Hustler (magazine)

Hustler

Sunrise Adams on the April 2004 cover of Hustler
Publisher	Larry Flynt
Total circulation (2006)	approximately 500,000
Year founded	1974
Company	Larry Flynt Publications
Country	United States
Language	English, many others
Website	Hustler Magazine

Hustler is a monthly pornographic magazine published in the United States. It was first published in 1974 by Larry Flynt. It was a step forward from the Hustler Newsletter, which was cheap advertising for his strip club businesses at the time. The magazine grew from a shaky start to a peak circulation of around 3 million; it has since dropped to approximately 500,000. It shows explicit views of the female genitalia, becoming one of the first major US-based magazines to do so, in contrast with relatively modest publications like Playboy.

The business first began in Cincinnati. Here, Larry Flynt and his brother, Jimmy Flynt, opened up a store in 1969. Without Jimmy, their business would not have been able to flourish, as he is the one that wrote the check for $5,000 to pay for the club in Cincinnati, and he was listed as the masthead for volume 1, number 1 of the magazine in July, 1974. However, Larry fired his brother in 2009, and since then he has been trying to make a business grow all on his own, called Jimmy Flynt’s Sexy Gifts Stand. An old member of Hustler magazine has described the relationship, saying, “Larry is the show, and Jimmy makes it go”.

Today, Hustler is still considered more explicit (and more self-consciously lowbrow) than such well-known competitors as Playboy and Penthouse. It frequently depicts hardcore themes, such as the use of sex toys, penetration and group sex.

Larry Flynt Publications also licenses Hustler brand to the Hustler Casino in Gardena, California which is owned directly by Larry Flynt as an individual through his holding company El Dorado Enterprises, the Hustler Club chain of bars and clubs, and Hustler store chain that sells adult-oriented videos, clothing, magazines and sex toys. The chain's flagship store is on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood.