Where the rubber meets the road

LAS VEGAS — Lee Roy Myers has everything you’d expect to find in the U.S. porn capital in Southern California: sets of a classroom, hospital room, locker-room and a bedroom, as well as a list of porn stars waiting to perform.

But his plywood universe is not in the San Fernando Valley. It’s a few paces away from the glittery casinos of the Las Vegas Strip.

“Las Vegas is a fresh town, and it’s where people need the business,” said Myers, whose new studio is part of a boom in X-rated production in Sin City sparked by a Los Angeles law requiring male actors to wear condoms.

The rule and potential opportunities in Nevada were the talk of the Adult Entertainment Expo this week. The annual sex industry trade show wrapped up Saturday with an awards ceremony for adult films.

“It’s not really an option to change the way we make our movies, and moving production isn’t that hard,” said porn purveyor Jules Jordan, who hid out behind nearly naked models at the JulesJordanVideo.com booth.

Jordan warned reporters not to ask him about condoms.

The voter-approved Los Angeles regulation survived a constitutional challenge, but other lawsuits are ongoing, and the industry is still waiting for the first big prophylactic bust.

The number of permits requested to make porn films in Los Angeles County has declined by an estimated 95 per cent since the law took effect, according to Film LA, a private non-profit that issues the licenses.