“The Parkway News, near the end of its days." (Milwaukee Journal, September 24, 1986)
I have written a few pieces on the history of adult movie theaters in Milwaukee, particularly the Parkway Theatre on W. Lisbon Ave. I find the history of the Parkway fascinating and, some years backs, even had the good fortune to sit down for an interview with the operator of the theater (he asked that I not use his name), who spoke of the place with quite a bit of pride. “It was twenty-two years of my life,” he told me of his time running the city’s most notorious smut palace, “and I absolutely loved it.”
In these articles, however, I have neglected to talk much about the Parkway News, the next-door adult book store. Indeed, there has been nothing at all written about Milwaukee’s adult book stores from a historical perspective save for a few mentions in this article written, of course, by me. So, cinch up your raincoats, readers—we’re going in.
Lisbon Street’s Parkway Theatre, about 1977. (Marquee Magazine)
Red Carpet Books, one of a handful of adult book shops in the city, opened sometime after the Parkway converted to the adult format in 1972. Red Carpet was operated by a neighborhood couple and was just a few doors to the west of the Parkway box office. Although information on the place is scant, it most likely dealt largely in print material—magazines, grimy paperbacks and explicit photo sets sold in plain brown wrappers. This kind of stuff would have sold well but presented no serious competition for the dollars being spent on the full-color, live-action loving presented at the Parkway.
This was no longer the case by the 1980s. The advent of the home video system was bringing an end to the era of the adult theater. The Parkway began selling videotapes in its lobby in about 1980 and, the following year, the property owners purchased the building in which Red Carpet was located and evicted the shop’s operators. Recognizing that the adult business was changing, the Parkway hedged its bets by remaking the store as Parkway News and going full-throttle in the videotape trade that was threatening the theater.
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By the time the Parkway News hung its shingle, legal action against adult material in Milwaukee was more or less non-existent. After a spate of raids and arrests in the 1970s, Wisconsin’s anti-obscenity statute had been struck down as unconstitutional in 1980. The city passed an ordinance against such material shortly thereafter, but the law was similarly tossed in 1983. As the Parkway News entered its boom years in the mid-1980s, vice cops made regular visits to the place—mostly undercover and asking about kiddie porn—but no arrests were ever made. Reporters were also regular visitors to the shop, taking notes for a long series of articles on the pornography business in the area. Despite the attention, the store’s manager said the place was always clean and friendly. “It was the Boston Store of porn,” he told me. He spoke in similar terms to the Sentinel back in the day, saying that his mother had once toured the theater and store and his nieces, once of age, would be welcome there as well.
The Parkway News stocked a healthy supply of magazines and books arranged by genre along the walls. Its biggest seller was the regional swinger’s newspapers and magazines, in which individuals and couples ran ads—often with nude photos—seeking partners for rendezvous and more. Wisconsin Swingers was published quarterly. It sold for $6.95 and the Parkway couldn’t keep it in stock. Second in popularity were the S&M and bondage magazines and videos. “I think more people than we think are into pain and punishment,” the store manager told the Sentinel.
The Parkway News also stocked a full line of video cassettes, bondage and otherwise, for both rental and purchase. Over 500 titles were available to rent at $7 for two nights. A clerk confessed to a Journal reporter that one customer had indeed taken out each and every one of them. Used tapes for sale started at $14.95 but could cost as much as $69.95. For the thrifty connoisseur, the Parkway offered a long row of peep show booths, where 60 seconds of hardcore action played for a single, twenty-five cent token.
“Good for one play.” (Author’s Collection)
The Parkway News closed in 1986, just a few months after the theater shut its doors. By then, the neighborhood had taken a severe turn for the worst. Shortly before it was closed, a clerk was badly beaten and, the manager told me, it was only a matter of time before someone would have been killed. The block was razed a few years later and is presently the site of St. Andrews Episcopal Church. In 1993, before breaking ground on the building, a pastor performed an exorcism over the ground where the theater and bookstore once stood.
