55 Years of Happy Endings: The Wild, Untold History of The Pleasure Chest

When I sat down with Brian Robinson, owner of The Pleasure Chest, he immediately took me back to where the store’s roots were planted.

“Having our start in Manhattan’s West Village in 1971 just a few months after the Stonewall Riots and only a couple of blocks away from The Stonewall Inn is a pretty fantastic start,” Robinson told me. “Though the store started as a waterbed store with a few sex toys and lubricants in the back for kicks, the mission statement quickly became about helping people, everyone, on their journey to sexual health and fulfillment.”

Now, 55 years after those early waterbed days and a decades-long presence on Santa Monica Boulevard, the store remains an anchor of West Hollywood culture.

A Big Tent in West Hollywood

When The Pleasure Chest expanded to Los Angeles in 1975 and moved to its current location at 7733 Santa Monica Blvd. in 1980, the grand opening set the tone for what was to come.

“The old pictures that we have from the opening day when the store moved to its current location in 1980 are amazing,” Robinson recalled. “The opening day had a marching band, a huge circus tent covering the entire parking lot, and people of all shapes and sizes feeling free to let their freak flag fly.”

Robinson, who was six years old when his uncle Duane Colglazier founded the business alongside Bill Rifkin, grew up in a conservative household and did not realize what his uncle built until high school. His personal connection to the store shifted dramatically when he visited as a teenager.

“I remember first walking in the West Hollywood store in 1988, just a couple of months after my uncle had passed, being 19 years old, and with my grandparents, my mother and two brothers,” Robinson said. “Having grown up in Idaho and Washington state, having a huge impact on me seeing the social connection of a staff of mostly gay men, living and even thriving with acceptance. Within a year and a half I met someone who would become my partner for 12 years and came out to all my family.”

That spirit of inclusion became the operational blueprint for the business across Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.

“Though they started in the gay communities in these cities, they created a big tent in embracing everyone,” he said. “Gay, straight, single, poly, big, small, conservative or not, anything could be embraced within the boundaries of respect and consent.”

Pop Culture, Paparazzi, and Hollywood History

Over the last five decades, the shop became part of Hollywood lore. Joan Jett bought the ringed leather belt there that she later gifted to Sid Vicious, and the shop rented out the infamous Gimp costume featured in Pulp Fiction. Modern shows like Nobody Wants This, Hacks, Sex and the City, and Entourage have all incorporated the shop into their storylines.

“It’s funny, almost every star I know has been to the store over the years,” Robinson said. “It used to be that if a celebrity wanted to show they were cool and down to earth, some would set up scenarios where they would be paparazzi-d coming out from the store in NY or in LA.”

While celebrities often passed through, one quiet moment stood out to Robinson during his 30 years with the company.

“My most iconic moment I experienced was a famous singer and dancer, who just passed away around his 100th birthday, did a little jig down one of the aisles at the Pleasure Chest here in LA,” Robinson said. “Just on his own, thinking that no one was watching. I couldn’t believe I saw that and was thinking ‘this can’t be my life’, since I watched him as a kid in huge Hollywood musicals and sitcoms.”

Building the Next Chapter

When Robinson stepped onto the sales floor in 1996 to learn the business directly from customers, internet access to sexual education was virtually non-existent. Today, as information access has shifted, the store’s focus is expanding beyond traditional retail into broader community spaces.

Robinson spent years developing Pleasure Med, a dispensary, cannabis lounge, restaurant, and bar located next door to the West Hollywood store, to bring people together under the same roof and parking lot.

Throughout September, the retailer is marking its 55th anniversary with promotions, including 55 toys priced under $55, a $5,500 in-store photo contest, Los Angeles-exclusive items, and sales on legacy items like the Magic Wand.

Looking back, Robinson believes the founder would be amazed by how far the conversation around wellness and retail design has progressed.

“I think Duane would be shocked at how much a part of everyday life sexuality has become,” Robinson said. “Duane would trip out that we created Pleasure Med dispensary and opened a cannabis lounge. And how atmosphere and design are important in creating a connection when people come in to visit.”

To learn more about upcoming events, workshops, and anniversary specials, check out The Pleasure Chest events page on their website.

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