I think most Valley residents are blissfully unaware of how much porn production takes place in their neighborhoods. Porn Valley is pretty good about respecting the rights of those who probably wouldn't appeciate a quintuple anal albino gangbang taking place next door. Aside from a few extra cars and the occasional glimpse of a girl with big jugs walking to the front door with a suitcase, you wouldn't suspect that anything unusual was going on.

Still, sometimes when residents discover you're shooting porn in their zip code, they go completely insane, call the police, put up flyers etc.. yet somehow they don't mind having entire streets shut down and blinding lights shining at 11pm when a Hollywood movie is being shot in their neighborhood.

Also, the city issues film permits just like it would for a Steven Speilberg movie as long as you pay the fee.

Life out here is not even close to Heaven unless you enjoy mile after endless mile of strip malls and 7-11's ;)

Quaze

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No, no, no.

You guys sit around and MAKE porn all day, so I can sit around and WATCH porn all day.

BSD

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Acutually theres enough of the entertainment industry in LA (music, movies, etc) that porn goes by pretty unnoticed.

The valley also holds about 2 million people, So unless you were looking for it you'd never notice the porn.

Allthough I used to see Eric Everhard, Nick Manning and Dan Miller at the gym, and Keri Sable at Starbucks. I dont think anyone else in either place noticed.

In LA most people are too consumed with themselves anyway.

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BTW...Truer words have never been spoken.

In LA...vanity is not just a hobby and bad 80's actress/singer, it's a way of life.

Edited by - Dragon Novelties on 4/21/2005 7:24:58 PM

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-T.C.

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Believe it or not, the population of porn related people and businesses is only overshadowed in PV by the amount of senior citizens and senior citizen housing.

Edited by - LadyB on 4/21/2005 8:32:12 PM

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Glad to see you are getting your doses of that healthy Carl's Jr. potential poon tang.

I'd imagine the Valley is a perfect environment for this industry because the weather is great almost year round, there are beautiful residences and good industrial buildings for warehouses. There must be some discrimination from landlords that don't want to rent their houses/ buildings to pornographers. Then again, most landlords don't care as long as the rent is paid.

So Tiana, if a girl just travels to the area to work, for example Kinzie Kenner from Arizona (I use her 'cause I know she's working right now), does the community friends and co-workers let her stay at their apartments? I guess what I'm asking does the industry stick together and help each other out?

Also what is the bar/ club scene like in those valley cities? Can you go out to a bar or club in the valley and have as much fun as going to L.A.?

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LeChayim!

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I am sure that Kiznie will respond to this as well. We think the world of you. You are the sweatest. We would love to stay with you sometime, just to hang out, play a board game, watch a movie etc.

We do like our privacy, however, we also enjoy spending time with a few select friends that are in the industry.

99.9% of the time we stay in a hotel because A) Kinzie brings lots of stuff. Clothes for shoots, an entire suitcase just for shoes. I'm not knocking it mind you. She needs all of that for her shoots. And B) I am sometimes shooting my own stuff while we are out here and need a room to shoot in and a place to store all my gear. We are contemplating finding a situation where we can rent a room from someone. But then again, there's the added expense of furnishing it and the utilities.

I'll see you at dinner on Saturday!

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They may not come out and ask, or say anything at all, but the average apartment rental for one of those "studio apartments" is still around $900 a month. They know something's up and they're making up for the prime real estate market in thier fees.

I have to agree with Tiana. . . . Panda Express, Carls Jr. and pizza get you through the night.

One thing that always strikes me as surreal about the PV is that for a place that has such a concentrated movie industry, they roll up the freaking sidewalks at 10pm! Fast food and delivery are the only way to get food, unless you feel like doing the Denny's thing.

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Aside from the occassional sighting, there's really nothing odd about it - and one can actually probably run into or sight a mainstream actor/celebrity at least as easily.

"Corruptio optimi pessima..."

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I shot in a park once and a guy walked up on us, he asked to assist, turns out he was an off duty sheriff, but was very cool, he held a bounce board for me and asked if he could have a copy of the finished product, LOL... I of course said yes :) Most that I have come across are very nice about it but beware, all you need it 1 to turn you in for indecent exposure :(

and yes, we all sit around and watch porn In our spare time.. :) Dont you?

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LeChayim!

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I know there are alot of lesser areas out here - but as someone who isn't from here, I find that I can often open the eyes of "natives" to alot of interesting places that ave been right under there nose their entire lives!

Just for shits & giggles (and if you're interested), I have a photo album of some shots taken in and around the Valley located here

"Corruptio optimi pessima..."

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First of all, I have lived in the Valley for most of my 41 years. Specifically, Woodland Hills. South of Ventura, West of Topanga, yada yada yada.

With the exception of a few big porn names showing up on some Sunday afternoons during the summer months at the Sagebrush Cantina, you don't run into anyone special here.

The Valley is a place primarily occupied by single family, detached homes, multi-unit apartment buildings, an infinite number of strip malls, and tons of retail stores of all kinds. It's the original suburbia. Think "Brady Bunch" type houses.

These days, English is the 3rd most common language, after Spanish and Arabic/Armenian/Hebrew/Farsi (those sound all the same to me so I'll lump them together).

Canoga Park & Chatsworth are probably the most industrial-looking places in the West Valley, having an almost infinite amount of "tilt-up" 1 and 2 story buildings that are 20% office and 80% warehouse. Porn companies use these types of facilities. Driving by, one would not be able to tell. If you broke into one, you'd see 2,500 square feet of cheap office space and 10,000 square feet of warehouse.

There, you'd see a crew of immigrant workers packing VHS tapes & DVDs into large shipping boxes. It might as well be books, screwdrivers or anything else. The novelty of what's being packed and shipped wears off by the first lunch break of the first day.

There's not much of a nightlife going on here with the exception of a few trendy restaurants along Ventura here and there, but it's nothing like Sunset.

In fact, the Valley's area code (818) is kind of a lousy one to have when exchanging digits with women from "over the hill" (Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, etc.) Man...I wish I had Vonage back in the day...but I digress....

Swinger parties are decent here, but, I suspect they are no different than anywhere else in a big city. The porn industry has never had any real impact on parties. I have seen a few porn names at some, but generally speaking, their presence does not make the party any better. Porn people tend to be non-participants. Another coincidence is that many of the houses / locations that are used for swing parties are also used in porn shoots. It's pretty funny to be watching a porn and seeing a table I've sat at and ate food from, being used as a "bed" DP. Next time I'm there, I'll make sure I don't eat anything that falls off my plate!

Keep in mind that had I not been in the swinger scene, I'd never know the little I do about the biz. But the swinger scene exists everywhere, not just here.

I had read in a different topic a while back that someone was actually interested in traveling to Chatsworth or Canoga Park to check it out.

May I suggest the beach instead?

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Lived in CHATSWORTH for 19 years, and only saw 1 porn star on the streets ever.

Most of the stuff goes behind close door and you would never guess that it is right next door to you.

The areas is distinctly separated between commercial and residential, each occuping 2-5 blocks at a time.

As GSNM100 said, the commercial areas are composed of mostly warehouses, storage facilities, office buildings, and besides the Name of the Company, you probably won't know that it is a porn studio if you don't watch Porn.

The funny thing is that there isn't a whole bunch of distribution / red light retailers in the valley, it is basically your Brady Bunch families.

The cool thing is that we have everything here, you don't ever need to go out of the valley for anything.

It is also a lot cleaner / nicer compared to Down Town Los Angeles.

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"Corruptio optimi pessima..."

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Quaze

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-T.C.

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LeChayim!

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"Corruptio optimi pessima..."

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I live in Studio City, which is one of the cooler parts of the Valley, IMO. People from the other side of the hill don't roll their eyes as much when you say Studio City. I used to live in Canoga Park, and Woodland Hills before that. Since I've been in Studio City, I've had more than a few celeb sightings...both porn and mainstream Hollywood. Just last week I went to a popular Mexican restaurant and sat next to a table with a bunch of gorgeous black actresses (Gabrielle Union, Essence Atkins, Regina Hall, and a few others). Nice. And on the porn side, I once struck up a conversation with Trevor and Lezley Zen at a different trendy Mexican spot. I didn't know they did porn until they told me. Other random porn sightings have been Shay Sights at my nearest Starbucks, Mr. Marcus numerous times, Pandora Dreams at a local video store (in the adult section), and a good friend of mine tried unsuccessfully to pick up Charlene Aspen at a Fatburger.

So the point is that you can have these random porn sightings and it's always fun to see the performers in regular life. And since lots of them work in the Valley, they do other things here too. I will miss that.

Here's the other thing I'll say about why the S.F. Valley is great for all things porn. Number one, you have so many strip clubs in the 818 that it's crazy! Spearmint Rhino, Deja Vu, and so many others that I can't name them all. Many of the porn girls do feature dancing, and you'll find them on any random weekend at one of these spots. Sometimes you'll even see porn girls who just work there, and are not advertised as the feature dancer.

The other great thing that I will definitely miss is that, for my money, the Valley has the best video stores to rent porn of anywhere I've seen. It makes sense, because their major suppliers are all right here. And since I'm going to be leaving anyway, I might as well tell those of you who are interested where the best porno rental places are in the Valley. These places have been my porno lifelines for all my years here. Enjoy:

-Red Hot Video on Ventura in Studio City. Really good for compilation dvds, if that's your thing.

-20/20 Video on Sepulveda in Van Nuys. I love this place. Really great for ethnic titles (black and latin). This is where I met Pandora Dreams.

-Excitement Video on Ventura in Tarzana. Hit and miss, but mostly pretty good.

And the number one place of all is:

-Video 10 on Saticoy Ave. in Canoga Park. I swore I would never tell anyone about this place, because I wanted it all to myself. But hell, I'm moving and getting married, so why not? On the outside, it looks like any mom & pop video store. But lemme tell you...it has the largest selection of porn I've ever seen. They get 98% of all the new releases, and they stock multiple titles of each of them. Plus the rentals are so cheap! I think it's like $2.25 per rental or something like that. If you go there, trust me, you'll thank me.

So there you have it, my (very long) impression of Porn Valley. I will miss this place.

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It's like the Costco of porn!

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and more

map of area around the San Fernando Valley - approximately the area from between Hidden Hills and Agoura across to Burbank or Glendale, and from 101 freeway up to 118 freeway. On the map, click up to Zoom Level 5

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I tried that spot once, but I remember being dissappointed with the selection and I never went back. Of course, this was back in the VHS days. I'm sure it's better now.

I will stand by Video 10 as the #1 porn rental place in the entire 818. Believe me, I have tried plenty. They are no joke. And it seems like they never throw anything away. They just make more space. If you've been looking for that hard to find Isis Nile flick that you used to stroke it to in college? Odds are they have it. The only downside is that they always have KOST 103.5 playing in there, and if you don't have a high threshold for Celine Dion and Amy Grant, you might leave there bleeding from the ears. But it's worth it.

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I live in San Diego but I get up to Porn Valley every so often and to me, the area around Chatsworth, Canoga Park, Northridge, Granada Hills, generally west of Van Nuys, where I guess most of the porn activity occurs, is a damn sight better lookin' than the Burbank\Glendale area of the East San Fernando Valley, where there are real T.V. and motion picture studios.

Burbank looked like Newark, N.J. with sunshine and palm trees to me.

BSD

P.S. -

San Diego's contribution to Porn Valley is sending a steady stream of girls up there ready to offer up their orifices for fun and profit.

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Anyway, in general, never ran into any porn stars that I recognized while I was living there. Ran into a few girls who certainly had the bodies for it, and maybe even were in it but not well known.

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The only way you'd know that porn is made out here is that out on Van Nuys Blvd there are a bunch of sex shops with blazing neon lights like a casino... outside of that, it's just any other town. Porn studios are typically in unmarked unassuming buildings. Even though there are tons of gorgeous women around here, many of which would make for a nice addition to the porn world, not many of them are involved, and even the ones that are don't run around in t-shirts that say "Hey! I'm a porn star!"

And as for how large the region is... even in excellent traffic, it takes about 40 minutes to get from the SW corner (Calabasas/Woodland Hills) to the NE corner (Sun Valley/Pacoima) -- it's not the largest valley in Southern California (the Imperial and San Bernadino Valleys are both much larger), but it's a big mofo.

giggity giggity giggity

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"Leanni Lei, come back to me! "

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Only problem is, I'll have to move out once I'm done with college, and it's gonna be a loooong time before I can afford to live there again!

giggity giggity giggity

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xoxo-kinzie

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Whenever I have friends visit from back East, they always want to tour the usual spots...and they are inevitably more impressed with the natural beauty of the environment than they are with any "hot-spots." That is why I have created my own "alternative tour" of L.A. and Hollywood. It is comprised of little known but interesting historical sites, the actual locations of many ppular TV shows, and my favorite part - all the sites, locations, etc. of major Hollywood scandals, murder and crime locations and burial places of the rich and famous.

It never fails to kill an entire weekend and garner loads of impressed responses...I may go public with this idea!

"Leanni Lei, come back to me! "

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"Leanni Lei, come back to me! "

John -

Apparantly she has re-surfaced.

Don "Asianman" Fernando
http://www.AsianXClub.com

Edited by - Don Fernando on 8/2/2005 7:54:13 PM

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