The Hustler store on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood has been a fixture on the Strip since 1998, but when it sold last year, it was very clear that it was not going to be sticking much longer in the age of fancy development and private clubs. This spring, it was announced that Gwyneth Paltrow would be helping to open an LA arm of Arts Club, a prissy private club (No cursing! No gambling!) based in England, but now there's also talk of a brand new hotel rising alongside the club, the LA Business Journal reports.
New-York-based firm VE Equities, which bought the Hustler store for $18.3 million last year, has teamed up with Arts Club and London & Regional Properties (both London-based) on the property. In addition to the Arts Club (where dues are $2,000 a year on top of the flat $2,000 "initiation fee"), developers are hoping to put down a 164-room hotel with four residences. (A hotel at the site has been rumored for ages.) The proposed hotel would join a host of others planned along the less-than-two-mile-long stretch of the Sunset Strip.
Those needing to shop for a bachelor/bachelorette party will be pleased to know that the Hustler store, meanwhile, is moving its business to a new location at Hollywood and Schrader Boulevards.
· Plans for WeHo Hustler Site Clarify as Flynt Completes Sale [LABJ]
· Gwyneth Paltrow Opening Pricey No-Swearing Club on the Strip [Curbed LA]
· Sunset Strip Hustler Store Could Be Replaced By a Hotel [Curbed LA]
· Mapping the Sunset Strip's Hotel Madness [Curbed LA]