Encino (Wo)man
Scenes from my life on Playboy TV
I’m in the process of working on the sixth chapter of my novel, which is set in the San Fernando Valley’s adult movie industry. Each of the twelve chapters takes place in a different part of the Valley, and this chapter takes place in Encino. If you’re not from Los Angeles and you’ve heard of Encino, that may be due to Encino Man, the 1992 cult classic comedy starring Pauly Shore as a Valley teen and Brendan Fraser as a defrosted caveman. (Apparently, there’s a sequel: Encino Woman.) But my primary association with Encino is as the location of the production offices for the Playboy TV reality series that I was on as a reporter for five years: Sexcetera.
From the erotic to the downright bizarre
Sexcetera was like 60 Minutes, but on Viagra. All the stories myself and a handful of other reporters covered were about sex. I described my job as “I talk to the camera while people [have sex] behind me.” That’s me, in the middle photo above, reporting from the scene of an adult movie that about broke my mind. My shtick was that I was the sarcastic one who covered the most deranged, out-there subjects. I loved being on the show and got to travel all over the world shooting stories, from Mexico to Amsterdam to London. I have a lot of crazy stories from that time.
To the Mansion and beyond
In my long career as a journalist, I have worked for two brands recognized around the globe: Playboy and Forbes. Mostly, people want to be affiliated with these brands. In their minds, being associated with Playboy means you are beautiful, and being associated with Forbes means you are rich. Working for Playboy TV meant I got to go to the Playboy Mansion three times. I liked the grotto and the monkeys and the flamingos. And I got to meet Hef there. In this 1974 video, Geraldo Rivera has a pool chat with Marilyn Cole, the magazine’s first full-frontal nude centerfold.
A study in masculinity
In recent years, I’ve collected various Playboy artifacts. One is the vintage Playboy mirror pictured above to the far left that was made by a seventh-grade boy in 1982 in his wood shop class. (I acquired it from Baz.) Of course, I have copies of the magazine. Occasionally, I play with this branded basketball. The main character of my novel collects vintage Playboys. He’s interested in masculinity, including masculinity as a performance, which is what masculinity is, mostly. Of course, I am, too; that is, I’m interested in masculinity as theater. It’s part of what my novel is about.
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You did bangs better than anyone.