Erotica L.A. - 2001

It was fairly slow when we arrived so we spent the first half hour or so just walking around and getting the lay of the land. The friends who came with me had just spent the first part of the week exhibiting at the ANME Show so they found several familiar faces among the exhibitors here. Most admitted to being cautious about this show and several said the only reason they were there was because they were out for the ANME any way and to get rid of some product so they didn't have to ship it back home. They told us the morning "industry only" hours were pretty much a bust with even less people then were here now not to mention the fact that the press was not allowed in during that time. A fact one reporter found out when he tried to enter.

The main difference I noticed right away between this show and the past CES/AEE's I have been to was "for sale" signs on everything. Prices were usually in the $20-$50 dollar range depending on what you were talking about. The smaller booths had just about everything you could imagine from Herbal Ecstasy to the "G-Ring" (DB needs to review that product) as well as several adult strip clubs and "private" dancer organizations. Not to mention tons of videos at really cheap prices; which were mostly of the compilation variety. DVD's were not very well represented among any of the exhibitors with the exception of Jill Kelly, Adult DVD Empire and Digital Playground. Jill had all of hers available for $20 each and Empire had a stack for the same price. Digital showed most of their "Virtual Sex" series at $25 each. Though as I walked around Sunday I noticed the prices on just about everything were dropping.

Something, which pissed some people off, was the fact that some booths were charging for autographs (AVN Online) and others were charging for getting your picture taken with the girls (Le Sexxe Shoppe). I noticed most people tended to get whatever was free and seldom paid the $5-10 dollar fees. The booths that tended to do the best in the money-raising department appeared to be the ones like Wicked where for $10 you got a Polaroid with the girl as well as a t-shirt. Unfortunately, by Sunday they were out of Wicked shirts due to "all the Polaroid's Stephanie sold yesterday".

I should note that all the "fees" were going to the Free Speech Coalition.

Out of the "Big Three" (Wicked/VCA/Vivid) only Wicked had their own booth at the show. VCA and Vivid's girls signed at the Le Sexxe Shoppe booth off and on all three days. Wicked had their full compliment of girls (Stephanie Swift/Sydnee Steele/Devinn Lane/Isabelle Bond and a blonde girl whose name eludes me at the moment) represented at one time or another though Serenity was there the first day only and then off to Australia. Julie Meadows represented for the most part VCA though Chloe was signing briefly; Raylene, Cheyenne and Dasha represented Vivid. Video Team tended to change girls on a daily basis and at one time or another was represented by Syren, Inari Vachs, Crystal Knight, TJ Heart, Jewel DeNyle and two black girls whom I failed to get names for. Other girls that were signing or seen walking around were: Kylie Ireland, Nina Hartley, Sharon Mitchell, Keri Windsor, Temptress, Jill Kelly, Shayla LaVeaux, Tabitha Stevens, Haven, Tiffany Mynx, Justine Romee, Tera Patrick, April, Jessica Drake, Jasmine Klein, Lola, Brooke Hunter and Cali Cox. I am sure I am missing several girls from this list.

While Friday was quiet Saturday was anything but. Upon our arrival we were greeted with three very long lines to get tickets and a packed convention floor. As one of my companions put it the average attendee was "what you would expect from a show in downtown LA". One thing past attendees would immediately notice was the total lack of control most people had at their booths. Wicked and Adam and Eve were the exceptions when it came to keeping things going in an orderly fashion. In some cases it was literally a free for all. In one instance a fight almost broke out between some people trying to get to Tiffany Mynx due to the total lack of organization. All the booth owner did was make sure everyone was not in his booth and other than that left the mass of people to their own devices.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Saturday's special convention attendee… theLAPD vice squad. Apparently our boys in blue didn't have anything better to do then to take up office space overlooking the convention floor and set up a surveillance operation. Undoubtedly trying to nab someone for paying too much for that "obscene" DVD. Or perhaps they just wanted more pictures for their "future sex offender database". Your tax dollars at work.

The show went till 11pm Friday and Saturday (not sure whose brilliant idea that was) though I am told it was pretty dead by 10pm. I would have to say the "star" attraction would have to be Tera Patrick since she consistently had the longest line. Digital's booth was behind the Wicked' booth but Tera's line always stretched out past the Wicked line. At one point we took a break out front for about 20 minutes and noticed her line never moved an inch the entire time. Needless to say no Tera pictures.

Congratulations go out to Nina Hartley and Ernest Greene on their engagement. Just mentioning the word "fiancé" made Nina pause and beam like the proverbial cat that ate the canary.

Sunday it was again quite though I got there at about 11am and left around 1pm. Most of the girls were not there and I am unsure how many came back on the last day though Tera's line was still where it had been the day before. Jill Kelly's booth was already packed up. Wicked still had Stephanie signing like a good little trooper especially considering she stayed until closing the night before. I walked around the convention floor noticing all the last minute specials and was surprised to find Melissa Monet signing at the Adult DVD Empire booth.

As I left the convention hall I ran into Devinn Lane on her way in wearing a red "Wicked" shirt and a pair of stretch pants. She stopped to say hi/goodbye and with one last memorable hug I was on my way.

Erotica LA 2001 Gallery