The Last Dirty Picture Show

Last month, the San Mateo Planning Commissioners voted to tear down the Palm Theater in San Mateo, California, one of the last porn theaters in America. Though many supporters were drumming up support to have the 1950s art deco building added to the California Register of Historical Resources, which would have saved the theater, the Planning Commissioners sided with the many protestors of the buildings existence and decided to have it leveled instead, despite the fact that the Palm is one of the last neighborhood theaters in the Bay area still intact (Yeah, I suppose declaring it a Historical Resource would be sort of like saying, "Porn is okay once it's been around long enough," which would be akin to them declaring 'Deep Throat' a classic just because it was made a quarter of a century ago.).

The Palm Theater originally showed mainstream films but switched to adult films in 1972. With the advent of video, the theater began to show videos instead, which quickly became its of format choice. The Palm showed adult videos seven days a week, with women always admitted free. In the wake of it's destruction, a 19-unit apartment building with 38 parking spots will go up in its place. So now instead of parking their butts on sticky seats, local resident will park their Buicks in a soon-to-be sticky lot. Wow! What an improvement!

What's amazing is that after three years of debate, with Palm supporters pointing out that the building is a historical site despite how some folks feel about the content of the movies shown there, the Commissioners still decided to knock down the old-fashioned, single-screen theater. One of the last of its breed, the Palm represented a different time in porn, and therefore in society. These were the days when porn itself was much less accepted by mainstream than it is today, yet to see a porn movie you had to go out to a public theater and watch it surrounded by other creepy men. These were the days when watching a porn movie could get you harassed by police or even arrested if you happen to be touching yourself (just ask Pee Wee Herman). This was before porn was discussed openly on the radio and on TV, yet wasn't confined to the privacy of your bedroom or hotel room. Back then, watching porn in closed quarters wasn't often an option. So you had to be out of the closet just to get in it, so to speak.

Bob Dylan once sang, "The times they are a-changing," but I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking porn theaters. Maybe he should have been…