HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Free speech icon and adult publisher Larry Flynt is selling the original Hustler store, located on Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, Calif., Bloomberg just now reported.
“We constantly review all of our businesses, and if a transaction makes sense strategically and financially, we will consider acting on it,” Arthur Sando, a spokesman for Flynt Management Group LLC, told Bloomberg in an email. He said the store is currently in escrow.
The store, which opened its doors in 1998, has become a fixture of Hollywood’s rock-and-roll Sunset Strip culture, and sells lingerie, sex toys, books and more. Besides a planned sale of the flagship location, Flynt, 71, says he believes that Hustler Magazine may soon follow suit and turn out the lights.
“I don’t think Hustler is going to be around very much longer,” Flynt said in a Bloomberg Television interview that aired today, citing the primacy of the Internet. “It’s making money now. As long as it makes money, I’ll continue to publish, but we can see the handwriting on the wall.” This month Hustler Magazine celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Flynt and Sando refused to discuss the price of the store or potential buyers or uses for the space, which is located in a high-end commercial spot.
However, Bloomberg reported that an unidentified party visited the Community Development Department of the City of West Hollywood a few months ago to discuss converting the store into a hotel.
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