'Closed' Signs, Blank Marquee At X-Rated Theater The Forum
By Paul Kurtz
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - There's a 'closed' sign on one of the city's last remaining X-rated movie theaters -- in an area of Philadelphia that used to be run-down, but has since undergone quite a turn around.
The Forum Theater opened its doors in 1975 at 22nd and Market Streets as X-rated movies exploded. But, with the industry long now being entrenched in cable TV and the Internet, the Forum has become a dinosaur and fallen on hard times.
The theater now has a number of hand-written signs on the doors and box office windows reading, "Forum now closed." It remains to be seen if the Forum reopens, but reports are that the operator has fallen so far behind on the rent that the owners have moved to evict them.
So, the theater has closed and many neighbors, like this twenty-something, are hoping it is closed for good: "I mean, I would say I'm glad it's closing because, I mean, it is a dinosaur and you know that's fine that it closes because it's the last one standing."
Other neighbors agree, and say it's time for the theater to go.
(Woman): "I think you just kind of walk by and avert your eyes."
(Man): "We're kind of like a business/work district. It's out of place."
This once-rundown neighborhood has become upscale in recent years with the addition of the high-rise Murano condos, a Trader Joe's food market and other large construction projects underway nearby.
