Adult Movie Theatres in Oakland
California · last checked 18 October 2026
Nothing in Oakland itself. The two places with rooms behind them sit at opposite ends of the East Bay, ten miles north in El Cerrito and fifteen miles south in Hayward, and both are genuinely open. The Hayward one was being written about eight days before this page was written, which makes it the freshest thing in this directory.
What is still open
L'Amour Shoppe, Hayward
Booth arcade22553 Main Street, Hayward, CA 94541
- Has
- An arcade with many booths, some larger
- Hours
- Open 24 hours
- Phone
- (510) 886-7777
Fifteen miles south of Oakland and open around the clock. A customer on 10 October 2026 described the arcade area and the number of booths available for watching films, and another in March 2026 mentioned the larger booths. Two hundred and fifteen reviews, which for this kind of business is a lot.
This is the same company whose owner told a customer in Sacramento that his branch there had no arcade, and named this one as an alternative. When the operator is pointing people here, that is about as good as the evidence gets.
Last checked 18 October 2026 · Arcade described in a review dated 10 October 2026
Secrets Boutique, El Cerrito
Theatre10601 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530
- Has
- A theatre viewing room and booths
- Price
- Around $10 for an all day arcade pass
- Hours
- 10am to 10pm, Sundays noon to 8pm
- Phone
- (510) 528-1569
Ten miles north of Oakland. The business itself answers questions about the theatre and the arcade on its own listing, which is how we know both are still there: asked in late 2025 whether couples use them, it said couples are allowed in the arcade but do not come very often.
A regular in January 2024 was blunt about what to expect. The theatre viewing room is hit and miss, some days good and some days nearly empty, and the booths are seedy in a way they considered part of the appeal.
One warning. A customer in July 2026 wrote that they were refused entry at the door by the man on the counter and could not get an explanation. That is one account, but it is recent.
Last checked 18 October 2026 · Business answered questions about its theatre and arcade in late 2025
In Oakland itself there is a Secrets Boutique at 5686 Telegraph Avenue and Good Vibrations by the lake, and both are shops. Across the bay in San Francisco there are places with booths, but San Francisco has its own page and its own answer.
Three cinemas, three ways to die
- The Pussycat, previously the Regent, Newsreel, Peerlex and Art CinemaThe city1118 Broadway
Built in 1913. In May 1970 the council refused Pussycat Theaters Inc. a licence to run it, the hearing officer citing seven arrests inside the theatre of men charged with lewd conduct. Quietly demolished in the mid 1990s.
- The Tower, latterly a PussycatAn earthquakeTelegraph Avenue, Temescal
Shut in October 1989 by Loma Prieta. A fire in 1998 finished the argument and the city pulled it down. One local history notes that video would probably have killed it shortly anyway.
- Jack London Cinema, then Xanadu, then SecretsThe market201 Broadway
A mainstream cinema that never found an audience, turned adult, changed names twice, and closed in early August 2016.
Seven arrests and a licence
The clearest of the three is the first. In May 1970 Oakland’s council simply declined to give Pussycat Theaters Inc. a licence to operate the Art Cinema at 1118 Broadway. The reason the hearing officer gave was seven arrests inside the building, of men charged with lewd conduct.
That is a different mechanism from everything else in this directory. Nobody prosecuted the films and nobody argued about obscenity. The city declined to license the room because of what people did in it, which is a far harder thing for an operator to fight.
The building had been there since 1913 and had been the Regent, the Newsreel, the Peerlex and the Art Cinema before it was the Pussycat. It sat closed for years and was taken down quietly in the mid 1990s.
The name that outlived the building
The last adult cinema downtown started as the Jack London Cinema at 201 Broadway, a mainstream house that never found its audience. It turned to adult films, became Xanadu, and then became Secrets. It closed in early August 2016.
Which is the odd and rather good ending to this page. The cinema called Secrets is gone, but the name is still trading in the East Bay on a row of shops, and the branch in El Cerrito still keeps a theatre viewing room and an arcade in the back.
The building did not survive. The idea did, in a smaller room, ten miles up San Pablo Avenue.
Sources
- Regent Theatre, 1118 Broadway, Cinema Treasures
- Tower Theatre, Cinema Treasures
- Secrets Theatre, 201 Broadway, Cinema Treasures
- Remembering the Pussycat movie theater in Oakland, KQED
- Downtown Oakland is a movie theater wasteland, The Oaklandside
- L'Amour Shoppe, 22553 Main Street, Hayward
- Secrets Boutique, 10601 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito
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