HOLLYWOOD, Calif.—It’s a damn shame they don’t put porn shops and sex arcades on the list of official historical landmarks; a few of them definitely deserve to be there. One such shop of historic ill-repute is the X Spot at 5507 Hollywood Boulevard, near Western, which used to be called Le Sex Shoppe back in the day. We caught a mention today by Curbed the place is being demolished.
“Last week we noticed the demo crew had closed off the parking lot and now the front appears to be boarded up too,” reported the site, which also noted that writer Charles Bukowski is reputed to have crowned the old Le Sex Shoppe as his favorite during a time when the neighborhood proudly offered him a menu of similar joints to choose from. Those days are long gone, and as Curbed eulogized, “Things are looking bleak for porn purveyors in Hollywood as another of their ranks is readying to disappear."
Yelp actually has a few pretty good reviews of the X Spot, which last year also happened to be the scene of another celebrity sighting, or citing. It's where actor Nick Stahl was cited a few days after Christmas “on suspicion of committing a lewd act.”
On Yelp, Caz V. from Philly wrote in 2010 about X Spot, “The bilingual ‘do not masturbate’ signs by the quarter booths are a nice touch, but otherwise, the X Spot's main value is urban preservationism; if I were truly hankering for a quality porn fix (whatever that might entail), this would not be my choice destination.”
Chris G added his impressions this April, writing in part, “It is sort of the last standing building on Hollywood & Western that pays homage to a bygone era of Hollywood East. The front is very, very plain. There are no painted bikini ladies anymore. There are no bold advertisements for 25 cent porn movies. In fact, I didn't really know what was inside here. I have passed this shop by countless times. I kind of presumed it was a gay porn shop now because it looks so secretive.”
He was partly right. X Spot got a pretty good write-up on CruisingGays.com: “It is a little seedy, but not disgustingly so. It is much better than Stan's Video on Western, cleaner and not frequented by as much "low-life". The only thing is that over the years the police have made them install bright flourescent ceiling fixtures, but that doesn't seem to curtail action. It's a good place to hook up with someone, then go to some place more private.
“Crowd: Horny, married, single, straight men--some blue collar, some white collar, some street trash, Caucasians, Latinos, Blacks and a small number of adventurous gays or bi's.”
Not anymore.
Image: Le Sex Shoppe back in the day, left; and right, the X Spot awaiting its final closeup.
