Seattle- from www.seattlepi.com – May 1974 was a good time for movies.
In Seattle, the options included “The Sting,” which won the 1973 best picture Oscar, “American Graffiti,” the George Lucas film that also was nominated for best picture, the Mel Brooks comedy classic “Blazing Saddles,” and Clint Eastwood’s “Magnum Force.”
There also was a more revealing double feature: “Deep Throat”, www.xxxdeepthroat.com and “The Devil in Miss Jone
The Seattle movie industry in the 1974 – before VCRs were common in homes – was much different than it was today. Mainstream movies had longer runs, there were dozens more theaters in the Northwest, and the city had several porn houses. Many ran ads next to those for mainstream movies in newspaper entertainment sections.
“Deep Throat,” which inspired the name for the Washington Post informant, was released in 1972, and “The Devil in Miss Jones” was a 1973 follow-up from director and producer Gerald Damiano.
Some North Seattle residents might be surprised to learn where the films were shown in 1974.
The films played at the Northend Cinema, which has since been carefully restored and is home to the Taproot Theatre at 204 North 85th Street.
The wood-frame building was constructed in 1918, and for several years operated as the Grand. A 1936 photo is posted online by the Puget Sound Theater Organ Society. The Grand reopened in 1951 after being completely redecorated.
The theater became the Northend Cinema in 1968 and two years later, operators there were arrested for playing the adult film “Anomalies.”
The Northend and the Ridgemont Theater – now home to The Ridgemont condominiums at North 78th Street and Greenwood Avenue North – both played porn films in the 1970s until a 1976 zoning ordinance restricted the location of adult movie houses to a 250-acre zone downtown. Greenwood neighbors led to the ordinance after complaints about the two porn theaters.
The Midtown was a notable porn theater at Midtown at 1515 Third Ave. “Deep Throat” previously played at the Garden theater on Third Avenue, according to an archive story.
The Green Parrot, which had previously showed mainstream films, was an adult movie house in the 1970s between Union Street and Pike Street on First Avenue. What’s now the Triple Door also was once home to porn films during the theaters less-prominent years.
The Seattle ordinance was appealed to the State Supreme Court, but upheld on Oct. 19, 1978. Click this PDF to read more about the Washington Supreme Court porn ruling.
In the ruling, Justice Charles Horowitz wrote that the court found “substantial evidence” that X-rated theaters “contribute to neighborhood blight.” The court decided that by banning the theaters, the city was exercising a legitimate right to “preserve life in its neighborhoods.”
The ruling seconded a decision by King County Superior Court Judge Frank Eberharter, who upheld the validity of the city ordinances in a March 1977 opinion. The theaters stayed steamy while the legal battled played out in court.
The Northend stopped playing porn films in 1979 and the name was soon changed to the Greenwood Cinema. A 1989 article from the Phinney Ridge Review announced the Greenwood, which in the 1980s also had been called the China Theater, was purchased by the Taproot Theater.
On Oct. 23, arsonist Kevin Swalwell ignited the Green Bean Coffee house next to the Taproot. The fire caused $2 million in damage, destroying three restaurants, the coffee house and causing major damage to the Taproot Theatre.
Swalwell, in his 40s and previously homeless with a history of prior arsons, was convicted of arson last year for setting 11 blazes.
But the Taproot Theatre came back even stronger with community support. It serves more than 150,000 people annually with a full mainstage season, touring programs and an acting studio.
Taproot is now showing The Odyssey, directed by Mary Zimmerman and adapted from the translation of The Odyssey by Robert Fitzgerald. It runs through March 5.