Friday, December 3, 2010

A Thanksgiving House Call: Back Home in Upstate NY - Part 2















Doc here with Part 2 of "A Very Special Thanksgiving House Call".  When last left The Good Doctor, he was he was in the midst of danger and mayhem...

The trip into Niagara Falls and Talk of the Town Video was both a trip down not very positive memory lane, and a theater scene pretty much on life-support.  There was a light at the end of the tunnel though, as The Good Doctor was going to visit the newest adult theater(s) in Western NY State: Video Liquidators #3.


Video Liquidators #3
1770 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY

















Video Liquidators #3 (VL3) opened after The Good Doctor left his original practice in Upstate NY for the friendly confines of The Valley near the small women's liberal arts college.  I knew where it was, and knew the building was once a distribution center (as are many buildings in this section of The Queen City).

Reports from VL3 have been few and far between, so I really was going into this with a blank sheet of paper and new crayon to take notes.  I arrived at VL3 at 8pm, since I knew from my former days in this area that the theater scene is a pretty early one.  VL3 has the distinction of the only adult theater I am aware of that has covered inside parking in addition to outside parking.  The covered section used to be a loading dock in it's previous life.  Not a bad idea considering how bad Buffalo winters can be.

After entering from the well lit interior parking lot, I discovered VL3 to be huge...Easily one of the largest ABS outside of Vegas.  The counter is located dead center of the ABS, and the staff was friendly and female.

Entrance fees are $10 for a single theater. or $15 for both.  On Saturday nights, the small theater #2 is couples only.

 The theater layout is as follows:  The main theater is called The Pussycat (a homage to The legendary chain of the same name), and has a neon sign on a faux marquee above the entrance to the theater.  This theater is long and narrow... About 11 theater style seats (with cup holders) across, divided by a largish center aisle.  There had to be 20-25 rows of seats, making the capacity of the place 220+.  In back of the seating area was a large standing (groping and beyond) area that was about 15'x20'.

The big downfall of this theater is the TV screen... It might have been a 50" flat screen, but in an auditorium that size, it was very small.  And it didn't throw that much light to the rest of the theater.

Theater #2 shows gay/tranny movies with the exception of Saturday nights, when this theater is the couples theater.  Configuration of this theater was very different.  This room was wider than it was long, and smaller...Maybe a 90 to 100 seat capacity.  I liked the vibe in this theater a lot more than the larger auditorium.

Now, when The Good Doctor makes his out of town House Calls, I am just basically taking a snapshot of what went on that night.  Now, being that this area used to be in my backyard, I thought I might run into one of the regulars from back in the day.  And sure enough I did... My old friend John happened in, and he brought me up to speed on the happenings at VL3.

The highlights from John's assessment:
  • VL3 is getting some couples traffic, but typically one couple at a time.  And, as always, on weekends.
  • On Saturday nights, the couples attending the couples theater rarely migrate over to the singles theater (The Pussycat) to play with the gen pop.
  • A few regular couples from way back in the day come to VL3... Including (drum roll please...) Lynn the 3rd Grade Teacher! (Click here for Lynn's Top 3 Adult Theater Women story).  Lynn makes a few appearances from time to time, but in good weather her fancy turns to daytime dogging.
  • John also mentioned the the couples traffic at Talk of The Town in Niagara Falls was getting kind of rare... VL3 is getting what little there is left of it nowadays.
That night, there were no couples in the theaters. None. Nada. Zilch.   I stayed until 10:30pm, and the prospect of nothing happening that night grew as the snow came down and made driving difficult.  I said good bye to John, and hit the road. 

VL3, I hardly knew ye...













Video Liquidators #3
Pros:
  • Best adult theater option in Western New York
  • Inside parking (and out too)
  • Two large new theaters
  • Theaters are very clean
  • Couples night on Saturday
  • Large ABS
Cons:
  • Awful bathrooms (always been a problem with WNY adult theaters)
  • Light attendance
  • VL3 on major street in Buffalo (not very discreet)
  • Flat screen TVs WAY too small for size of theaters they reside in.
  • Very dark
Bottom Line:
Could be worse... There could be no adult theaters in Western NY.

Thanks,
Doc