"The Bijou is too intimidating young men have to get to know themselves better. "The Bijou customer, since the first day I opened the theater, has never been young, the 18-to-25-year-old crowd," Toushin said. He told Windy City Times in 2011 that the previous five years had been difficult, given the advent of Internet pornography and a reduced amount of convention business in the city. He has had a number of legal skirmishes over the years, including a conviction for tax evasion in the late '80s and a number of obscenity indictments. Toushin was put in charge of the Bijou in 1970 the venue began showing gay films exclusively in 1978. I received vacation and sick pay places that do that for a part-time job, I imagine, are few and far between these days."īijou World, Toushin's mail-order and online video business, will remain open, but Toushin said he did not yet know where it will relocate to. They were gay-friendly, lesbian-friendly and trans-friendly there. He said, "I got to see the gay community evolve in that place. "We appreciate and thank the gay community, and have been grateful to be a part of it for 46 years."Īctivist Michael O'Connor has had a part-time job at the theater for several years, and said he'll miss it. "I'm working with David Boyer at Touche to put together something for the last week so that we can go out on a high note," he said. When reached for comment, Toushin told Windy City Times that he had "little to add" beyond the message. "I wanted to have a bit more time if I was going to close down after all these years." "It's not the way I wanted to go out," he said. Ownership changes of buildings and leases change."īijou cannot move because its license is tied to the location, he added. "The end of days has come to Bijou after 46 years," Toushin said in the message. Its last full 24-hour day of operation will be Sept. 30.Īccording to a recorded message left by owner Steve Toushin at the theater's phone number, Bijou lost its lease at its longtime Old Town location. Santikos owns and operates 10 theaters in the San Antonio area.This article shared 25444 times since Fri Sep 11, 2015īijou Theater, 1349 N. “These are exciting times for Santikos, we opened two new theaters this year, Santikos New Braunfels and Santikos Westlakes, we just finished a remodel of our IMAX auditorium at Palladium, we have plans to announce future developments and remodels later this year, and we remain the most financially sound theater operator in the country,” Brooks said. Starting this summer, “Bijou Series” art films will be shown across all Santikos theaters. Santikos will continue to support independent filmmakers and art films. “We’re also pleased to continue serving the Balcones Heights community with our Santikos Northwest Theater, located just across the highway, less than 1 mile away from the Bijou,” Brooks said. Santikos has operated the Bijou since December 1987.īrooks said while the company is sad to announce its closing, they’re excited about the future of Santikos. “It’s this changing dynamic of art films, and our lease coming up for renewal that led to the decision to close The Bijou,” Brooks said. “There was a record bidding war between Amazon, Netflix and Apple, and Apple won with a $25 million purchase.”Īs art films are exploring new ways to be profitable and gain exposure, it’s not always going to mean that they get shown in traditional theater settings. “‘CODA’ which won Best Movie (at the Oscars) was allowed to play in our theaters for only one week prior to opening on Apple,” Brooks said. The theater was located at Wonderland of the Americas in Balcones Heights.Īndrew Brooks, the executive director of sales and marketing for Santikos, confirmed the closure on Tuesday, saying the closure was due, in part, to the changing art-film dynamic during the COVID-19 pandemic. BALCONES HEIGHTS, Texas – The Bijou theater, San Antonio’s arthouse theater, is closing its doors after 35 years.
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