Adult Movie Theatres in Charlotte

Open around Charlotte

Erotica, then Exotica

In May 1995 South Blvd. Video & News got a city permit for video booths and retail sales at 5920 South Boulevard. A handwritten note on the permit said the city’s 1994 separation rule applied, and that the preponderance of its inventory and sales would not be adult.

The case turned on a word in the state’s definition of an adult bookstore, which Charlotte’s zoning used: a preponderance of adult publications. In 1996 the board of adjustment upheld a notice of violation against the shop, holding that the test was met where adult magazines were given “predominant and far greater importance and emphasis” in display or location. Importance counted, not only quantity. On 16 December 1996 the Superior Court agreed and barred the adult bookstore and adult mini motion picture theatre at the address.

Three days later a zoning inspector visited. The sign that had read Erotica now read Exotica. The front magazine racks held about half adult magazines and half comic books, the video box covers were about half and half, and of sixteen titles available for viewing, eight were adult.

On 24 January 1997 a contempt order told the shop to “immediately cease operation of all business activity at 5920 South Boulevard”. The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed on 21 April 1998, finding that the shop had tried to carry on by “disguising its operations”, and that videotapes count as publications.

The Plaza Pussycat on Central Avenue

The Plaza Theater at 1610 Central Avenue opened on 18 September 1941, became the Plaza Pussycat on 4 June 1975 and closed on 16 August 1987. It was demolished about a year later, and a bank stands on the site.

What Charlotte’s code says now

Under Charlotte’s Unified Development Ordinance, in force since 1 June 2023, an adult use operating lawfully as a conforming use does not become nonconforming when a school, place of worship, child care center or park later opens nearby (UDO § 15.4.D). From 18 January 1994 to 31 May 2023 an adult bookstore or adult mini motion picture theatre had to stand 1,500 feet from any residential district, school, church, child care center, park or playground.

The City Code licenses the trade inside the city.