CHATSWORTH, Calif.—Kelly Holland may be a world-famous director of both mainstream documentaries and hot adult features, not to mention the current publisher of Penthouse Magazine and head honcho of Penthouse Studios, but she still finds time to be active in one of her first loves: animal rescue. And that means that for the fifth time in as many years, she'll be hosting the "Vice Is Nice" fundraiser for animal rescue organizations on Saturday, July 26, at her "Rancho Providenzia" home at 10945 Old Santa Susanna Pass Road in Chatsworth.
"We've actually made it to our fifth annual Vice Is Nice, and I'm thrilled to say that we've kept it going for that many years," Holland told AVN. "The support has grown every year. This year, we're going to have all the things we always have: A great bunch of DJs, three really good top-notch DJs; great food, great vegan and vegetarian food; a raffle—and I have to tell you, the raffles are among the biggest draws we have, and I have people like Moose from Girlfriends Films who come with a whole raffle strategy. I mean, these guys work raffles like it's a poker game, they are so serious about it. A lot of people come in focused on those raffles, so much so that we used to have the raffles at the back of the property; now we've moved it to the front, because everybody's so obsessed with raffles. So we have the raffles, bigger and better than ever; we'll have over 100 raffle items, baskets. We have the poker tournament, which is always great, and we have wonderful prizes for the poker tournament, and we're also going to do some very interesting stuff."
Such as...?
"We're going to do some special raffles this time," she said. "We're going to raffle off a couple of dates with Penthouse Pets, and we'll supply the limo, we'll supply the Pet, we'll supply a restaurant, probably a really nice one in Beverly Hills, and most importantly, we'll supply the chaperone.
"Our Pets are, I would say, uniformly very supportive of rescue," she continued. "A lot are cat rescuers, and those that don't and can't, because they travel, will still be part of the event. We actually have a charity we used to work with, that I keep trying to find the time somewhere in my life to try to revive: Leslie Glass, who you may remember was a Penthouse Pet—Leslie and Dyanna Lauren had a charity called Pets For Pets, and I have that website and I keep trying to find the time to reinitiate that charity, but for whatever reason, people in the adult industry have a real affinity for animals, rescuing animals, and are disproportionately highly involved in rescue."
But there are a few changes this year—besides the massive increase in raffles, that is. Whereas most of the money raised at Vice Is Nice has gone to support Petopia, a rescue organization that last year opened a rescue center in the Westfield Mall in Woodland Hills, this year, Holland and the Animal Rescue Alliance will be expanding to help other rescues, possibly even one as far away as San Diego.
"Petopia is going strong and they are healthy," Holland stated. "It's a great rescue, but this year, we're going to move on and we're going to be raising money for three rescues: a great cat rescue that's actually run by a deputy sheriff in LA County, Pink Paws, which works out of PetSmart in Northridge. We'll also be raising money for Life4Paws, which is a great dog rescue, and they work out of Petco in West Hills, and they also on Saturdays do pet adoptions at PetSmart in Northridge. They're an incredibly effective dog rescue."
The third rescue to benefit from Vice Is Nice funding will be Almost Home Animal Rescue, a San Diego-based rescue one of whose supporters is legendary performer Julia Ann.
"I'll always owe a lot to Julia Ann, because the first movie I ever did was Blondage with her and Janine," Holland explained. "It was for Vivid, who rolled the dice and took a bet on me as a director, having never directed adult before, and the movie was a massive success, not of course because of me—I had absolutely nothing to do with it—but it was Julia Ann and Janine. I think Steve Hirsch looked at that and somehow thought I was this amazing auteur from mainstream, and he put me under contract for seven years. So there's a few people in the business that I owe my career to, but I would say Julia Ann and Janine would be two of them. So Julia Ann also works in rescue; she's very dedicated and she has moved down to San Diego and works with a San Diego rescue, and because she's done so much for me and she's a really dedicated dog rescuer, she's going to be here and we hope to be able to donate to her rescue also."
Also on hand will be actress/radio personality Sam Phillips, who'll be shooting the "red carpet" for the event, as well as capturing various scenes around the party, all of which footage Holland will be posting to Penthouse's social media site, PenthouseTV.com, and will also make available to anyone else who wishes to post the footage to their website. Also in the works: a possible live simulcast from the event and/or perhaps a rebroadcast in the days following.
And though details of this year's event were released just last Saturday, Holland's already received numerous calls of support from adult companies.
I've already had several companies just call and say, 'Oh, yeah, we're back on; we're going to sponsor you,' and my European distributor and my European agent, I was just on the phone this morning, have already made large donations on the website, so we think it's going to be bigger and better than ever," she predicted. "Last year we had between 600 and 700 people; our goal is to grow it to 1,000 people. I think the property, the ranch can support that. We keep getting more and more people, and the property keeps absorbing them, and it never feels congested or crowded. We don't have any limitations, so we think we've got room for another 300 people and we're going to be out looking for those people; whether they're playing poker or gambling with a roulette, blackjack, craps tables, or they're working their strategies on raffles, or dancing, or eating, we're going to be looking for more to be out there."
In any case, registration for Vice Is Nice 2014 is now open, and people can purchase tickets and other goodies here. Anyone who has questions about the event can either email the Animal Rescue Alliance or phone them at 818-421-7498.
And even though, as one wag recently assured us, "No one in LA ever plans anything more than 24 hours in advance; everybody is always waiting for a better offer," those who believe in animal rescue should nonetheless mark their calendars now and attend the 5th annual Vice Is Nice on Saturday evening, July 26. Gates open at 6:30 p.m., but feel free to arrive any time after that, up to midnight.
