THE HEART OF THE CITY
CINESEX & PEEP SHOWS
61 King Street East
CURRENT STATUS (1999)BUILDING INFORMATION
Date Built: 1948
Original Owner: Singer Sewing Company
Original Use: Singer sewing machine sales
and service (1949-1980)
Subsequent Uses: Palace billiards and
amusement arcade
Previous Building on Site: Five-storey, late
19th century commercial building (Hamilton Leather Goods; Nancy
Campbell Ballet)
ARCHITECTURE
Size: Frontage: 21.87 feet; height:
three-storeys
Design and Style: Early Modern
Architect, Builder: N.A. Armstrong
(architect); Cooper Construction Co.
Construction Materials: Facade: artificial
stone
Architectural Integrity: Moderate (upper
facade largely intact; concrete facing now covered around second floor window)
Architectural Features: Austere treatment of facade with its row of three single casement windows
above one large multi-paned window on the second storey
Kasten Rumpf, owner of
Karrum Amusements Ltd. in Montreal, applied for a municipal theatre license to legalize
the Cinesex cinemas in Hamilton. He opened his establishment as a video arcade. On August
5, 1986, he received his theatre license and passed inspections from health, fire, and
building department officials. At the time of inspection, there were eighteen private
viewing cubicles and two small cinemas showing soft pornographic movies. However, none of
the inspectors mentioned the unusual cineplex to City Hall officials. Since no laws were
being violated, the building department had no authority to withhold the approval.
Mr. Rumpf opened the first videosex establishment in Montreal in 1985. He started showing pornography in the basement of his St. Catherine Street West arcade. The opening provoked sharp response from the city and police. They even looked into the possibility of laying obscenity charges against videosex. The Supreme Court of Canada had recently put forward a ruling that sexual explicitness was not to be considered obscene. Nothing could be done. Four years after opening the first Videosex establishment, there were four peep shows on St. Catherine Street West, three of which were run by Mr. Rumpf.
Karrum Amusements Ltd. eventually expanded into Hamilton
and met just as much protest here as it faced in Montreal. Mayor Robert Morrow has tried
to pass bylaws at city council meetings to prevent the showing of explicit films in
separate cubicles and to impose a moratorium on new adult theatre licenses until
well-studied. However, due to the amount of opposition, he could not pass the bylaws. 
The opening of the peep show angered most city officials. Public protests were held in front of the building and seven hundred signatures were collected on a petition to remove the peep show cinemas. City officials did everything they could think of to shut down Cinesex; however, Kasten Rumpf was always one step ahead of them. When the City tried to shut down the peep shows, the owner threatened to sue the City. Hamilton officials tried very hard to make sure that the theatre would not receive its provincial license, which would make the establishment untouchable until the owner decided to shut it down. The city was about to fine Cinesex $25,000 for starting work without a license. Before he received his provincial license, Rumpf avoided the fine by showing the films for free, since it was not a crime if he did not make a profit. A City bylaw can designate where such an operation can take place and Hamilton has such a bylaw now; still, Cinesex opened before the law was passed, so the city has no power to shut them down.
The theatre runs according to strict guidelines. All the films shown at the theatre have been approved by the Ontario Film Review Board and are legally censored. All customers must be at least nineteen years old and show identification at the door. There is no alcohol allowed it the theatres. Movies are shown from nine o’clock in the morning until midnight in booths the size of washroom cubicles equipped with coin slots, a padded chair, a television screen, mirror, and toilet paper.
Neighbouring merchants were worried that the "seedy" clientele of the peep show would offend their potential customers. But the theatre is always kept very clean and it shows movies that are available at any well-stocked adult video store.
In October 1996, Cinesex took over the video arcade and pool hall in the same building. This renovation cost $1,000,000. Now there are four floors of high-tech pornography with thirty private viewing booths and six mini cinemas. There are ninety-six non-stop channels of X-rated movies where viewers can tune into a variety of explicit programming. All movies are government approved and legal.
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