Video Booth

A video booth, sometimes called a peep booth or arcade booth, is a small private cubicle inside an adult bookstore or sex shop where patrons pay to watch pornographic films through a screen or viewing slot. Beyond film viewing, many booths became known as sites for anonymous sexual contact between men, from mutual masturbation to encounters through glory holes in the shared walls. Before the internet, these arcades were part of the everyday geography of gay male cruising, offering a discreet indoor alternative to bars, bathhouses, and outdoor cruising grounds. Their numbers have declined sharply with the rise of online hookup apps and streaming pornography, but they remain a documented chapter in gay male social and erotic history.