Image of the stunning Fetish Jade (Jade Paris).
My dear friend Phil Bronstein has a piece in the print edition of today’s SF Chronicle about the politics behind the 2007 sale of Good Vibrations. Didn’t know they were sold? I’m not surprised; the sale of a hip women-owned sex toy store (the most famous one) to a bunch of aging men was kept pretty quiet. But GV wasn’t just sold to a bunch of old guys, they were sold to the Sturman family, old boys’ club of mainstream porn.
Has it changed Good Vibes? Yes it has. Did I see the political shit go down in person? Yes, enough to have a taste of how the empire operates, and I had at least one extended dinner with Kaminsky during the beginning of the transition (it will go in the memoirs). But has it changed Good Vibes for the better? Well if keeping the store open means “better” then yes. Do I think they understand the market they bought into? No, I don’t. Did I look at how they were arrogantly going to cram adult’s old business model onto GV’s broken business model as a solution, and did I run the other direction wishing everyone luck? Yes I did. Some great people still work there, and I know *their* sex-positive ethics are solid. I will still shop there. But — when I was buying safer sex supplies a couple weeks ago I joked with the staff about the novelty impulse items at the counter: one read, “Show us your tits!”
A phrase that always goes over well in pro-women, sex-positive environments.
I love Phil’s blog post about his article, including lots of San Francisco flavor (of the pseudo-criminal, Mafiaesque variety) and my mom, Theresa Sparks (head of the Police Commission). Here’s a snip:
Good Vibrations has always been the place where the x-rated rubber meets the merchandising road in uniquely San Francisco fashion. No whiff of disinfectant in there, nothing scarier than a 9-volt battery or more threatening than sage how-to manuals for after hours.
No trench coats necessary.
On Valencia Street, and the other GV outlets, good cents has met adult sensibility with varying degrees of success and, a few years ago, near failure.
The column I did for today’s print version (only; page A-11) of the Chronicle provides a peek behind the chain link curtain of the great SF characters and circumstances that led to Good Vibrations changing hands in 2007 as it was sliding down a business precipice, thanks to its wealth redistribution philosophy, web-sales ratios, and other more boring realities.
Sorry I can’t just reproduce the column here because it’s still a kind of test pattern for digitally unavailable content — a little like those pre-Interweb days. But maybe I can repeat one paragraph without getting anyone’s latex undies in a bundle:
Present on an August afternoon in 2007 to discuss a business deal that went to the heart of the city’s adult sensibilities: Theresa Sparks, the transgender former police commission president and CEO of the feel-good feminist co-op sex store, Good Vibrations; Sam Conti, a large, long-time and looming presence in the nightclub/strip joint life of the city; David Sturman, a veteran California merchandiser of X-rated materials and son of the late, fabled Cleveland grand master of the porno business, Reuben Sturman; and Joel Kaminsky.
Now this was a great cast, you have to admit, like an edgier version of a Getty Christmas party with at least as much cultural significance. Mr. Kaminsky ended up buying GV. Mr. Conti, who runs most of the lap-dancing clubs in town doing business as Deja Vu, Inc. and has club lineage back to Sinatra/Copa days, was there to, uh, grease the wheels. Mr. Sturman was a sometimes Kaminsky business partner (…read more, )
Update: here’s the article Phil wrote for the print edition of the SF Chronicle, How feminist sexshop lost its loving feeling.
Update 08.24: Today in SFGate and abridged in the SF Chronicle is a piece authored by Carol Queen called “The Real Story Is More Good Vibes For Everyone” in which she writes as “Key staff members at Good Vibrations reply to recent Bronstein pieces.”
How sad :(
Is it just me, or does it seem like anti-sex, anti-woman attitudes have only been increasing of late? You’d think we’d be due for a backlash to the backlash by now.
Your piece comes off as such: “I was there when the transition occurred. I didn’t agree with what was being proposed, so I fled. I do not, however, have anything to say about the result of the transition or whether Good Vibes has changed for the better. I just wanted to write SOMETHING about it since it was in the news.”
It reminds me of the hipster who sips PBR at Zeitgeist and proclaims, “I was into that band LONG before they were popular. They’ve totally sold out and I don’t like them now.”
DJ — seriously. your comment about American Apparel comparisons is right on the mark. I look forward to more comments on this; an old Good Vibes alum emailed me about having the silence broken today, and that they were glad I finally spoke up. this piece is like having my dad write about my mom, btw…
oh, and — on leaving shitty comments here:
Dear Elise,
Thanks for the really mean and unconstructive comment that I did not approve. But — no thanks. You add nothing to the conversation. It’s good that I now have data that tells me you are on AT&T, live in San Francisco and all the other things that help me track you should you decide to pursue harassing me. Next time you leave a shitty comment on anyone’s website, I highly suggest that you think it through.
Very sincerely,
Violet
May I point out that Good Vibes is now run from my beloved hometown of Cleveland, Ohio???
(take that, anti-American Apparel people opposed to “out-of-town” chains on Valencia St.)
Good Vibes HQ is on Chagrin Blvd., the same street of the little boy’s house from the movie “A Christmas Story”.
Gives new meaning to the phrase “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!”
“Show us your tits” FTL.