Karen and Barry Mason swear they never intended to sell porn for a long time.
They're just really good at it.
For 37 years, the couple
Grandma and Grandpa now
It runs a West Hollywood bookstore selling gay and heterosexual magazines, pornographic films and sex toys, as well as international newspapers and classic literature.
"I always thought we would do something else in the end," Karen said . ".
"We don't know anything, really.
"The Santa Monica Avenue store has gained legendary status in the LGBTQ community in Southern California, where people can read gay porn, or meet with other gays, in a place where there is no homophobia
For years, the circus has survived FBI raids, federal obscenity charges and complaints from law enforcement, which say the store has attracted prostitution and other criminals.
During the AIDS crisis, it remained open when many employees died.
But Amazon cannot survive.
Strangled by the Internet.
Porn and dating apps abound
The book Circus will be closed on Saturday.
"A lot of people regret seeing it disappear and appreciate it being there all the time," Karen said . ".
"When we close the door, people say, 'You know, this store saved my life.
When the bricklayer began in early 1980, "Circus books and gay bars are places where people meet and look for each other," says John Duran, mayor of West Hollywood, who is gay.
"There is no Grindr or scum or flammable.
You have to go out and look for the community if you want to find it.
He said: "gay sex is revolutionary for many customers.
"It's not like any of us get through sex education or at home with mom and dad," Duran said . ".
"We must learn.
"In the 1970 s Barry earned his living by selling the accessories he invented for dialysis equipment until the cost of medical accident insurance became too high.
Karen, who worked as a journalist, found a newspaper advertisement looking for a magazine dealer for Larry Flint.
Cheats and chic publishers,
Barry started driving to wine shops and newsstands to pick up orders.
Karen delivered it.
She was pregnant at the time, so she hired an unemployed musician.
She prefers the drummer who looks the most reliable.
Help lift heavy objects.
A bookstore in West Hollywood, the book Circus, ordered 600 gay titles including Blue Boy and JoJo every month and sold out immediately.
"In order to fill these titles, I have to fill up the whole truck," Barry said . ".
The customer was very happy when the magazine arrived, "they will stand up and help me uninstall it.
The Masons finally learned that the owner of the bookstore was expelled and he was behind in magazine payment.
Barry reached an agreement with the property manager: If the bricklayer can take over the lease after that, he will pay half of the person's monthly rent of $1,400 until he is deported.
The couple kept the staff and changed the name to the book of the circus.
In addition to pornography, they sell obscure novels from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender writers, as well as sci-fi books, foreign newspapers, and even the Bible. Gay-
Theme magazines play an important role in ensuring that people are not alone when homosexuality is taboo, says Joseph Hawkins, director of a national gay Archive at the University of Southern California.
Gay magazine for decades
Including one, non
Pornographic magazine named after the file-
Photos sold at newsstands in big cities are tucked behind tarps or curtains and sold with bawdy straight magazine, even if gay journals do not have nude photos.
"There's plenty of room for you to get in and watch, and there's also porn magazines for straight and gay people.
"Everyone is in there," Hawkins said . ".
"Sometimes a man who looks straight there will see you looking gay --
Facing the magazine, upset.
"You never feel safe.
You're afraid there's a deputy officer in there who will arrest you for reading a magazine. . . .
This place is selling magazines, but you can't read them.
Rachel Mason says her parents are much more strict than her friends as she grows up.
She and her two brothers must take an.
They are not allowed to watch TV.
They had to go to the synagogue with their mother.
"I am a small rebel and I don't know they are criminals in their own way," she said . ".
"They are very good at this balance and we don't know anything about it.
About the color of my hair, my mother and I are quarreling . . . . . . They're actually working on hardcore videos.
Rachel, 40, an artist and musician, is making a documentary about the parents' store, which will tour the festival this spring.
It wasn't until she started making the film that she realized how well Karen and Barry were respected in the LGBT community.
She said: "This store represents an era capsule of different times . . . . . . When cool is really underground . ".
"It's a hidden culture.
Rachel and her brothers sometimes sneak into the porn section and giggle on the cover of the movie until their mom calls them out.
In the 1980 s, young Rachel noticed that the staff of her parents had been disappearing.
They died of AIDS.
"The person I just met will die next week, then another person, another person . . . . . . I don't feel anything unusual as a child.
"They are extraordinary young people I respect.
"If the employees feel that the job is good enough, the Masons encourage them to come in so that they can get back to normal.
If they need public assistance to pay for expensive drugs, the couple will pay off the books in cash so they can keep unemployment benefits.
Karen said it was the only time she broke the rules.
Karen sighed and said, "they are too young . "“It just —um —
They shouldn't die.
"At that time, the bricklayer had already bought the building, there were several apartments upstairs, and their tenants were also dying.
Many people are alienated from their families.
"A lot of parents don't come to get something or attend a funeral," Barry said . ".
"Sometimes I get a call from a mother," Karen said.
Tell me about my son.
Where are you, Madam?
I have nothing to say to my parents like this.
At its peak, there were three places in the circus. A short-
The store, which lives in Sherman Oaks, closed in late 1990 as it was too close to a primary school, so the city ordered a halt to the sale of pornographic films.
Silver Lake store closed on 2016 due to declining sales.
This store in West Hollywood also has its own play.
The alley behind it is a well.
Residents and deputies to the sheriff said it was a famous gay cruising spot
The hourly Bookstore attracted prostitutes and drug dealers.
On 1989, the city ordered stores to close every day from 2 to 6. m.
Karen told The Times at the time that they were being used as a scapegoat for problems they had not created.
She said at the time: "These scammers are around the building like cockroaches and we are trying to get rid of them.
In early 1990, an employee shipped several gay and straight VHS tapes
Including "licorice twist", "latex slave discipline" and "best work of the Bruce Seven rolls ". 1” —
To a customer in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.
But it's a sting.
The bricklayers were accused of transporting obscene items on the interstate, and the FBI raided their warehouses with guns.
Barry said: "They are looking for a copy of the shipment, the title of a girl, and all of them, who laugh at the title every time they come up with a box.
"After years of litigation, the Masons avoided jail by agreeing to a pre-trial diversion plan and a fine of $20,000.
For about a year, Barry has to report to the federal court once a month to show that he is still working and has not committed any crimes.
Federal investigators later mailed back their tapes as evidence, he said.
Karen was a little embarrassed when talking about porn, and she said she had never seen any film.
She shrugged her shoulders and said it seemed a bit boring.
In her spare basement office, Karen is still in touch on Rolodex.
She also hung two sketches made by the children on the table.
One is a portrait of Mother Teresa.
The other is a picture of a weak person with an oxygen tube in his nose.
They remind us that everything in life is limited, she said.