Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Los Angeles Times

    They sold gay porn for decades; now, grandma and grandpa are calling it quits

    by Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times Feb 08, 2019 5 minutes

    LOS ANGELES - Karen and Barry Mason swear they never planned to sell porn for long.

    They were just really good at it.

    For 37 years, the couple - now septuagenarian grandparents - have run Circus of Books, a West Hollywood bookstore that sold gay and straight nudie magazines, hardcore pornographic films and sex toys, as well as international newspapers and classic literary titles.

    "I always assumed that we would end up doing something else," Karen said. "We don't know anything, really."

    The Santa Monica Boulevard store gained legendary status in Southern California's LGBTQ community as a place where people could peruse gay erotica or meet other gay people, hanging out in a place free from homophobia.

    Over the years, Circus of Books has survived an FBI raid, federal obscenity charges and complaints from law enforcement who said the store attracted prostitution and other criminal

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from Los Angeles Times

    Los Angeles Times8 min readAmerican Government
    Inside The Far-right Plan To Use Civil Rights Law To Disrupt The 2024 Election
    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — At a diner just off the freeway north of Sacramento, a mostly white crowd listened intently as it learned how to “save America” by leaning on the same laws that enshrined the rights of Black voters 60 years ago. Over mugs of coff
    Los Angeles Times7 min read
    California Climbers Train For Mount Everest From The Comfort Of Their Own Beds
    TRUCKEE, Calif. — Graham Cooper sleeps with his head in a bag. Not just any bag. This one has a hose attached to a motor that slowly lowers the oxygen level to mimic, as faithfully as possible, the agonies of fitful sleep at extreme altitude: headac
    Los Angeles Times3 min read
    Commentary: I Once Lived In My Car And Can’t Fathom Criminalizing Homelessness
    I’ve been homeless. Twice. I faced a dilemma in those situations that more than 650,000 Americans experience on any given day: “Where am I going to sleep tonight?” The legal battles over criminalizing homelessness seem completely disconnected from th

    Related