passing motorists, who waved and honked their horns.

The scene illustrated the deep disdain that much of the public has for adult cinemas and why city officials across Orange County have long battled to rid their communities of such businesses.

The war is almost won: The closing of the Pussycat leaves just one X-rated cinema in Orange County--the Studio Theatre, also in Buena Park. Two decades ago, the county had nearly a dozen adult theaters.

But many antipornography activists acknowledge that the aggressive tactics of cities have not been a significant factor in the decrease. The real reason, activists and others agree, was the advent of X-rated video rentals and other sweeping changes in the adult film industry.

“The business is shifting into other areas like computer pornography on the Internet,” said Monique Nelson, executive director of the antipornography group Enough is Enough, based in Santa Ana. “Just like any other business, it’s changing with the times.”

That has led some urban planning experts to question the wisdom and fairness of government campaigns against adult cinemas. Under pressure from residents, some cities have adopted unworkable antipornography ordinances and pursued quixotic legal battles. At times, city councils have acted over the objections of their own staff attorneys.

“It’s a sticky issue because many of us say these businesses are bad things,” said Scott Bollens, an associate professor of urban planning at UC Irvine. “But it raises a larger issue about whether cities are stepping on basic rights to suit their own self-interest.”

Public aversion to X-rated theaters and other adult businesses such as nude juice bars and strip clubs is being voiced across the nation. But opponents have been especially vocal in Orange County, which is home to many people who fled urban centers in search of quiet, “family-oriented” neighborhoods.

“I think people see [adult businesses] as a sign of moral decay that they don’t want in their suburban areas,” Bollens said.

City officials have responded to voters’ wishes by adopting a string of laws targeting adult businesses. Although the ordinances have generally succeeded in restricting new businesses, many rules targeting existing establishments have been struck down in court.

Legal setbacks didn’t stop some cities. Santa Ana, for example, spent $700,000 and filed 42 lawsuits in a bid to close a theater in the old Honer Plaza shopping center.

The city pursued its case for 11 years, even after many officials saw clearly that it would never prevail. The hearings became so routine that an Orange County Superior Court judge allowed the theater’s attorney to make his arguments by telephone. Finally, in 1987, the city gave up.

The cinema shut down three years later, but its closing had much more to do with economics than government pressure. Like adult movie houses across the nation, it simply could not compete with the proliferation of X-rated videotapes.

During the 1980s, tapes became the primary outlet for adult entertainment, said Jeffrey J. Douglas, an attorney and spokesman for the Free Speech Coalition, the industry’s trade association. Most adult movies are not even distributed on film anymore, he said, forcing some adult theaters to use VCRs for their feature presentations.

The shifting focus of filmmakers also dealt a blow to the theaters. In the 1970s, the industry favored big-budget “general interest” adult movies such as “Deep Throat,” “The Devil in Miss Jones” and “Sodom and Gomorrah.” But today, movies are produced with the aim of satisfying the tastes of specific segments of the market, Douglas said.

“There used to be 100 or so movies released a year. Now, there are literally thousands of titles,” he said. “People are aiming for a smaller portion of the market and making fewer general interest films. That makes it harder for theaters to draw decent crowds.”

Antipornography activists such as Nelson emphasize that the demise of the adult cinema does not mean the public’s appetite for X-rated entertainment has waned. Rather, more people are viewing materials at home, she said, where “they feel the stigma might be less.”

Though government regulation might not have succeeded in closing theaters directly, Nelson and others said that the cities’ actions did send a message to operators that they were not welcome. As business declined, Douglas said, some operators had trouble gathering the resources they needed to defend themselves against city restrictions.

“I have no regrets,” said John Acosta, a former Santa Ana councilman who strongly backed his city’s battle against the Honer Plaza theater.

“When you are firmly convinced of something, you take it to the mat. I feel the effort paid off,” he said. “I’m just waiting for the last one to go.”

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Adult Cinema Fades

Orange County now has just one adult cinema, the Studio Theatre in Buena Park. Some reasons for the decline:

* Most adult features are now made for video; few are even distributed as films.

* The industry now favors niche movies appealing to small audience segments, and that makes it harder for theater operators to entice large crowds that 20 years ago flocked to general-interest features such as “The Devil in Miss Jones.”

* The popularity of live adult entertainment at strip clubs and nude juice bars has increased.

Sources: Times reports; Researched by SHELBY GRAD / For The Times

Los Angeles Times