Rachel’s doc tells the fascinating story of the store’s historical significance for the LGBTQ community, her parents’ role as unintentional activists, and how the internet destroyed the business. The store served as a refuge for LGBTQ community members during the height of the AIDS crisis, and the film highlights Karen and Barry’s struggles with being so heavily immersed in LGBTQ culture at a time when it was not socially accepted. The business went through many challenges, from being caught in an FBI sting during President Ronald Reagan’s crackdown on pornography, to gaining a reputation for attracting hustlers in the wee hours of the morning. Dare focuses on Ben lusting after a classmate and finally getting into a position where they end up together in a pool and ‘things’ happen’. The straight, religious couple with kids, however, kept the nature of their work a secret from family and friends. Dare (2013) One of the many recurring themes in many of these gay short movies is the gay high school experience of when you start getting ‘the feels’ for other guys.
The store was first established in the ’60s as Book Circus. Rachel’s parents, Karen and Barry Mason, who were working with Hustler publisher Larry Flynt at the time, took over the store in the early ’80s and renamed it Circus of Books. This documentary by artist Rachel Mason is a riveting look at the popular and long-running bookstore and gay pornography shop, Circus of Books, in West Hollywood and in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.
