A Peek Inside the (Surprise!) Tasteful Hustler Casino

It’s a wonder it took this long for Larry Flynt to open a Hustler Casino. The name couldn’t be more appropriate.

“I’ve been a gambler all my life,” said Flynt in his rolling Kentucky drawl at the casino’s opening in Gardena on Thursday.

The inside of the building, which looks like a giant bunker on the corner of Vermont Avenue and Redondo Beach Boulevard, is more posh than porn. The $1-million interior, two years in the making, includes dozens of poker and blackjack tables, a restaurant, sports bar, a smoking atrium and a Hustler boutique, of course. It’s all done up in Flynt’s favorite colors--gold, purple and burgundy--glacier-sized chandeliers, overgrown replicas of Gustav Klimt paintings and walls upholstered in red mohair.

What was most surprising was the tastefulness of the place and its staff. Even the cocktail waitresses were covered up.

The crowd was tame, and consisted mostly of F.O.L.s (Friends of Larry) and the professionals who worked on the project. Women in decolletage spilled out over blackjack tables, where dealers were teaching “21st century” or “California-style” blackjack, in which the object is to get 22. I spotted a few players in aviator sunglasses--guys who looked as if they’d been wearing the specs since the first time they were trendy.

Like a photo op with Santa Claus, everyone wanted to have a picture taken with Flynt, who wore a kelly-green blazer over a black T-shirt, dark pants and a diamond-encrusted watch. (Bling, bling, as they say.)

Celebs like Ben and Casey Affleck were invited but didn’t show (perhaps because the party started at the ridiculously early hour of 5 p.m.). The only one I recognized was the father from “Eight Is Enough.”

Still, the man in the golden chair is upbeat about the casino’s prospects.

“Most people are not aware there is gaming in California,” Flynt said. “We’re going to try to tap into the L.A. market and get rid of the only-in-Las Vegas mind-set.”

The new Vegas? Gardena’s been a gambling outpost since 1968.

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Meanwhile, in Venice, the chic Sandroni Rey gallery on Abbot Kinney Boulevard hosted an opening party Thursday for “Heart and Soul,” an exhibition of multimedia work by young British artists. Gucci sponsored the event, so it was thick with sylphlike fashionistas dressed in wispy Diane von Furstenberg-esque dresses and strappy sandals and carrying mini Louis Vuitton-logo handbags. (To the great disappointment of many, there were no Gucci goody bags for guests.)

One of the stranger sights was the sylphs’ interaction with a piece in the show: an oversized baby-blue urinal by artist Camilla Dahl. A metal ladder at the back of the sculpture (or performance piece?) allows, ah, art lovers, to climb up and pour champagne into the trough. Now here’s where it gets weird: as one person pours champagne, another kneels at the base (a pillow is thoughtfully provided) and suckles bubbly from a nipple-like spout.

Not even Flynt could dream up something so raunchy. (And no, I didn’t try it.)

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Booth Moore can be reached at booth.moore@latimes.com.