A sex shop adjacent to gay Atlanta's red light district on Cheshire Bridge Road has closed after nearly two decades of providing happy endings to gay men 24 hours a day.
Peek A Boo has shuttered its two buildings on Piedmont Circle. One building sold adult toys and smoking accessories, while the other offered a maze of video booths. Piedmont Circle is the stretch of Cheshire Bridge that changes names as it crosses Piedmont Road.
The most recent post to Peek A Boo's Facebook page was made Aug. 20. Now, the page says the business is permanently closed. Traffic cones block the driveway and the retail store appeared empty of merchandise.
Peek A Boo was among the strip's infamous gloryholes that came under scrutiny in 2013 when the City of Atlanta tried to push sexually-oriented businesses off Cheshire Bridge. That effort failed.
But what city officials couldn't do in sterilizing Cheshire Bridge, bulldozers are now accomplishing. Several properties along Cheshire have been razed to make way for new developments, including an apartment complex being built in the middle of a trio of gay clubs. A few blocks from Peek A Boo, an iconic building designed by gay architect Henri Jova is slated for demolition.
Redevelopment could be coming to the Peek A Boo property.
The business is apparently owned by KB 1905 Piedmont, a company with a registered agent in Jackson, Ga., according to a registration filed with the Georgia Secretary of State. The agent, when reached by phone on Wednesday, declined to provide additional details about Peek A Boo's closure or the future of the property.
Fulton County property records indicate the property is owned by a Miami-based holding company that also owns two adjoining parcels. The lots together are about two-thirds of an acre.
Several other holding companies based in Atlanta, Virginia and Los Angeles own nearby properties on Piedmont Circle.
The property that houses Tripp's Bar, a gay bar a few doors away from Peek A Boo, is owned by an Atlanta-based company, according to property records.
The property that houses Peek A Boo last sold for $575,000 when Nineteen Zero Five Piedmont bought it from Peek A Boo in September 2005, according to Fulton property records. The property was sold to Peek A Boo for $456,000 in August 1998.
The building is currently valued at $259,600, according to property records.
