Cult Theaters Print Series: Stereo Vision (Gayety) Adult Theater and Sweden Book Shop Baltimore 1977 Photo Print Midnight and Grindhouse Cinema Movies

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Featured is a photo print of the Gayety Burlesque Theatre, which by 1977 was operating under the name Stereo Vision. The photo also features the Sweden Adult Book Shop and Club Pussycat. The elaborate facade is an example of the work of architect John Bailey McElfatrick and was originally opened in February of 1906.

The Gayety was the centerpiece of a red light district on Baltimore Street, known as “The Block,” a key area destination for adult entertainment. The area of arcades, bars, burlesque houses and adult bookshops extended east along Baltimore Street from Calvert Street for approximately eight blocks. Due to various cultural forces, most notably a concerted anti-smut campaign during the mayoral tenure of William Donald Schaefer in the early 1980s, most of this extensive cultural landscape no longer exists.

Ironically, the site that at one time was a bastion of debauchery in East Baltimore – at one time even being a Hustler Nightclub location – is today part of a complex of buildings that make up the Baltimore Police Department Headquarters.

Cult Theaters celebrates the grindhouse and drive-in era of moviegoing, when films were so sometimes so bad, they were great.

Browse the entire Cult Theaters line of art prints, photos and collectibles at culttheaters.com.