Everyone knows the Hollywood Walk of Fame — 18 blocks of marble and brass built to immortalize the American dream machine. What most tourists don’t see, just a few steps away, is a parallel universe — a small, strange tribute to the stars who operated in the shadows of that same system: the porn legends of Los Angeles.
One of these unofficial “Porn Walks of Fame” sits right against the real thing, outside Hustler Hollywood on the corner of Hollywood and Schrader. The store — part lingerie shop, part sex museum — was the vision of Larry Flynt, the late Hustler Magazine founder who made his fortune fighting America’s selective morality. In the pavement outside, you’ll find the handprints of Larry and his brother Jimmy Flynt, along with adult film icons Marilyn Chambers, Ginger Lynn, and Jenna Jameson — the kind of names that defined the VHS era.
Further west, outside Hustler’s former Sunset Boulevard outpost, porn stars Randy Spears and Nina Hartley left their mark in concrete. That building is long gone — bought up by Gwyneth Paltrow around 2016, forcing the shop to relocate. The irony writes itself.
A mile and a half away, on Santa Monica Boulevard, sits another piece of buried history. The old Pussycat Theater — once a hub of LA’s adult film scene — later became a short-lived gay club called Studs. Outside, the sidewalk still bears the handprints of “Deep Throat” star Linda Lovelace, John Holmes, Harry Reems, Eric Edwards, and Georgina Spelvin. It’s a relic of a wilder Hollywood that’s mostly been bulldozed or whitewashed out of memory.
Lovelace’s inclusion is haunting. Before her death in 2002, she denounced the film that made her famous, alleging that her husband at the time, Chuck Traynor, had coerced her into the role. Her story became the dark undercurrent of the industry — the reality beneath the glamorized myth.
And then there’s Ron Jeremy — the one adult star who broke through to mainstream celebrity. He appeared on Family Guy, Chappelle’s Show, and even Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. But in 2021, he was indicted on 30 counts of sexual assault involving 21 women. By 2023, he was ruled mentally unfit to stand trial and released to a private care home, his legend collapsing into tragedy.
These scattered slabs of cement — outside sex shops and shuttered theaters — tell the story of Hollywood’s other industry. The one that ran parallel to the bright lights, cashing in on desire and hypocrisy in equal measure. No guided tours, no cameras, no souvenir maps — just fading handprints in the city that sold sin as stardom.
Last modified: November 11, 2025
