If the question is whether the Tea Room is a theater or a sex club, everyone wins: it is both. What makes the Tea Room unique is, I believe, that it IS unique. I think it’s the last of the old-style porn theaters in the City. You don’t even see representations of this type of theater much anymore. The last I saw was a scene in “Burnt Money”, of a theater in Uruguay in the 1960’s. In the day, when police raids were common and even gay sex in one’s own home was illegal, theaters like this were tremendously popular. The intention wasn’t to be (merely) seedy, but to be safe. Along with the old-style bath-houses (some of which were palatial), this is something—a type of theater, and enough like a “theater” to turn “legit” as soon as police poked a head in the door—that may not come again, but certainly has a place in San Francisco history. And in the hearts of those of us who remember. Some of the posters on this site may like to take a field trip.
If the question is whether the Tea Room is a theater or a sex club, everyone wins: it is both. What makes the Tea Room unique is, I believe, that it IS unique. I think it’s the last of the old-style porn theaters in the City. You don’t even see representations of this type of theater much anymore. The last I saw was a scene in “Burnt Money”, of a theater in Uruguay in the 1960’s. In the day, when police raids were common and even gay sex in one’s own home was illegal, theaters like this were tremendously popular. The intention wasn’t to be (merely) seedy, but to be safe. Along with the old-style bath-houses (some of which were palatial), this is something—a type of theater, and enough like a “theater” to turn “legit” as soon as police poked a head in the door—that may not come again, but certainly has a place in San Francisco history. And in the hearts of those of us who remember. Some of the posters on this site may like to take a field trip.