Page 46 - AVN October 2017

TECH NEWS
Foster Theater
(Continued from page 44)
star appearances still stands. The projection room
has been modified a bit; a film projector is no longer
needed, so only a smaller version is used. Movies
screened are either a DVD, or in some cases a VHS
tape for older releases. The main screen always shows
straight porn, but a small room inside the building
has a large TV screen and DVD player is where the
theater staff screens one bi movie each day.
Once upon a time, the lobby had a popcorn
machine, but concessions these days are limited to
vending machines stocked with carbonated drinks,
candy bars and chips. There is a “coffee room” off to
the side of the lobby, where a TV plays local news and
regular customers have been known to enjoy a meal
before returning to the main theater area.
“We have regular customers of all types, men and
women of all ages,” St. Clair said. “Sometimes we
will let them run out to get a bite to eat, and as long
as they are back in a reasonable amount of time,
we don’t charge them again. Sometimes they even
bring me something to eat from one of the local
restaurants.”
For nearly 30 years, the Foster Theater showcased
mainstream Hollywood movies, but in 1965 a new
owner, Louis Sher, converted the family theater to a
strictly adult movie house. The Foster became one
of 13 adult theaters owned nationwide by Sher. The
Foster is no longer part of that chain, but instead is
owned by Dee Barber, who started working at the
theater in 1986 and purchased it in 1994. Though
adult movie houses became all the rage in the early
1970s, thanks to blockbusters like Deep Throat and
Behind the Green Door, not everyone was happy with
the change in Youngstown in the late 1960s and early
1970s. Local newspaper stories recount the arrest
of the Foster’s manager and projectionist in 1970
on obscenity charges, which were later dropped;
the same manager was arrested again in 1974 and
charged with pandering obscenity.
These days, the Foster stays out of the news,
save for the occasional historic profile; the last one
was published in the local newspaper in 1999. The
patronage has declined sharply through the decades,
especially when the surrounding neighborhood was
considered a seedy part of town. Neighborhood
revitalization efforts have spruced up a community
theater down the road, but an informal survey of
residents in Youngstown and surrounding suburbs
found that most people are not even aware the
theater is still open and operating as an adult movie
house—a fact that saddens St. Clair.
“I don’t want to see this place go away,” she told
AVN. “For some customers, this is all they have. It’s a
place where they can come and be themselves and not
feel ashamed or in danger. We have some wonderful
people who come here; I love the people who come
in drag. They make me so happy. And they know they
are safe here.”
For some of the regular patrons, the Foster Theater
is the only place they can access adult material.
Many local residents are on fixed incomes, and can’t
afford internet access. The irony, St. Clair said, is that
readily available adult material is killing porn palaces
like the Foster, but not everyone near the Foster can
access the internet porn. Some patrons, she noted,
still take advantage of the membership program the
Foster offers: for an annual fee of $50 members can
rent any number of XXX movies “for a reasonable
amount of time,” she said, adding that if the Foster
were to close up shop, that would limit access even
more to adult materials.
“I just think theaters like this are really needed,
especially here,” she said. “It’s a beautiful place, with
beautiful people. I don’t know what would happen
here without it.”
INTERVIEW | By Dan Miller
JadeCreates
(Continued from page 29)
“I remember MFC had hotel blocks, so we had floors
of cam models. I remember having my room and the
models would be like, ‘Oh, you’re JadeCreates, nice
to meet you. You’re so beautiful in person. You’ve
got a good energy.’ Because it’s so different when you
meet people in person. They ended up coming to my
room and they would look at all my stuff. They were
like, ‘How much is this? How much is that?’ They just
bought out everything. I was like, ‘This is gonna work, I
guess,’” Jade says.
Her talent caught the attention of Harli Lotts, the
MFC star who will co-host the 2018 AVN Awards Show
on January 27 with Angela White.
Lotts, who lives in Texas, has asked Jade to design
her AVN dress. The two met in Chicago last year.
“She noticed my lingerie and she loved it,” Jade
says. “We sat down and I think that’s where we got the
connection. She’s always very supportive.”
Jade says Lotts will be donning a collector’s item
corset—that was signed and worn by Madonna—paired
with Little Pink Box lingerie for the AVN Awards
ceremony at The Joint at Hard Rock.
“It’s going to be very glittery and shiny and
ridiculously awesome,” Jade promises.
Inspired by burlesque dancers such as Raquel Reed
and fetish models such as Cervena Fox, Jade says Little
Pink Box offers several items with fringe.
“I just love that burlesque style,” Jade says. “What I
started doing is trying to re-create these ideas to make
everything easier to wash, easier to wear. I always want
you to have a second option, so when you wear it you
can wear it very simply or you can add the fringe to it,
and you can remove it. I always just wanted it to be
washable, wearable and comfortable of course, because
lingerie has to be comfortable.”
Now she is so busy designing and filling orders, she
has scaled way back on camming. It’s hard to get on
cam knowing she’d really like to be sewing, Jade says.
She says there are no plans to mass produce her
46 | AVN.com | 10.17
JadeCreates at work (photo by Writeboy)
lingerie because “I still love the connection that I
have with people.”
“I love being able to communicate with them
personally,” Jade continues. “I don’t want someone
to be uncomfortable. I want them to feel really happy
with what they have. I want them to be confident
and be like, ‘Fuck yeah. I want to make $5,000
tonight because I have a JadeCreates outfit on.’ So I
think the next step is definitely hiring help, looking
into new designs, new patterns, doing more events.”
And giving back.
“You can’t keep taking. It’s the circle of life. It’s
how it works,” she says. “I am so happy. I just can’t
even … It’s just the most exciting thing. It’s stressful
but it’s a good stress. It pushes me to be a better
person every day.”