Cinema Paradiso: Ohio’s Foster One of Few Remaining XXX Palaces

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio—Located on Glenwood Avenue, a street filled with potholes and adjacent to one of the largest metropolitan parks in the country, the Foster Theater stands out. Though the neighborhood has suffered quite a bit of decay since Youngstown’s heyday in the 1970s, The Foster is almost shabby chic—showing wear and tear, but possessing a certain charm. Abandoned parking lots and buildings sit nearby, and the neighborhood is a mash-up of quaint two-story homes with well-kept lawns, abandoned and condemned homes, and vacant lots overrun with weeds. Youngstown is a typical Rust Belt city, one that saw its population decline dramatically in the decades since the city’s steel mills closed in the late 1970s. The shells of gas stations, grocery stores, department stores and more still stand, but are filled these days with weeds and most likely more than one type of rodent.  Amidst the decay stands the Foster Theater, one of only a few dozen adult movie theaters left in existence. According to CinemaTreasures.org, there are 45 adult theaters left in the United States, and only 14 are open and operational. (The LA Weekly profiled the two remaining adult theaters in Los Angeles in a July 2017 feature.) Like many other adult theaters, the Foster Theater features a single screen, and originally opened as a palatial movie house. In fact, when it opened in 1938, it was not the only—nor even the biggest—movie theater in the city, but the official opening was a major event. The mayor was on hand for a special ceremony, and telegrams of congratulations were sent by Joseph M. Schenck, head of Loew’s Inc. and 20th Century Fox, and Harry Warner of Warner Bros. fame. A John Barrymore picture, Hold That Coed, was the first movie screened, and neon signs above the marquee blazed red with the name Foster. Today, the sign still lights up, though not every letter in the name is illuminated. The marquee no longer lists the movies playing inside, but instead informs patrons the theater opens at noon daily (actually only six days a week; the Foster is closed on Mondays) and indicates movies are for sale and rent inside. The original ticket booth is still visible from the front, but visitors today are buzzed in by a clerk, who sits in a lobby filled with wooden stands displaying a mix of older and new XXX DVDs. A screen over the glass display case that houses the cash register features the images captured by several closed-circuit security cameras inside the theater and outside the building. A few novelty items are on display in the glass case, and an old hot dog roller machine sits near the register with a hand-made sign saying it’s available for sale for $55. A cash-only admission of $12 allows any man or couple into the large theater, which still seats close to 700, though only a handful of patrons are inside at any given time. Patrons can stay as long as they like, but there are no real in-and-out privileges. Women are not permitted in the screening area unless they are accompanied by a man, for safety reasons. “We don’t want male patrons thinking they can follow or harass the women,” explained Laura St. Clair, who has worked at the Foster Theater off and on since the early 1990s. “And we don’t want ladies in here soliciting.” The Foster has a strict no-sex policy, which sets it apart from arcade-style theaters with private viewing rooms. Another no-no is alcohol. It’s not sold on the premises, and not allowed in the theater. “If you come in smelling too much of alcohol, we won’t let you in,” St. Clair said.  The Foster might be a “porn theater,” but it has standards and tries hard to be a good neighbor. Each day, the Foster screens two movies on the main screen. “We play the movies back to back all day until we decide to close,” explained St. Clair. “Sometimes we close in the afternoon, sometimes it’s after midnight. It depends on how many customers we have.” Red velvet curtains hang on either side of the screen, and the original stage that was constructed for live performances and movie star appearances still stands. The projection room has been modified a bit; a film projector is no longer needed, so only a smaller version is used. Movies screened are either a DVD, or in some cases a VHS tape for older releases. The main screen always shows straight porn, but a small room inside the building has a large TV screen and DVD player is where the theater staff screens one bi movie each day.  Once upon a time, the lobby had a popcorn machine, but concessions these days are limited to vending machines stocked with carbonated drinks, candy bars and chips. There is a “coffee room” off to the side of the lobby, where a TV plays local news and regular customers have been known to enjoy a meal before returning to the main theater area. “We have regular customers of all types, men and women of all ages,” St. Clair said. “Sometimes  we will let them run out to get a bite to eat, and as long as they are back in a reasonable amount of time, we don’t charge them again. Sometimes they even bring me something to eat from one of the local restaurants.” For nearly 30 years, the Foster Theater showcased mainstream Hollywood movies, but in 1965 a new owner, Louis Sher, converted the family theater to a strictly adult movie house. The Foster became one of 13 adult theaters owned nationwide by Sher. The Foster is no longer part of that chain, but instead is owned by Dee Barber, who started working at the theater in 1986 and purchased it in 1994. Though adult movie houses became all the rage in the early 1970s, thanks to blockbusters like Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door, not everyone was happy with the change in Youngstown in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Local newspaper stories recount the arrest of the Foster’s manager and projectionist in 1970 on obscenity charges, which were later dropped; the same manager was arrested again in 1974 and charged with pandering obscenity. These days, the Foster stays out of the news, save for the occasional historic profile; the last one was published in the local newspaper in 1999. The patronage has declined sharply through the decades, especially when the surrounding neighborhood was considered a seedy part of town. Neighborhood revitalization efforts have spruced up a community theater down the road, but an informal survey of residents in Youngstown and surrounding suburbs found that most people are not even aware the theater is still open and operating as as an adult movie house—a fact that saddens St. Clair. “I don’t want to see this place go away,” she told AVN. “For some customers, this is all they have. It’s a place where they can come and be themselves and not feel ashamed or in danger. We have some wonderful people who come here; I love the people who come in drag. They make me so happy. And they know they are safe here.” For some of the regular patrons, the Foster Theater is the only place they can access adult material. Many local residents are on fixed incomes, and can’t afford internet access. The irony, St. Clair said, is that readily available adult material is killing porn palaces like the Foster, but not everyone near the Foster can access the internet porn. Some patrons, she noted, still take advantage of the membership program the Foster offers: for an annual fee of $50 members can rent any number of XXX movies “for a reasonable amount of time,” she said, adding that if the Foster were to close up shop, that would limit access even more to adult materials.  “I just think theaters like this are really needed, especially here,” she said. “It’s a beautiful place, with beautiful people. I don’t know what would happen here without it.”