Rachel Mason grew up believing that her parents ran a small bookstore in Los Angeles. She wasn’t entirely mistaken, although the naive young woman — then an artsy teen, now a documentary filmmaker …
grew up believing that her parents ran a small bookstore in Los Angeles. She wasn’t entirely mistaken, although the naive young woman — then an artsy teen, now a documentary filmmaker — never imagined that, as her mother Karen bluntly tells her on camera, “at one point, we were probably the biggest distributor of hardcore gay films in the United States.
Rachel speaks to a few old-timers who fondly recall the scene, including a regular who recalls losing his virginity in “Vaseline Alley” , but she’s clearly more interested in trying to make sense of her parents’ involvement.
Their business evolved with the VHS revolution, and explicit videos soon replaced magazines as their most profitable merchandise. Before long, the Masons began producing hardcore movies themselves, partnering with director Matt Sterling and gay porn star Jeff Stryker to create their own content. “We never saw any of those movies,” Karen says, averting her eyes when confronted with a wall full of dildos — which again raises the question of how Circus of Books could be the work of such a couple.
Both Circus of Books locations have since closed their doors , which evokes a kind of nostalgia — especially as the opening-night film of L.A.-based— for a time when they seemed essential. Rachel interviews a range of supporters, from LGBT activists to porn icons to former shop employees , though that side of the film still feels anemic compared to the more vérité-style footage of the stores’ final days.
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