Cinema X

According to an article in The Cincinnati Post about adult businesses published on June 22, 1973, this Cinema X location was closed on January 12, 1972, by the Common Pleas Court, and its assets auctioned by the county to pay off the fines.

Thanks Cinema Treasures we now have the proper building with the stripped awnings which was the former Cinema X showing in the street view.

Geez, I thought Cincinnati was like Atlanta,You don’t even think of the hundreds of little towns,it is all Cincinnati.How far apart is Newport? across the river?

The law firm is at 910 Race. 909 Race is the Yum Yum restaurant, but it looks a little small to be a theater.
http://tinyurl.com/yaenm9b

Looking further at the City Directory of Cincinnati, I find Cinema X listed at 902 Race Street in 1972 and 1973, probably a numerical misprint, but the theatre did operate between 71 and 73.

It now appears that Cinema X at 910 Race Street ran frm 1971 until 1973 as posted at the top of this web page. I’ll try for some adds to see what ran in the local newspapers.

“Midnight Cowboy” opened at The Studio Cinemas, which were twin mini cinemas, located on the ground floor of the building where The Playboy Club was located.

The Royal Th. always retained the name Royal Th. over all the years.The Cinema X on Race Street is presently a Law Firm. There was a Cinema X in Newport,Ky. for years it is also long gone.

ok , here’s the skinny! ( : Being 55 years old, and though no longer in state, a cincinnati “downtowner” from age 15. Original listing IS correct… a “Cinema X” did indeed exist on Race Street, on the East side of street between 9th and Court Sts… possibly between Court and Central Parkway. Rather short-lived as theatres go, and it DID eventually become a commercial blood bank. There was also a “Cinema X” in Newport, Kentucky. There was also the older Royal Theatre, on Vine Street just across the street from the grander Capitol Theatre, between 7th and Garfield Place! The Royal outlived the Capitol by many years… probably was a “legitimate”, if low budget place at one time, but it was always a porn theatre as far back as I remember…. soft core “back in the day”, then more hard core into the late sixties, early seventies. Constantly picketed by anti-porn groups, the Royal finally succumbed. The restaurant next door was indeed the “Sixty Second Shop” (there were several in downtown Cincy in the mid-sixties), later became “The Country Kitchen.” As to the Race Street “Cinema X”, I recall seeing it, but did not patronize such places and recall it as a concrete box of a building (formerly an auto supply store, I guess) that was briefly converted to a porn theatre, had its brief shining moment of notoriety, and then vanished. the Royal, however, was a “real” theatre, and – porn or no – I regret never having visited it… just as I regret never having gone inside the Gayety Burlesque… even though I worked next door at the Main Library. Only 18 at time, though, and sqeamish about it. (possibly admittance age may have been 21, also in 1970. The Gayety closed before I was 21) My Dad took my Mom there, though!! (well, they had comedians, too!) OK< a little rambling, but those are the facts of “Cinema X” as I recall them, and I am 99.9% sure I am accurate! Peace out!

The original entry and Casper’s post are correct. Although I thought the Cincinnati Cinema X was on Elm St., it might well have been Race St.
The Royal showed soft porn, not hardcore like Cinema X.
The restaurant next to the Royal was originally a Sixty-Second Shop where all the strippers from the Gayety Theater would go between shows.(in the late 60’s its name changed)
As far as “XXX” movies in Cincinnati, it wasn’t until Simon Leis became the Hamilton Co. prosecutor that much fuss was made.
I saw “Deep Throat” at the Guild at Peebles Corner and “Hair” played at the Schubert in 1970 without any problem.

Indeed, there were two Cinema X’s in Greater Cincinnati. One was opened in 1969 on Race St. in Cincinnati, and one was in the old State Theater in Newport at about the same time. In 1963, the Royal Theater on Vine St. in Cincinnat became an adult theater. Before that, it had been a two-feature for 35 cents theater. And before that, when it was originally built it was a fairly class theater. I am fond of the Royal Theater because in 1962 I graduated from high school, and my father would get me up at 5 a.m. and put me on the old Greenline at 6 a.m. to look for a job. He would give me two dollars. Of course, I was up for the draft and no one would hire me. Since employment offices opened at 10 a.m and closed at 2 p.m. I spent my mornings sitting in the old Country Boy restaurant next door drinking coffee and in the Royal Theater after 2 p.m. Thanks to the Royal Theater for giving me shelter during that time.

Actually, this listing is incorrect. The theatre described here is the Royal Theatre. The Cinema X was across the river in Covington, KY, and lasted a little bit longer than the Royal in showing adult movies, but they too also succumbed to closure.