Bijou Video

Theater

The Bijou Theater featured a 15-by-18-foot silver screen and seated 77 people in anchored, theater-style cushioned seating. The theater's lobby hosted a DVD counter to purchase gay adult films. A desk and computer were set up for patrons to peruse the Bijou's website listing over 14,000 titles. Titles found on the website were then available for purchase at the DVD counter.

Sex club

The Bijou Theater was known for its second-floor sex club. Travel magazines implored readers to explore the "gay man's fantasy playground" replete with glory holes, dark corners, and a BDSM dungeon with slings, crosses, and other fetish objects. Guests were invited to rent a locker to store their street clothes and change into their "play clothing". In warm weather, the club opened the Bijou Gardens, an outdoor playground. Prior to closure in 2015, the club operated 24/7.

Bijou Video

Toushin opened Bijou Video as a mail order pornographic film company in 1978. Bijou Video produced hundreds of gay pornographic films, many of which featured famous porn stars such as Al Parker (e.g. Turned On), Bruno (e.g. Pleasures in the Sun), and Richard Locke. Directors included Toby Ross, among others. Some of Bijou Video's films are notable for their BDSM and fetish content, such as fisting (e.g. Erotic Hands and Drive), food play (e.g. Food Sex), and bondage (e.g. Argos: The Sessions). Film production ended in the late 1990s. In 1999, Bijou Video began remastering and digitizing its film library of 16mm film, 1-inch masters, and 3/4 inch tapes.

Bijou Boys Erotic Cabaret

The Bijou Boys Erotic Cabaret featured solo performances by local and national male dancers. Performances featured full nudity and there were typically three to four dancers a show. Showtimes were select afternoons and nightly. The cabaret began to shift from typical go-go boy show to an avant-garde, high production value venue under the direction of Miss Tiger. Eventually, these more explicit shows were separated from a newly formed venue known as Miss Tiger's Cabaret.

Miss Tiger's Cabaret

Miss Tiger's Cabaret featured live singing, original music and original plays. The cabaret shows were written and directed by Miss Tiger and were the first of their kind to be performed at Bijou Theater. New shows were introduced about every eight weeks; with productions taking place Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:30 pm and 10:30 pm each night. This cabaret included both a male and female cast and featured very little nudity. Cast members included a few of the dancers from the erotic cabaret but were mostly singers and actors from Chicago's community theater scene. Original music was created by Chicago music producer DJ Christian, who often accompanied Miss Tiger in music bookings outside of the theater. Each production featured theatrical lighting, original costumes and set design. Many shows were photographed and reviewed by St. Sukie de la Croix of the Windy City Times. Miss Tiger later wrote an advice column for Nightspots, a weekly Chicago LGBTQIA entertainment magazine. Shows ran from 2000 through 2004.

Controversy

Jeffrey Dahmer frequented the Bijou Theater, and Jeremiah Weinberger, who worked at the theater, was one of his murder victims; Dahmer met Weinberger at the nearby Carol's Speakeasy in July 1991 and killed him in Milwaukee. During the Dahmer trials, many gay establishments, such as bathhouses and gay clubs, were left vacant or less busy than usual due to the gruesome details of these murders and fears from the community of falling victim.

In January and February 1975, the theater showed the gay pornographic feature film Him by Ed D. Louie, which focused on a young man with a sexual fixation on Jesus Christ. As of 2025, no copy of the film has been found and it is classified as a lost film, with some sources suggesting that it was a hoax.

On September 21, 1976, co-owner Paul Gonsky was murdered in Old Town; the killing has been linked to Frank Schweihs, a Chicago Outfit enforcer associated with the area's pornography rackets, though he was never charged in connection with it.