Hip Condoms Rebuild L.A.

BACKGROUND: Last fall, Adam Glickman opened Condomania on trendy Melrose Avenue (View, Oct. 11, 1991), the first West Coast store dedicated to upgrading the image of condoms from their ignoble drugstore status by retailing more than 200 stylish prophylactics. The idea was to make safe sex hip sex.

UPDATE: Since that time, Los Angeles has been through some unnerving changes.

Magic Johnson retired from the Lakers, saying that he was HIV-positive. That news brought six mothers and their 13-year-old sons to Condomania in search of condoms and instructions.

“We have become a kind of pseudo walk-in Planned Parenthood clinic,” says Glickman, 25 (below). He recently opened a Miami store and plans to open stores in San Francisco and Hollywood. “People come in here because it is more comfortable than a drugstore. All our staff have been trained by AIDS Project Los Angeles about safe sex.”

Joining the current rebuild L.A. effort, Glickman has created “The Official 1992 L.A. Riot Condom”; 50% of the proceeds will be donated to an as-yet unnamed organization headed by Magic Johnson and Arsenio Hall to rebuild riot-torn areas.

Packaged like a matchbook, the slogan on the outside reads: “When in L.A., use your protective gear.” And since last week, 150 of the commemorative condoms have been sold. The no-frills, $1.50 condom inside is FDA approved.