Fleiss to Launch New Venture
Who’s putting the ho-ho-’ho into this holiday shopping season?
In Hollywood it’s Heidi Fleiss who is now pandering to consumers’ fickle tastes.
The onetime Hollywood madam on Friday was sorting through displays of personalized panties bearing the words “Heidi’s No. 1 Girl” and envisioning love in the air.
“We’re going to be hanging mistletoe in here everywhere,” she said, gazing around the new boutique she has named Hollywood Madam. “We want a lot of holiday joy and love here.”
The shop, at 6624 Hollywood Blvd., opens Monday and is about 3 1/2 blocks from Hollywood and Highland Avenue. It will feature $150 sweat pants, corsets for $375, skimpy “Heidiwear” tank tops and autographed copies of her book “Pandering” that will sell for $50.
“I have something for everyone, even kids. They wear underwear. At least they should,” said Fleiss, 38.
Hollywood Madam -- which is three doors down from Hollywood’s Christian Science Reading Room -- has raised eyebrows as workers have installed large, stylized paintings of nudes in the rear of the shop and an antique bathtub near the front.
Reclining in the tub is a realistic-looking female mannequin in make-believe suds. Billows of real bubbles cascade from a machine hidden above it in the ceiling.
Fleiss, who has been out of prison for four years since serving time for conspiracy, tax evasion and money laundering stemming from her call-girl ring, says the retail store is part of her rebirth.
She said she views its Hollywood location as part of that community’s rebirth.
The street, she predicts, is Los Angeles’ emerging “in” place: the next Melrose Avenue, Third Street Promenade, Old Pasadena.
“In about six years Hollywood Boulevard will be back. We have nightlife again. Soon cool restaurants will come.
“It’s about to go through a renaissance. So right now I want to help give it some of the old Hollywood style.”
Her shop eventually will feature a bordello-like backdrop where shoppers who sign releases can be photographed for inclusion in a new Fleiss book. One of its purple-and-silver, tuck-and-roll-finished dressing rooms will be equipped with a Web camera. Customers who agree to allow themselves to be shown on Fleiss’ pay-per-view Internet site as they try on clothing will get a 20% to 30% discount on purchases.
“But I’m not selling any sex toys. I don’t want to offend anyone,” she said.
Fleiss said she wants families and tourists to feel welcome and comfortable.
“I want visitors ... to feel that Hollywood is really great, that Hollywood is bringing back people’s expectations of it as a fantasy,” she said.
“I’ll probably join the [Hollywood] Chamber of Commerce.”
That kind of talk resonates with some. And makes others jittery.
“We want Heidi Fleiss to be the symbol of the new Hollywood. So what if she used to be part of the sex trade; Hollywood has always traded on sex,” said activist John Walsh, a member of the Hollywood Project Area Committee, a watchdog group.
“Maybe she should have a star on the Walk of Fame. She’s been on TV more than some actors. At least if you count the news.”
Leron Gubler, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive, said Fleiss is welcome to join. “Well, we’ve wanted to get a better mix of businesses on the boulevard. It’s a long street. There’s enough room for everyone,” he said.
Gubler acknowledged that Fleiss eventually might even find herself an officer of the chamber, part of the group that votes on celebrities recommended for stars on the Walk of Fame.
And for the Hollywood Madam, that might be what the holidays’ old St. Nick would describe as the perfect job.
Among the Hollywood crowd, she certainly knows who’s been naughty or nice.
