I could only find one public image of this on Northern Kentucky Views. The Kenton County library, nor the Campbell County library, has images of this :(

 

State Theatre (Newport, Kentucky)

 

The State Theatre was located at 716 Monmouth Street [1] near the Hippodrome Theatre, the Strand Theatre and the Music Hall Theatre. [2] Construction of the theater was first announced on June 30, 1939, which would include 468 seats and cost $50,000 to build and equip. [1] It would take the place of Broering Brothers Refrigeration Apparatus. [2] Incorporated as the Monmouth Company, the owners were Willis Vance, Mayme C. Vance and Matilda Krumpe, all from Cincinnati. [1] Willis Vance served as the theater manager, already well known in Ohio where he was the manager at the time for the Eden Theater in Cincinnati's Peebles Corner and the Ohio Theater in Norwood. Possibly to capture some of the media attention from the State, the Kentucky Theater was announced on the very same week and opened in Ritte's Corner in Latonia.

 

The State opened on November 10, 1939 and offered six to seven shows daily, the first starting at 11 AM with it ending at 11 PM. Customers were promised the 'latest in 1940 improved RCA sound equipment' and a newspaper stated that the State was northern Kentucky's 'newest and finest theater.' [1] Air conditioning was later added, a feature played up in numerous advertisements as many homes during that era did not have private air conditioning.

 

By the 1960s, however, the State was competing with larger theaters in the newly developing suburbs to the south that offered more conveniences, such as larger parking lots. According to several newspaper advertisements, the State closed in early 1969, although the exact date was unknown. [1] Soon after, on December 18, 1970, the theater opened as Cinema X, premiering with the film 'Naked Under Leather.' This came about a time when the city of Newport was questioning the desirability of such a theater, an an article in The Kentucky Post on December 23, 1970 stated that movies shown in the cinema was not much more damaging than the other adult establishments in the city.

 

In May 1971, a newspaper advertisement taken out by Cinema X notified potential customers that 'if adult entertainment offends you in any way, please do not submit yourself to it.' [1] By June, an anti-pornography campaign was undertaken by the city of Newport and county officials, which targeted not only the theater, but local adult bookstores and novelty shops. The battle escalated in February 1973, when police confiscated the film 'Deep Throat' that was showing at Cinema X. That led to a federal grand jury investigation, which declared the film obscene.

 

^ CinemaX signage is removed on March 11, 1982.

 

A jury later found the film obscene, but the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a new trial in 1977. [1] Cinema X throughout the trial continued to operate. Three people were later convicted on charges of interstate transportation of pornographic films, but the verdict was appealed and overturned. The theater continued to operate into the 1980s, although it was periodically raided and was made the subject of grand jury investigations. The continuation of such acts led Cinema X to close on February 3, 1982 after hosting the double feature 'Sex Boat' and 'Hot Channels.' The theater closed as part of a negotiated agreement with the commonwealth of Kentucky taking over the building in exchange for fines against the cinema. Later that year, the state gave the building to the city of Newport so that it could be demolished for a parking lot. Demolition began on March 1, 1983 and a sign now designates the spot as the Historic Taylor's Landing public parking lot. [1]

What happened to sin city?       

Where have all the hard working hookers and mafioso gone? :wink:

Cincinnati :)

 

I had a better thread title, "Naked Under Leather," but thought it would be too racy :)

aren't the hookers supposedly on craiglist now?