LOS ANGELES — From Mr. Thick Dick Penis Enlarger Cream (WeHo’s The Pleasure Chest) to the Femme Funn Ultra Bullet Massager (Santa Monica’s Secret Desires) to the Bondage 101 kit (Silver Lake’s The Stockroom) and a Puppy Play hood that looks like a dog (Silver Lake’s Rough Trade), turns out Angelenos are as diverse in the bedroom as you would expect.
“The fact that these four stores are very distinct, cater to specific audiences and were sold out of a lot of products says a lot about our fair city. We are a mix of cultures and orientations with a universe of desires and options for expressing them. It’s hard to push us into specific categories because we run the gamut to edges on a spectrum that is probably wider than most of America.”
This was the conclusion of a writer with a self-described “vanilla” sex life who explored four different sex shops in the city to report for mainstream publication Los Angeles Magazine on the diverse sexual interests of pleasure product buyers.
“I felt like a girl who’s only eaten burgers and fries thrust into an international strip mall with hummus, tacos, sushi, rice and beans and hybrids like Kogi,” wrote Kerry Quinn in a piece entitled “Sex Shop Workers from Across the City Reveal What Angelenos Are ‘Into,’” published today by the local magazine.
Ranging “from dildos in Santa Monica to leather harnesses in Silver Lake,” Quinn’s article aims to offer “a survey of the city’s adult toy stores and the proclivities of their clienteles.”
Among the article’s highlights:
- “At different times of the year, we have customers looking for different things. For Burning Man, people come in for outfits, lube, condoms, cock rings and hand-held vibrators. For Father’s Day, couples come in to “spice up” the bedroom. There is always some kind of an event that brings in different types of people with different requests.” — Jake, The Pleasure Chest
- “We do a lot of educating. Some women aren’t aware of their own anatomy. There’s also a focus on sexual health and wellness. For example, if a woman is going through cancer treatment and loses sensation, there are toys that are better than others, like those that offer low and deep vibration.” — Kris, Secret Desires
- “Our best sellers are the Tenga stroking products (they are penis masturbators), Bound-O-Round 4 point restraint system (which are restraints that can tie to your toe bedposts), ad the Bondage 101 kit, which includes cuffs for wrists and ankles, rose tickler, riding crop, and blindfold. We also sell a lot of handcuffs and leashes.” — Madame Skin, The Stockroom
- “We had more couples come in after the 50 Shades of Grey movie. More men were interested in exploring anal vibration toys. We sell the Aneros, which stimulates the prostate that can help create more of an ‘explosion.'” — Anonymous, Rough Trade
To read the Los Angeles Magazine article “Sex Shop Workers from Across the City Reveal What Angelenos Are ‘Into,’” click here.
