A First Date at the Art Theater in Hartford, CT

For some time I have been hearing about the Art Theater in Hartford. The reviews have been effusive with praise. I figure that any place that can make Dr. Emilio Lizardo fly half-way across the country must be worth checking out, so I did. I was not disappointed. It took me back to my earliest days of prowling adult theaters, when the majority of them were renovated (or not so renovated) movie houses from days gone by.

This is a real theater. Lobby, popcorn machine, balcony, big screen. A theater. A building originally designed to show movies in a comfortable environment. Management has pretty much restored it to its Art Deco glory. It is clean, well run and very couple-friendly.

I had the pleasure of accompanying Denise to the Art.  I met her through Ashley Madison (which has been one of my better “fishin’ holes” of late) and after chatting long-distance she agreed to join me on the night that I visited Hartford for the express purpose of checking out the Art. We had a “getting to know you” meal and a drink before making our way to the theater. It was her first experience with adult entertainment in a public setting so I was hoping that everything that I had read about the place was accurate. She was more than a little nervous about her first time, I was fairly certain that it wouldn’t have taken much to cause her to recant her decision and disappear into the Connecticut night. After a warm and professional welcome from the management, and a brief overview of the operation, we entered the theater and made our way directly to the couples-only balcony.

Worth the Wait at Fantasyland in Tampa

Fantasyland continues to provide a clean, comfortable place for couples (and others) to play, offering a nice variety of venues under one roof. Up front there is a bright, clean, well-stocked adult store. Off the sales floor, there are three major areas. First is the infamous pool room, which is large enough for four tables, plus scattered chairs and three TV screens. The night I was there, a bowl game was playing on one, making it a pretty popular place, even though few people were actually shooting pool. I’m not sure if it was some sort of a special occasion, but there was pizza available to the patrons in there, too.

Quiet Saturday Night at the Buford Twin

Saturday was a reasonably quiet night at the Buford Twin in Atlanta. I was making my way across the state and took advantage of the opportunity to drop by one of the few adult theaters in the southeast where couples occasionally visit.

There were a fair number of cars parked near the theater when I pulled in around 10. That’s usually a good sign. Then I noticed that many of them had guys sitting in them, watching the door of the theater, waiting couples. That, of course, is not a good sign.

I went in any way and laid down my 14 dollars, then wandered into the theater on the left. As I walked down the left aisle I was surprised to see a couple in the couples section. I took a seat a row behind them, on the opposite side of the aisle. They were just watching the movie. Within five minutes of my arrival, they were walking out the door. The guy sitting in front of me said that they had been there for about 45 minutes and had done nothing.

It didn’t take long before another couple entered. They stayed as far from the couples sections as possible, preferring to sit in the last row on the right side. Watching the crowd gather and hearing the friendly chatter among the group, it was obvious that they were comfortable regulars.

Introducing Amy to Porn Theaters

I met "John and Amy" through a mutual friend. Actually, I met John when a bunch of us got together to watch a playoff game many, many years ago. We got along well and found out that both of us were just learning the game of golf and decided to get together some time for a round. Men can talk about a lot of things on the golf course, but sooner or later the conversation turns to women in general and sex in particular. I found out that John was married. He found out that I was seeing a couple of different women so my sex life seemed to be a frequent topic of conversation.

Early on in our friendship, I was reluctant to tell him everything that I was into, but eventually I told him about my interest in porn theaters. He had been to a couple, but couldn't believe the things I (vaguely) described  that went on. I told him to take his wife sometime and check it out for himself. He told me, almost predictably, that there was no way his wife would agree to that.  So it was that John and I began visiting a few local theaters together from time to time.

We were fortunate to see a few ladies on those visits. Even more fortunately we got to play with a couple of them. I even invited him along one night when Wanda and I went together. As much as he seemed to enjoy the scene he kept talking about getting his wife there. He surprised me one day by inviting me to his home for dinner. He wanted me to meet Amy. No "funny business", as he put it, just dinner.

Wife Fucks in a Porn Theater for 12 Bucks

I walked into the Playhouse in Tampa behind them. She was about 5'6", early 40's, dirty blonde hair and a decent figure. She wore a knee length dress that swayed nicely when she walked. They paused at some of the displays in the front of the place, but I went straight to the counter and paid my entrance fee for the theaters and then ducked into the main room. The boys inside had already spotted her, of course, and were beginning to jockey for position. I took my place along the wall, just a few feet away from the door.

Within five minutes they were in the room. They stepped into the large, open space in the back, allowing their eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Live Sex Show in a Chattanooga Porn Theater

Those of us "of a certain age" can still remember live sex shows. They came in two forms. First were the peep shows with "Live Nude Girls" behind the glass. (That always struck me as better than the alternative, once you think about it.) In some cases, these girls did their thing on a stage surrounded by small windows that opened into peep booths where men would drop money into a machine that would give them a peek for a minute or two. Generally the girls just stripped. Some masturbated.

More popular were the one-on-one booths where you not only saw a girl, but you got to chat with her on the phone, telling her what do do and listening to her talk dirty while she fucked herself. In some towns, there was even an opening in the glass for more "interactive" enjoyment.

Harder to find in most of the country were shows that involved men and women. Sometimes it happened behind the protection of glass. Other times, most notably in NY and San Francisco, the show was on an open stage. I have been fortunate enough to witness some audience participation shows in Mexico and Japan. I thought those days were long gone, but I was treated to a nice trip down memory lane a few nights ago in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at the Cinema One Adult Theater.

Handjob at the Todd

Some things in the city of Tampa have been fixtures for years, like the Playhouse Theater where men have been bringing their wives for porn theater sex forever. Other things are in a constant state of change. Like that other Drew Park theater that seems to change names as frequently as Kim Kardashian changes fuck partners. The only name that comes to my mind today is Red Rooster, though it hasn't been known by that name for years.

The Todd falls somewhere in between. It has been a Tampa Adult Entertainment mainstay for decades, although it, too, has gone through some changes over the years. Today it is a first rate, brightly-lit adult shop where giggling girls, shopping for bachelorette party gifts, will roam the aisles as freely as horny guys looking for some cheap smut to take home to jack off to. Years ago, it was one of the nicest adult theaters in town.

I was in the theater on a Thursday night, around 8, waiting for the area strip clubs to warm up. In those days several of the clubs offered "bed dances." That's another story. I was about two-thirds of the way back on the right side, watching some decent porn when a husband and wife came in. They did the obligatory pause at the back of the theater, surveyed the room as their eyes adjusted and then made their way down the aisle, stopping at the row directly behind me.