Columbus Monthly / October 2011 / Larry Flynt in Columbus

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Larry Flynt in Columbus

Larry Flynt returned to Columbus in early September for the grand opening of his Hustler Hollywood boutique in Clintonville. Some 60 people crowded the store—a former tanning salon on High Street—and gave him a warm welcome as a black-suited bodyguard pushed his wheelchair through the throng. “We love you Larry!” yelled one vocal fan. Before posing for photos and autographing copies of his book, One Nation Under Sex, an exposé of the sexual lives of presidents and their spouses, Flynt spoke with Insider about his early days in Columbus, the birthplace of his pornography empire. “Columbus is my favorite city in Ohio,” he says. “When I started out, it was the only city that wasn’t trying to put me in jail.”

In other Hustler news: While Clintonville leaders didn’t exactly greet Flynt with open arms when word leaked out about his plans to open a store in the family-friendly neighborhood, at least one business showed support for Hustler Hollywood in early September. Patrick J’s Bar & Grille, the popular neighborhood watering hole, put a message on its sign saying, “Congrats Hustler Welcome to the Ville.”

The much vaunted new downtown hotel won’t be enough to keep one of the region’s fastest-growing conventions in place. Thirty-One, the direct-sales company based in a former Limited Brands building in Johnstown, is moving its annual gathering to Atlanta next year. The Hilton Columbus Downtown is expected to open across the street from the Greater Columbus Convention Center in 2012, but even with the 532 new rooms, Columbus still comes up short. “It helps, but it’s definitely not enough,” says Angela Hammond, national sales manager for Experience Columbus. Columbus also lacks adequate meeting space for Thirty-One. Hammond says even Nationwide Arena might not be big enough to handle the company’s projected growth of some 20,000 sales consultants attending the event. Still, Hammond is working to bring the convention back to Columbus in 2013. “We’re throwing up all kinds of ideas, working with them right now,” Hammond says.

The Short North’s Garden Theatre is getting a makeover. The Short North Stage, a nonprofit theater group, has been raising cash to renovate the historic structure, which was built in 1917, with plans to make it a musical theater venue. As far as Columbus stages go, “Only the Southern Theatre is older,” says board president Peter Yockel, who adds that the building began hosting silent films and vaudeville shows before being used for adult films and burlesque acts. Yockel and crew plan to unveil the space with the debut of Follies (Oct. 14 through 16 and 21 through 23). “What we’re trying to accomplish here is to give people a chance to see the space with an appropriate show in its raw state and before any renovations of any significance are done,” he says. The show will be directed by acclaimed Broadway actor, singer and director Kevin McGuire.

It appears that LeBron James still has at least a few friends left in Ohio. The Miami Heat forward who infuriated Cleveland Cavs fans last year when he took his talents to South Beach practiced with Ohio State basketball players in mid September, according to his Twitter page: “Just got done working out with O.State Men’s Team. Great workout and run!!” Dan Wallenberg, director of athletic communications at OSU, says he wasn’t aware of James’s presence on campus, but “guys pop in and out all the time” and it’s “not something we follow.”