Porn stars, Penthouse Pets and bikini models

Las Vegas is always an adult playground, or at least that is one of our favorite cliches. Usually, the most visible adult play in Las Vegas is financially compensated. And I don't mean prostitution.
Last night was a great example. First I went to the Evil Angel party at Krave at Planet Hollywood. Evil Angel is one of the biggest distributors of adult movies in the country. The company is owned by adult filmmaker John Stagliano, better known in Vegas for his erotic dance show "Fashionistas."

"Fashionistas" is based on one of Stagliano's adult titles of the same name. In addition to inspiring the Vegas show, that movie became the first of a trilogy of "Fashionistas" films. On Saturday, the final installment of the "Fashionistas" trilogy is up for a series of AVN Awards (the adult version of the Oscars). So, last night, Stagliano brought his two worlds together by hosting a party at Krave, with a sample of his Vegas "Fashionistas" revue on stage and an audience of adult industry veterans (including the stars from the movie) who are in Vegas now for the 40,000-strong Adult Entertainment Expo convention.

Porn stars are amazing to watch work a crowd,..... especially one packed with press photographers like this one. I was talking to one adult actress who was sipping a drink, demurely and shyly, discussing her favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut. The next moment, at the appearance of two photographers, she put on her "sexy face" and started striking totally raunchy poses against a wall. When the photographers departed, she instantly picked up her drink and told me she was of the mind that "Cat's Cradle" definitely gets the nod over "Slaughterhouse-Five."
After leaving Krave, I went over to LAX, where I was told I could hang out with five Penthouse Pets who were partying until the wee small hours of the morning. Again, the Penthouse Pets were not partying in the sense of being out at a nightclub just to enjoy themselves. They were making a promotional appearance on behalf of the new Penthouse Club, a topless bar opening at the end of the week near Mandalay Bay.

Still, an invitation to party in Vegas is not the hardest work in the universe. And all day I had been getting new updates as the original five Penthouse Pets became 15, then 50; and by the time I got to LAX, I was told that the number had swelled to about 100 women associated in some way with Penthouse by being a Pet, modeling in the magazine or working at the new Penthouse Club. No one seemed sure how many actual Penthouse Pets were at LAX. But I had help finding them, as the club's marketing director took me around to meet a few. They were there to work, and that means interviews.

Of course, when I tried to interview the Penthouse Pets, the volume of LAX's music was too loud. Still, from the brief answers I could make out, it was clear that the women were always on message, constantly turning answers into plugs for the Penthouse Club.

Perhaps the thing that made the Penthouse Pets stand out the most to me was not their glamour or beauty but that they were in Penthouse T-shirts. Otherwise, LAX was simply so full of women dressed up in the most stylish club clothes that it was impossible to say for sure which ones were the professional models. This is a scene where 100 Penthouse workers can fit right into the room. On the other hand, I was missing an important part of the puzzle.

As I spoke to the Penthouse Pets, the stairwell inside LAX began to fill with nearly a dozen women in bikinis. Why would so many women be standing in a nightclub on the Strip dressed only in a bikini at a 1 a.m.? Money! It turned out last night was the first part of the Miss LAX talent competition. Talent in Las Vegas means wearing a bikini. And by the time Miss LAX is picked in March, $100,000 in prize money will be given out, including $50,000 for the winner.

(Photo of Stagliano by Sarah Gerke/Miss LAX photo courtesy PMG)
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