Sex Is Back
And weirder than ever
I took this photo today at The Pleasure Chest, which is probably the best adult sex toy store in Los Angeles. This sign is pretty cool. The letters light up one by one and then the whole thing flashes. I wandered around, looking at all the things, searching for something I hadn’t seen before. But I had seen pretty much everything. The weirdest thing was probably these Pris Toys: “handcrafted silicone toys of the future.” Their line of sex toys is great for those with android, or tribble, or scylla fetishes, I guess.
When I walked outside, I realized I had forgotten there used to be an adult theater across the street. In its final incarnation, it was Studs, but it closed last October. “‘This theater caters to men of a certain age who don’t know how to navigate through Grindr and Scruff for a sexual outlet,’” an “anonymous patron” told the WEHO TIMES prior to its closing.
According to Los Angeles Theatres:
The theatre kept the Monica name until August 30, 1968 when it became the Left Bank Theatre and began running serious porno. The first film under this name was "That Woman," starring Eva Renzi. In 1970 it became the Pussycat and for a long period was one of the flagship houses for Vincent Miranda's chain. Long runs and lines around the block were the rule for films such as "Deep Throat" and "Devil in Miss Jones" as porno chic became the rage.
Later as a gay porno venue it got rebranded as the Tomkat. In 2006 it got the name Studs and later it was branded as Studs at the Pussycat.
On the sidewalk in front of the theater, there are the hands and feet impressions of movie stars, like at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Only instead of Fred Astaire, Marilyn Monroe, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, you get Harry Reems, Linda Lovelace, and Marilyn Chambers. I stood in the footprints left by John Holmes. The theater was silent, and the leaves scuttered around, and the cars whizzed past.
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