X marks the spot

Enlarge Image

(BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Howard Maslove runs one of downtown Winnipeg's oldest businesses, but he's reluctant to give a shout-out to his peeps.

"We're pretty private here," says the co-owner of Dominion News & Gifts when asked about the section at the rear of his Portage Avenue store.

You have to pay a dollar to enter, through a little gate. And when you do, it feels like you've travelled in time, back to the days when two bits got you a ticket to the picture show on a weekday afternoon.

At Dominion, 25 cents will get you 56 seconds of adult video entertainment -- one peep show.

"I have young kids so I don't do this at home," says one customer (let's call him Bo) on his way to one of the 12 booths located in the dimly lit area beyond the X-rated magazines and movies and through the blue saloon doors.

Bo is 42, he says, and pops in about once a month, usually after work. He only spends a couple of bucks at a time. Yes, his wife would be angry if she knew. No, he doesn't feel guilty.

"I know my limit, and I know exactly why I do it," he says. "Sometimes if you're stressed at work, it relaxes you and makes you feel better."

'Don't ask, don't tell'

There's a sign on the wall near the entrance of the "theatre," warning patrons that "local regulations allow only one person in a booth and offenders will be asked to leave and will be permanently banned" from the premises.

Not that the phone-booth-sized space, with a single plastic chair facing a 20-inch TV screen, could accommodate many more. There is one larger booth and it has a handicap sign on the door.

You don't actually pay for your peeps with quarters; you have to buy tokens at the counter where you paid your loonie -- which you get back if you buy a magazine or DVD.

(His late father, Herbert, who bought Dominion News in 1968, started charging admission to the adult section 30 years ago, says Maslove, who took over the business in 1990. "The business guys would walk in at noon, read one of the books, put a marker in it and then come back the next day and continue reading. Dad figured if they're going to read, they're going to pay.")

One young fellow who looks to be in his mid-20s has purchased a handful of peep tokens and is now perusing the fast-food style menu board inside the saloon doors advertising the current viewing selections. There are 24 different hard-core titles.

There's a vending machine on one wall near the menu board that dispenses condoms and tissues. On the other wall there's a poster reminding folks about the importance of getting tested for syphilis. Along the bottom are detachable tabs with the phone number of a sexual health information line.

Whoever is manning the admission counter can monitor the theatre via a security camera. And while Maslove insists the one-person-per-booth policy is strictly enforced, he also admits he doesn't know the full extent of what goes on back there.

"It's like in the States," he says. "Don't ask, don't tell."

'It's a private thing'

It wasn't that long ago that Dominion News, which opened at 335 Portage Ave. in 1924, was a mecca for magazine lovers and news junkies, specializing in out-of-town newspapers and obscure periodicals. And Maslove says he still likely has the largest collection of magazines -- title-wise if not volume-wise -- although his newspaper stock is down to the local and national papers, the Sunday New York Times and a couple of British dailies.

Dominion has outlived its competitors, Solar News and Empire News, relocating several times on Portage Avenue before moving into its current home, 262 Portage Ave., in 1999. Maslove isn't sure when the adult section was added, but he does recall when the peep shows were on 8 millimetre film back in the '70s.

He's well aware that he's running a business built around three threatened industries: print media, tobacco products and dirty movies. Which is why Dominion has been diversifying over the years, and is now a little bit of everything: a newsstand/smoke shop/head shop that also sells trucker hats, T-shirts and other gift items, as well as a modest assortment of sex toys. The store still carries what is probably the city's biggest selection of adult magazines, with more than 150 titles. It also buys and sells vintage Playboy and Penthouse.

As for the area beyond the blue doors...

"That's good," says Maslove, when it's suggested the peep shows might be one of Winnipeg's best-kept secrets. "It's a private thing. It's not like you walk in and 'boom' it's right there."

Mo (not his real name), another patron who's popped in for a few peeps on this Friday afternoon, says he frequents the adult section and theatre about three times a week, usually for a couple of hours. Today is his day off, but he has co-workers, he says, who pop in over their lunch hour.

"It's exciting, you meet a lot of different people here," says the 45-year-old. Rather than pay $2 a pop from the machine, Mo has brought his own condoms, which he carries in a plastic Zip-loc bag.

'Shock and awe'

One of the peep show rooms, the "preview room" is at least twice the size of the others and has two bench seats. For $7 you can watch an entire video in there. Mo says he has seen couples duck in. Staff estimates that only about "one in 500" peep patrons is female.

There's an "in use" sign above each door that lights up when the booth is occupied. A quick peek inside one of the vacant ones reveals two roughly bored, waist-high holes in the wall shared by the adjacent booth.

Co-owner Guy Paquette says when Dominion was at its former location across the street, the owners sealed over similar holes with metal plates, but the "diggers" undid the patch job.

Mo says it's "exciting" to look in. Wiggling your finger through the hole signals an interest in further contact, he explains.

At that point, Paquette leaves his post at the adult counter to pop in to the theatre and casually mention that the sight of a reporter writing in a notebook has just caused a scowling, silver-haired gentleman to high-tail it out of the store.

Paquette, who has been involved with the business for the past 20 years, says Dominion's theatre isn't as dramatic or mysterious as some people might think. Some people simply don't have access to a computer, he says. Or, as in Bo's case, a lot of privacy.

"It's kind of a public place, so there's probably an element of shock and awe," Paquette says.

Apologies to the silver-haired gent. If it's any consolation, we never did get our loonie back.

carolin.vesely@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 24, 2012 E1