The interiors featured red and gold carpeting, velveteen fixtures, beveled glass, mirror walls, chandeliers, oil paintings, murals, and merchandise bearing the Pussycat logo.
Some Pussycat theaters sold popcorn from the box office to pedestrians on the sidewalk, with no obligation to buy a ticket.
[7][8][9] Vince Miranda and George Tate (who were lovers) shared ownership of Walnut Properties, the company that owned the Pussycat Theaters.
Miranda may have had exclusive California license to show Deep Throat, a hugely lucrative film.
[10] Residents who lived near the theaters complained to the city governments that children could see the images of women on posters, ads, and cardboard stand-ups.
The citizens groups and government sued Walnut Properties under a variety of laws, including obscenity, public nuisance, rezoning, eminent domain, The Red Light Abatement Act, and the US Supreme Court's "preponderance" redefinition of porn theaters.
Between 1977 and 1994, at the Pussycat Theater in Santa Monica, "the Los Angeles Police Department made 2000 arrests for lewd conduct on the premises."
Filmmaker Roger Corman saved the last Pussycat Theater by brokering a deal with an unnamed buyer.