Episode Three of Minx, HBO Max’s raunch-com about the first erotic magazine for women, opens with a photographer encouraging an editor to stuff film negatives inside her bra. Bottom Dollar Publications, the low-rent publisher of magazines like Randy Republicans and Secretary Secrets, receives a surprise visit from the feds, who make off with everything the staff members can’t hide on their person. If no one seems alarmed, that’s because it’s not their first police raid—actually, it’s their nineteenth. “Every time they come in, it’s for something else,” the photographer explains. “A zoning violation, harboring a felon—the charges are always bullshit. This is just a racket. A shakedown.” Minx is a work of fiction, but its story unfolds against the very real landscape of the booming 1970s Los Angeles pornography industry. Back then, the business experienced a veritable gold rush—so much so that the San Fernando Valley became the home of what’s since become a multibillion dollar industry, earning it nicknames like Porn Valley, San Pornando Valley, and Silicone Valley. Adult filmm… Click below to read the full story from Esquire
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The True Story of Minx‘s Porn Valley
