By Tomel Miller

Tourists traveling by foot on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles are probably not too surprised to find the Erotic Museum (6741 Hollywood Blvd.) sitting within spitting distance of other attractions you sure can’t get back in ol’ Heartland USA. The Museum’s neighbors include Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, The Hollywood Wax Museum, The Guinness World Records Exhibition, Frederick’s of Hollywood and Ripley’s Believe It or Not, to name a few. Then, of course, there is the Walk of Fame: the more-than 2000 gold stars bearing celebrities’ names embedded in the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard. It’s an attraction that causes more head bowing than Palm Sunday at the Vatican. The cluster in front of the Erotic Museum includes Liberace, Anne Baxter, Walt Disney, Shari Lewis, Sidney Sheldon and Harold Robbins. Wow, that would be some kind of wild orgy.

The museum open in 2003 as a way to “spark candid discussions on the positive potential of human sexuality.” It is two floors containing permanent collections and revolving installations. Recent shows have included “California Boys, the Photography of Mel Roberts,” “Hollywood Sex Gods” and “Sex and Technology.”

In house until August is “Andres Serrano: A History of Sex.” The collection is 15 oversized photograph portraits of individuals of different genders and sexual persuasions. Serrano is infamous for “Piss Christ,” a work that sent Christians and faux-pious U.S. congressmen (are they different groups?) into fits of starchy wrath. This work is not as inflammatory and the self-declared protectors of public decency can rest. Serrano says that he wanted to photograph people he felt emphasized individual character. The size of the portraits and that the subjects are not what we think of as models by any means, gives viewing the works an extra kick. It is akin to seeing your neighbor naked. He looks familiar but there is this extra, before now, hidden side you will possess in imagery and memory.

While on the second floor, don’t miss the collage by mosaic portrait artist Jason Mecier. It is sex paraphernalia arranged and shaped in the likeness of fitness guru Richard Simmons’ face. It is funny and disturbing at the same time. As is Simmons.

Another permanent installation of note is a wall of sexual pop images on the first floor. Here you’ll find the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ cock-socks poster; vintage Playgirl and Playboy magazine covers; a movie ad for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ favorite porn star, Long Dong Silver; Bettie Page pin-ups and more. See if you can find a picture of topless pin-up girl Betty White. Yes, cooking-show bitch Sue Ann Nivens, later dumbbell Golden Girls Rose, is caught on a circa 1940s postcard with her young boobs out and proud.

If you are in Hollywood, the museum is a nice stop-in. Leave the kids home though. No one under 18 is admitted.