40 Years of Bijou

Overview

The Bijou Theater in Chicago, Illinois has exhibited gay adult films 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, since it opened its doors at the dawn of the gay liberation movement in 1970. Now, in 2011, it stands as a singularly unique landmark of LGBT history. '40 years of Bijou' explores the history of the theater as seen through the eyes of owner Steven Toushin, who received a GAYVN Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 for his work over the past four decades within the gay adult industry. Mr. Toushin explains how the Bijou made the switch from an art house that showed educational features such as Richard Nixon's 'Checkers' speech to a theater that showed exlusively hardcore gay erotica and much more.