Located in the epicenter of the seedy-yet-safe stretch of Santa Monica Blvd, Winstons—which is right next to TomKat Theater and directly across from the Pleasure Chest—is a stylish, dimly-lit lounge drawing in the same laidback scenester crowd as The Dime. Exposed brick walls, dark leather banquettes lining the walls and a doorman low on attitude add a NYC-cool vibe.
We grab drinks at the bar and courtesy of one of the owners--who’s friends with Cira--we scored a primo corner booth perfect for surveying the scene. We were soon joined by one of the owners and their friends. Under the blur of vodka-tonics, conversation somehow lead to ownership of sex toys—specifically, my lack of ownership of said toys and how our new-found friends were going to rectify that situation before the end of the night.
Any sketchiness associated with leaving the bar and heading over to the Pleasure Chest with semi-strangers who wanted to buy us vibrators was over-ridden by the sheer awesome randomness of it that there was no way we could decline the offer.
We crossed the road to find the Pleasure Chest closed (they really should rethink staying open until 2am on weekends now that both Winstons and the equally trendy Bar Lubitsch down the block have opened…they’d make a killing on drunken sex toy buying.) Before the closed store could be a buzzkill, someone remembered there was another porn store down the block. Not as classy as our first sex store pit-stop—and definitely a touch more gay… could there be any more geometry-defying anal twist plugs for sale?—nevertheless, the store had all the basics we needed.
Since I was a newbie, I was advised to pick up The Rabbit ($46.99), a non-intimidating, girly-pink vibrator with pretty, rotating pearls and stimulating rabbit ears which is apparently, a must-have for any respectable vibrator collection. Since this was a low-rent sex shop, it wasn’t the original Rabbit from Japan, but The Jack Rabbit (equivalent to a generic Ralphs’ brand of the same thing).
Cira picked out the Pocket Rocket (also $46.99) for portable, on-the-go pleasure that could be carried around in your jeans pocket. In addition to our big purchases, our generous, pleasure-spreading friends also bought us a vibrating dick-ring each ($6.99) and the store owner threw in a complimentary sample of gross, strawberry-flavored lube.
Despite the fact that they bought us vibrators, our friends for the night were actually very pleasant and very non-skeevy. By now, after our post-midnight shopping, it was last call and time to head home. We thanked them and bid them a surprisingly non-awkward adieu before walking past the crowd filing out of Winstons towards our car with our purchases safely inside unmarked, black plastic bags.
Sur
606 N. Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood
310/289-2824
Winston's
7746 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood
323/654-0105
Bar Lubitsch
7702 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood
323/654-1234
Pleasure Chest
7733 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood
323/650-1022
Nameless Gayish Porn Shop: I don’t know what it’s called but it’s one block West of Winstons on the same side of Santa Monica Blvd.
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