Jul13

Java Juggs Sexpresso Owner and Baristas Busted for Stripping

Owning an espresso stand where the employees wear next to nothing and sell overpriced coffee is perfectly legal. . . providednext to nothing doesn't become nothing.

Edmonds Police say that the girls at the Java Juggs coffee stand on 212th Street Southwest and Highway 99 went past sexy outfits and actually offered strip shows and groping sessions in exchange for big tips.

The cops say they have video and photo proof of the strip-tipping activities, thanks to a nine-month investigation that started when people complained about the girls getting naked at the shops.

It's unclear why the investigation took nine months, or who were the lucky officers that got put on that detail.

UPDATE: Sgt. Don Anderson at Edmonds PD notes that the bulk of the investigation (a plain-clothes officer visiting the coffee stands) didn't start until mid-April.

As readers of Seattle Weekly should know, the proliferation of "sexpresso" stands has been heavily documented by our own ace reporter Rick Anderson, who told us the mysterious tale of Bill Wheeler, the vanishing sexpresso stand owner.

In the Java Juggs case, there appear to be no family plotting, burning vehicles, or strange disappearances--just a classic case of ladies giving the right order to the wrong customers.

Four employees of the the business, along with the owner, were arrested on prostitution and indecent-exposure charges.

We're not sure when (or if) the gals will be back making hot coffee. But fortunately there's a Java Juggs Myspace page (who says Myspace is dead?) that showcases some of the talent.

Let's have a look (though to be clear, it's unknown whether these ladies were the ones who got arrested).

There's Bri.

Heather.

And Krystal.

Jun13

Porn Stars Speak Out Against Mandatory Condoms in Adult Film

Following this week's state workplace health meeting on requiring condoms in porn, adult stars spoke out against the proposed practice.

An interesting theme among some of the women:

It's a reproductive rights issue.

"Keep your laws off my body," former Penthouse Pet Ryan Keely said in a statement sent out to the media today (which happens to be 6/9, if anyone cares).

As Tuesday's meeting made clear, California's Division of Occupational Health and Safety (Cal/OSHA) is moving toward a rule that would specifically require condom use at porn shoots in the state.

ryankeely.com

Keely.

As it stands, Cal/OSHA officials say condoms are already required via federal rules that seek to protect workers from exposure to bloodborne pathogens.

But state officials have said they don't have the resources to fully enforce the rules. So big producers like Larry Flynt's Hustler video get raided and cited occasionally, and they seem to chalk it up to the price of doing business.

A rule specifically naming adult video and condoms wouldn't seem to change this situation.

Still, porn stars are pissed. While industry leaders say the requirement, if enforced, would push production out of state and underground -- into even less-safe terrain -- performers say they don't want California all up in their genitals.

Porn star Ela Darling says the industry's system of having performers regularly tested works:

darlingela.com

Ela Darling.

As an individual and as a performer, I would rather have unprotected sex with someone whom I know for sure has been tested for HIV, Gonorrhea and Chlamydia in the past thirty days, than have barrier-protected sex with someone whose STD status is either unknown or positive.

Lily Cade:

lilycade.com

Lily Cade.

These proposed regulations are so absurd that, if actually enforced, they would drive the porn industry out of California. Taking my job away doesn't make me safer - it makes me unemployed. I absolutely, unequivocally, love what I do, and I do not want that taken away from me because of misguided concerns about my safety. We are not a hazmat team. We are not radioactive. We are fucking, something almost everyone does, and almost no one encases themselves in plastic wrap to do.

And last, but certainly not least, Justine Joli (who calls herself a "girl-on-girl performer"):

justinejoli.com

Justine Joli.

Being required to use dental dams, plastic over labia, gloves and goggles instead of testing wont make me safer. It will only take my job away.

Oct17

Porn studios halt production in wake of actor's positive HIV test

More than half a dozen pornographers in California's multibillion-dollar adult entertainment industry have halted production after an actor tested positive for HIV — and more shutdowns were expected.

Vivid Entertainment Group and Wicked Pictures were among the companies that announced production halts as a precaution.

"From Vivid's perspective, there was no question that when we heard this, we immediately shut down production and said let's get the facts and evaluate them before we move forward," Steven Hirsch, the founder of Vivid, one of the largest makers of adult films, said Wednesday.

"Adult entertainment companies act responsibly, and no one wants to see another person test positive if there's anything they can do to stop it," he said.

Actors in movies by Wicked Pictures use condoms. Still, company president Steve Orenstein said two shoots were on hold and future production depends on further HIV test result from a clinic that serves the industry.

PinkVisual Productions is also slated to halt production for at least a few weeks. Adult Video News reported additional shutdowns at Hustler Video, Digital Playground, Jennaration X Studios, Girlfriends Films and Kick Ass Pictures.

The identity and gender of the HIV-positive actor have not been released by the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, which operates the clinic where the case was discovered. The clinic was working to identify and test on-screen partners of the actor.

Los Angeles County public health officials and state occupational health officials have said the widespread lack of condom use on porn sets puts performers at risk of contracting HIV and other diseases. Adult film producers have said viewers find condoms to be a turnoff.

Last year, a woman tested positive for HIV after making an adult film, and in 2004 an HIV outbreak affecting several actors spread panic in the industry and briefly shut down productions at several California studios.

In recent years, advocates and health officials have tussled with porn producers and free speech advocates over the use of condoms in adult films.

State workplace safety officials at Cal/OSHA are considering strengthening rules designed to prevent transmission of disease by requiring the use of condoms in the adult film industry.

Health and workplace safety officials say they have called on the clinic where the case was discovered to share redacted records that would indicate an infected worker's employment history, but the clinic has not complied.

Lawyers for the San Fernando Valley clinic said it was in full compliance with reporting and privacy laws and that health officials have overstepped their bounds in the past.

The lawyers said in a statement Wednesday that a Northern California judge has gone so far as to stop state officials from getting identifying information because it violates medical privacy regulations.

HIV is spread most often through sexual contact but can also be contracted through sharing contaminated needles for drug use, infected blood products, or by babies born to or breast-fed by infected women.

HIV is the cause of AIDS, an immune disease that gradually destroys the body's ability to fight illness.

In an average month, Vivid spends $250,000 to shoot four movies, which require a total of 12 to 15 days of shooting, Hirsch said.

The company currently has a stockpile of unreleased movies, and it would take months without any new production activity to affect Vivid's release schedule, he added.

Mark Kernes, senior editor at Adult Video News, said he expects most production companies to shut down until it's known who had contact with the person known to have HIV.

It's unclear how the industry's bottom line might be affected by halted production because many companies such as Vivid could sustain sales with backlogs of unreleased titles, Kernes said.

Like other entertainment industries, adult filmmakers have been hurt by the recession and the Internet, where pirating and free downloads often cut producers out of a profits.

Last year, in a tongue-in-cheek complaint about the sour economy, Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild chief executive Joe Francis called for a $5 billion federal bailout. They said adult DVD sales and rentals decreased 22%.

Sep27

Pornographers Now Suing Pirates

Post By:Samuel Axon

Hollywood film studios and record labels aren’t the only people filing lawsuits against illegal downloaders. As of a few weeks ago, porn producers banded together to file lawsuits of their own, but there’s a unique spin: embarrassment.

It’s tough to say whether or not the lawsuits filed by movie studios and record labels against a small number of users have proven effective as a deterrent to piracy, but the added embarrassment of exposing sexual fantasies to friends, family and colleagues might make the method more effective for owners of adult content.

The producers have targeted users who downloaded titles that prominently feature transsexuals and “barely legal” 18-year old girls. Since the lawsuits are on public record, the defendants’ porn-viewing habits would be exposed.

Pink Visual President Allison Vivas told the AFP, “When it comes to private sexual fantasies and fetishes, going public is probably not worth the risk that these torrent and peer-to-peer users are taking.”

The initial barrage of lawsuits began a few weeks ago, and the producers are also targeting YouTube-like streaming video sites (YouPorn and XTube come to mind) that deal in owned content and only remove it after receiving a take-down notice.

There’s a certain irony to the situation. Many of these producers built their careers by distributing their goods through web-based channels that challenged traditional distribution models. Now those technologies have developed to the point that the average user can simply acquire the goods for free.

Sep15

Craigslist Took One for the Open Internet

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal

Despite having the law on its side Craigslist took down its Adult Services section at the end of August, replacing it with the word Censored. It did so without fanfare — and still no explanation. But the small change marked a big capitulation to a gaggle of state attorneys general and anti–child-trafficking groups who have been hounding the free classifieds listing service for years, casting Craigslist as an online pimp.

ANALYSIS

Craigslist’s complete retreat was from a compromise position it agreed to, two years ago with same said attorneys general — a few with political ambitions. Despite — or perhaps because of — Craigslist’s unconditional surrender, this group is amping up its assault on the 12-year old law that has allowed the net to flourish. And now Congress is getting into the righteousness with a hearing during which two representatives from Craigslist will face public flogging from politicians in the midst of an election season.

While we can expect this kind of showboating and moral grandstanding from politicians, the reason they’ve gotten this far has everything to do with companies like Google, Yahoo, Yelp and Facebook standing on the sidelines, silently allowing Craigslist to be pilloried out of fear they’ll be tainted as supporting prostitution and child-sex–trafficking if they stood up for an open internet.

The hearing is a set-up. There are two panels of witnesses. The first are five current and former members of Congress, who will undoubtedly use their time in front of cameras to make it clear how awful prostitution is. They’ll be followed by a panel with a range of witnesses, from law enforcement and anti–child-trafficking groups, along with a representative from Craigslist and one of its lawyers.

While we can expect this kind of showboating and grandstanding from politicians, the reason they’ve gotten this far has everything to do with companies like Google, Yahoo, Yelp and Facebook standing on the sidelines

We have seen this movie before, of course.

Oddly, no one argues that Craigslist has broken any laws. Craigslist is, instead, portrayed as a bad net citizen — even though it is operating exactly as intended under the landmark 1996 Communications Decency Act, which indemnifies services and publishers from the possibly unprotected speech of their readers. The law that makes it possible for sites to have comment sections, lets you read and write restaurant views and makes it possible for Facebook to even exist.

The relevant section, CDA 230, simply states:

No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.

So CDA 230 protects Craigslist — and also WordPress, Yelp, Google Groups, Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Topix, Yahoo, The New York Times and Wired.com to name a few. Google’s Blogger isn’t responsible for any libel in any posts, Twitter isn’t responsible for Tweets from drug dealers, Facebook isn’t responsible for uploaded incriminating photos, Yelp can’t be sued if someone posts a libelous review, and no news site is legally responsible for what any commenter says.

At the behest of the gang of attorneys general, Craigslist began requiring, in late 2008, that posters to Adult Services use a credit card, the better to track down illegal activity. They hired a full-time attorney to screen the ads for pornographic images and terms that seemed to indicate minors were involved, and rejected 700,000 ads on that basis last year. It partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

In other words, the prosecutors got yes for an answer, got the anticipated results — and it was not enough.

The most recent assault on Craigslist has been led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is in a tight race for the U.S. Senate. Wired.com asked his office what he thinks Craigslist has done to violate any law, and how he would rework CDA 230.

“Websites that falsely promise to enforce their terms of service may violate Connecticut consumer protection laws,” Blumenthal said in a written statement to Wired.com. Maybe, but that’s a far cry from being an online pimp.

The CDA? Obsolete.

“I support changes clarifying and strengthening the law to hold websites accountable when they knowingly enable or promote illegal activity,” Blumenthal said. “Present law is outdated and needs revision.”

After Craigslist took down the adult services section, Blumenthal’s office discovered — as Craigslist had warned — that adult services ads were beginning to show up in sections of the site that are free, such as the personals. So Blumenthal told Craigslist it needed to start checking all ads in the personal section.

“Not only does technology enable Craigslist to easily screen for ads that promote prostitution but a simple manual review of ads in the personals section of Craigslist can readily detect illegal activity and other postings that violate its terms of service” [emphasis added], Blumenthal wrote in a Sept. 7 letter to Craigslist.

Craigslist is now also accused of profiting from the ads, even though the site only began requiring credit cards to place such ads at the behest of the attorneys general. The notion that Craigslist covets this revenue is laughable. For years the Valley has slapped its forehead at all the money that the company leaves on the table, charging only for housing and job ads in a few big markets.

Indeed, newspapers blame Craigslist for accelerating the deterioration of the industry by destroying the classifieds business. Those little ads went a long way to subsidize newspaper operations, and Craigslist prices them at an unbeatable $0.00 — which means they actually cost the service something instead of netting them anything.

Blumenthal is far from a rogue politician. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, who ran for the U.S. Senate earlier this year, said at the time that she wants the law changed, that she’s got support from Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), and if elected, would hold hearings about changing the law.

How did it get this far?

Mostly it’s because Craigslist fought a lonely fight. As the company fought to defend itself and — by extension — CDA 230, its powerful, natural internet allies have largely remained quiet. No company wants to look like it’s supporting prostitution or child-trafficking.

It’s not really clear what opponents want, unless you take the jaundiced view this is just raw political posturing against an easily tarred straw man that can’t adequately defend itself. They got Craigslist to compromise two years ago and are now complaining even more loudly about the very consequences Craigslist had predicted.

The logical extension of what Blumenthal and company say they want is a world where even they couldn’t use Facebook, Twitter and Flickr to connect with their constituents, for fear that one of them (or their political enemies) would plant incriminating material they could then be sued over.

And even if they were successful, and didn’t care about that consequences, would ads for prostitution disappear from the face of the earth? Not likely. The same ads that Craigslist is pilloried for dominate the back pages of alternative weeklies. The printed Yellow Pages carries ads for “Escort Services.” You can find them in the Village Voice–owned Backpages.com.

And beyond the media world, it’s not very hard to find “massage” parlors in any major U.S. city, where I’d venture to guess, you are more likely to find human-trafficking than you were anywhere on Craigslist. And back in the relative shadows whence they came, the exploiters of women and children would only have more power.

The collateral damage of this wrong-headed pursuit of Craigslist is an assault on the open internet itself.

That’s not hyperbole. Here’s what the Center for Democracy and Technology, the most mainstream and well-respected digital rights group in the country, has to say about Wednesday’s hearing:

“Congress took strong action to insulate online intermediaries from liability for user-generated content in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It is precisely these protections — known as Section 230 — that led to the dramatic growth of social networking and made the United States the engine of internet innovation and free expression it is today,” the organization’s president Leslie Harris wrote. “We urge this subcommittee to exercise great caution before it considers any action that would narrow this important legal framework.”

The open internet owes Craigslist a thank-you for fighting as long as it did, an apology for not coming to its aid, and some serious arm-linking starting now.

We don’t know if Craigslist has, but we will ask you: Google, Yahoo, Yelp, Facebook, et al: It’s time for the net start fighting back.

UPDATE: This story was updated to reflect that Martha Coakley was a Senate candidate earlier this year, but is currently running for re-election as Massachusetts attorney general.

Sep15

‘Adult Services’ Shutdown Is Permanent, Craigslist Tells Congress

Craigslist told Congress Wednesday that it had permanently terminated its Adult Services section in response to criticism that it was facilitating child exploitation and prostitution. And it was criticized by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a group with whom it had worked, which characterized the shutdown as “progress” and said the classifieds site hadn’t provided it many leads.

In written testimony (.pdf), Clint Powell, Craigslist’s head of customer service and law enforcement initiatives, listed a number of actions the company had taken to weed out and deter ads. They required people who took out Adult Services ads to provide a working phone number and valid credit card information, he said. The company also manually screened all ads in Adult Services and reported abuses to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

As for members of Congress, they made it clear they were happy that Craigslist shuttered its services, and wondered if there wasn’t a way to pass a law to criminalize running an online classifieds service, given that the current federal law protects online services from civil liability for what users post online.

“If there is no law on the books, is there any law we could put on the books that would pass constitutional muster,” asked Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Virginia), who as chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security presided over the meeting.

Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee said that as a progressive and a backer of the First Amendment, she was in a philosophical dilemma about sites like Craigslist that allow prostitution ads, adding, “My position is, ‘Shut them down.’”

Since Craigslist’s Adult Services section was shut down Sept. 3, Powell said, ads that used to show up there have migrated to other sites online which, he asserted, may create a law enforcement nightmare.

“Those who formerly posted adult-services ads on Craigslist will now advertise at countless other venues,” Powell wrote. “It is our sincere hope that law enforcement and advocacy groups will find helpful partners there.”

In separate written testimony, Craigslist’s outside attorney Elizabeth McDougall (.pdf) said Craigslist is using “proprietary” technical measures to push adult-services ads off its site to other online ad sites. “Migration of the relatively small percentage of total U.S. adult-services advertising that had been posted on Craigslist to less socially responsible venues uninterested in best practices is an unfortunate step backward in the fight against trafficking and exploitation,” McDougall wrote.

And she echoed Powell’s “Good luck with that” testimony.

“In Craigslist, law enforcement and NGO advocates had a highly responsive partner that listened to and was willing to meet with all concerned parties, and worked collaboratively to develop and implement best practices for minimizing such harms in the context of adult-services advertising,” wrote McDougall. “As a legal counselor with a strong personal interest in combating human trafficking and child exploitation, it has been my sincere privilege to assist this exceptionally conscientious company, and it is sadly dismaying to see Craigslist’s good deeds in this regard be unduly punished.”

But in his testimony, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CEO Ernie Allen applauded the closing of Craigslist’s adult-services section, saying that while the company had rejected 700,000 ads since coming to an agreement with the center, it had only reported 137 cases.

“If indeed [the shutdown] occurred, we think this is a positive and encouraging step,” Allen said, while simultaneously saying that ending child sex-trafficking requires “engaging with companies at the center of the problem.”

“We recognize if we crack down in one area, it will migrate to another place,” Allen said. “But that is progress.”

Allen later added that the government ought to find a way to criminally prosecute Craigslist or other services, since the immunity under the law is only for civil matter.

Tina Frundt, who heads Courtney’s House — a Washington, D.C., shelter for exploited children — said that the kids she helps were all sold on Craigslist and that other sites were involved as well.

“Every pimp has a MySpace page,” Frundt testified, adding that ads also show up on Backpages.com. “Every john uses a john board and posts information on where to buy children.”

“This has been going on for many years. We must do something about our children being sold on the internet.”

Jackson Lee and McDougall sparred over Craigslist leaving the Adult Services section up outside the United States, including in Canada.

Jackson suggested that’s not too far to travel for prostitution.

But McDougall countered that it’s not the U.S. government’s business to tell Canada how to run its country and that many advocates think it’s better to have ads in an environment that is monitored and responsive to law enforcement.

“Many have the idealistic approach that if you eliminate “adult services,” you will eliminate child trafficking,” McDougall said. “Craigslist’s approach is practical. It has been to control, educate, and work with law enforcement.”

Sep13

Craigslist to Explain ‘Adult’ Takedown to Congress

Craigslist is set to break its silence on why it abruptly took down its Adult Services section Aug. 30, as its director of law enforcement relations and an attorney with its outside law firm are scheduled to testify to Congress Wednesday.

William “Clint” Powell, Craigslist’s director of customer service and law enforcement relations, will testify before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security in a hearing on domestic-minor sex trafficking. Also listed on the schedule is attorney Elizabeth McDougall, a partner at Perkins Coie in Seattle. Though McDougall isn’t listed as representing Craigslist on the witness list, her law firm represents Craigslist. and she has appeared in court cases on Craigslist’s behalf.

After years of pressure from state attorneys general and anti–human-trafficking groups, Craigslist removed the Adult Services sections for U.S. cities on the eve of the Labor Day weekend with no public comment, other than to replace the link with the word, “Censored.”

Craigslist has rebuffed or ignored requests for comment or explanation, and despite telling Wired.com that it would put up a blog post explaining the decision, the company has gone to ground — not even explaining to the attorneys general if the removal is permanent.

Craigslist created the section to keep escort-service ads from appearing in its personals section, and began charging at the behest of attorneys general. Craigslist was manually screening the ads to keep out pornographic images or ads that seemed to be referring to minors, blocking more than 700,000 such ads in the last year, according to public statements by CEO Jim Buckmaster.

But those concessions did not stop the mounting criticism. A federal law protects Craigslist and sites like Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo and Wired.com from legal liability for content created by users. That law, known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, was enacted in 1998 and has withstood numerous court challenges.

Other witnesses include five present and former members of Congress, along with Francey Hakes, the Justice Department’s national coordinator for child-exploitation prevention and interdiction; Ernie Allen, CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; Tina Frundt, executive director of Courtney’s House; Nicholas Sensley, the Truckee, California, chief of police; Suzanna Tiapula, director of the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse; and Deborah Richardson, chief program officer of the Women’s Funding Network.

While Craigslist is one of the web’s most popular sites, it is run by a staff of fewer than 50 from an office in a residential neighborhood in San Francisco. Its yearly revenues are unknown, as it’s a privately held company, but it’s estimated to make more than $100 million a year, mostly from housing- and job-listing ads in major U.S. cities.

The hearing is at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday and is being streamed on the net.

Jun29

Coming to a Website Near You: .XXX

It's been five years now since ICANN, the not-for-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, first proposed a .xxx top-level domain for sexually explicit sites and the BBC reports today that the battle has finally ended with the agency's approval.

The domain name has been rejected numerous times before, with lobbying from the American Family Association and the Family Research Council bringing pressure from the Bush administration, which said it feared creating a virtual red-light district for Internet pornography. Since then, however, ties between ICANN and the U.S. government have been loosened, giving the organization more independence.

As the BBC reports today, however, the .xxx domain can make it even easier to block adult content where it is not allowed or desired. The article quotes Stuart Lawley, chairman of ICM Registry, as saying that this decision is "great news for those that wish to consume, or avoid, adult content." The creation of a .xxx domain makes it quite simple for places like public libraries and schools to enforce a blanket ban of the domain. To some degree, the opposition of conservative groups seems surprising, as the .xxx domain would also make it easier to block such content from reaching the family computer as well.

On the other end of the spectrum, even many members of the adult industry have been weary of the introduction of a porn-only domain, citing fears that it would be made mandatory. Sex educator and author Violet Blue called much of this "hysteria and hyperbole" suggesting that instead of getting all worked up over the new domain, "you'd think someone with a big porn business would start creating a set of best practices to allay fears and make guidelines that decision-makers could refer to."

Already, there are more than 110,000 pre-reservations for .xxx domains and the first ones are scheduled to go live early in 2011.

Jun11

A guide to Vegas adult and topless pools

Adults-only pools are making a big splash in Las Vegas. Most are open during the day in spring, summer and early fall; a half-dozen allow women to bare their chests. Expect luxury cabanas with flat-screen TVs, high-priced drinks and servers in bikinis. Some resort family pools morph into no-kids-allowed areas at designated party times. USA TODAY's Kitty Bean Yancey offers a guide to top pools. (Note that fees and hours can change, depending on demand.) Dive in!

PHOTO GALLERY: Las Vegas adult pools

AZURE at The Palazzo Las Vegas

Open: Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in pool season.

Topless: No.

Entrance fee: The usual charge is $20. As at many adult pools, the fee does not include use of lounge chairs.

Cool pool amenities: Nibbles by Wolfgang Puck, including $35 lobster salad and Sunday brunch; poolside massages by Canyon Ranch SpaClub.

Best for: Those seeking a sophisticated pool with more serenity than most. Its tagline: "Where the high high-profile keep a low profile."

Information: azurelasvegas.com

The skinny on dipping: It's small (around 400-500 guests max) and in a garden setting, with a rotunda overlooking the Strip, comfy terrycloth-covered lounge chairs, not known as a party pool. However, hunky actor Gilles Marini ofSex and the City, Brothers & Sisters and Dancing With the Stars fame did host a Memorial Day fete and visited again last weekend. Chace Crawford of Gossip Girl and E! network anchor Giuliana Rancic have been spotted.

Bare Pool Lounge at The Mirage

Open: Daily, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Topless: Yes.

Entrance fee: Women, free; men, $20 Monday-Thursday and $40 weekends. Local men free Mondays.

Cool pool amenities: Plunge pool for VIPs in an elevated cabana area overlooking the action; unlike many other adult pools, use of chaises is complimentary Monday through Thursday.

Best for: Oglers and socializers in mid-20s to mid-30s.

Information: barepool.com

The skinny on dipping: At this small pool, feasting eyes on exposed flesh — openly or discreetly — is a draw. It was built so everyone can see most everyone. There's not as much privacy for VIPs as at some other pools, but Britney Spears, Courtney Love, Fergie of the Black-Eyed Peas and Orange County Desperate Housewife Gretchen Rossi have been spotted here.

Beach Club 25 at the Stratosphere Las Vegas Hotel & Casino

Open: Daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Topless: Yes.

Entrance fee: Women, free; men, $10.

Cool pool amenities: High up on the 25th floor; you don't have to pay for lounge chairs.

Best for: The value-minded who don't need all the "ultra-lounge" bells and whistles.

Information: stratospherehotel.com

The skinny on dipping: Don't expect to see celebs and Woodstock-style revelry. Enjoy the views over Vegas.

"Ditch Fridays" bashes at Palms Casino Resort

Open: Fridays from noon to 7 p.m. from May through Labor Day. The party is for those 21 and older, but younger hotel guests may enter but not drink. At other times, the pool welcomes kids.

Topless sunbathing: No.

Entrance fee: $25; local women and hotel guests are free.

Cool pool amenities: A VIP area with glass-bottom pool; in-pool loungers to dance on; poolside bungalows that rent by the night.

Best for: Young party animals in their 20s and 30s who don't mind being shoulder-to-shoulder and trying to carry on a coversation while music blasts.

Information: palms.com

The skinny on dipping: Started in 2006 to draw locals looking to get a head start on the weekend, it attracts a diverse crowd and has evolved into a tourist attraction, too, maybe because of The Palms' MTVReal World fame and the resort's cameo appearance in rapper Lil Wayne's hit Lollipop. Name entertainers such as rapper Sean Paul add to its allure.

Encore European Pool at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas

Open: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily for Encore guests 21 and older from April through September; more limited hours in fall and winter.

Topless sunbathing: Yes during the day; not on the Sunday nights through Labor Day when partiers at XS nightclub can take swims, too.

Entrance fee: Guests only during the day, and it's free to them. Sunday nights, there's a nightclub cover charge of $20 for women and hotel guests, $30 for men, to swim. Locals get in free Sunday nights.

Cool pool amenity: An underwater ledge where poolgoers can sit and keep cool; gaming tables; and how many nightclubs let you take a dip?

Best for: Sophisticated adults during the day; upscale clubbers Sunday nights.

Information: encorelasvegas.com; xslasvegas.com

The skinny on dipping: This curved pool is larger than its counterpart at sister property Wynn Las Vegas.

Encore Beach Club at Encore Las Vegas

Open: Friday through Monday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday evening pool party starting at 10 p.m.

Topless sunbathing: No.

Entrance fee: Women, $30; men, $40. But prices may vary.

Cool pool amenities: Three linked pools, dancers on pool shower platforms, two-story VIP bungalows and a gaming pavilion.

Best for: Upscale fun-lovers.

Information: encorebeachclub.com

The skinny on dipping: New on Memorial Day Weekend, it is aiming for the hip, hedonistic vibe of Ibiza, Spain. Melded with the new Surrender nightclub and revamped SWITCH restaurant, it has a separate entrance on The Strip. Paris Hilton danced opening weekend; Sam Worthington of Avatar fame stopped by.

Fortuna and Venus at Caesars Palace

Open: The Fortuna gaming pool in Caesars' just-revamped Garden of the Gods (non-guests can come play) is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Venus Pool Club is open daily in season (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; 11 a.m to 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday). Pool season at Caesars can run from March or April until September or October.

Topless sunbathing: At Venus Pool Club, except during special events such as the Memorial Day Weekend concert with Snoop Dogg.

Entrance fee: None at Fortuna; typically $10 for women and $30 for men at Venus. Free to locals on Monday and Tuesday. The price goes up for special events.

Cool pool amenities: Swim-up blackjack at Fortuna. Caesars has a Garden of the Gods room special from $110, including beach bag and $25 credit toward pool food or drinks.

Best for: Gamblers (Fortuna) and those who like the lush pool lounge life (Venus).

Information: harrahs.com/gog; venuspoolclub.com

The skinny on dipping: Venus, a spacious area separated from the rest of Caesars' redone, bigger Garden of the Gods pool complex, is hidden behind cyprus and olive trees and a wall. It attracts celebrities, including sports stars, Kardashians and Hiltons. Fortuna is not topless and is next to a family pool. It has five shaded swim-up blackjack tables and a semi-circular waterfall.

LIQUID Pool Lounge at ARIA Resort & Casino

Open: Daily, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Topless sunbathing: No.

Entrance fee: Women, $10; men, $20 most days. Women, $20; men, $40 on Saturdays. Locals free Thursdays.

Cool pool amenities: VIP cabanas with banquettes, TVs and plunge pools; Super Soaker squirt guns provided for VIP partiers.

Best for: Party people in their 20s and early 30s.

Information: liquidpoollv.com

The skinny on dipping: Opened in March, this CityCenter splashatorium has a state-of-the-art, nightclub-style sound system that projects sound horizontally to heighten the "ultra lounge" experience and limit annoyance to guests outside its walls. A Grand Cabana where stars hold court is within the sight of poolgoers.

Moorea Beach Club at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino

Open: Daily, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Topless sunbathing: Yes.

Entrance fee: $10 for women hotel guests Mondays through Thursdays; $20 on weekends. Male hotel guests $40 Monday-Thursday; $50 on weekends. Non-hotel guests are $125 daily. Holidays: women hotel guests, $30; men, $60; non-hotel guests, $150.

Cool pool amenities: Mandalay Bay guests can walk next door to the resort's sandy beach and swim there, too (not topless, of course). Moorea's star villa — musician John Mayer hung out here — has a stripper pole, mirrored ceiling and a round bed overlooking the Mandalay Bay beach. It can rent for $2,000 a day.

Best for: People not looking for a wild party scene. Moorea's friendly staff aims to keep the mood classy. Convention-goers love it, and it attracts a wide range of ages.

Information: mandalaybay.com

The skinny on dipping: Moorea, named after an island in French Polynesia, opened seven years ago. Expect to see convention-goers on break from Mandalay's big convention center discreetly eyeing mammaries. The atmosphere is intimate and upscale, with teak chaises topped with red cushions and servers in nautical-themed red-and-white two-piece suits.

"Rehab" party at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Open: Sundays from 9 a.m. until sunset from April through September.

Topless: No.

Entrance fee: Generally, $20 for women, $50 for men. Reduced rate for male locals. Local women and select guests are free. Entrance fees can vary; hotel guests bypass the line via a separate entrance.

Cool pool amenities: An elevated VIP cabana area with great view of the pool that's dubbed "Rodeo Drive;" center island great for show-off dancing; "Rehab" shots of alcohol in a syringe.

Best for: Young, hard-core partiers or anyone who likes an outrageous bash.

Information: rehablv.com

The skinny on dipping: This is Vegas's monster pool party, which has been called "Spring Break on Steroids." Now in its seventh year, it attracts an average of 4,000 locals and tourists a week and is fodder for a reality show on the TruTV channel. Expect a 3-acre tropical pool complex, strippers shimmying on their day off, a whole lotta grinding and making out, outrageous tattoos, rowdy drunks and a rock-festival-happy mood.

Skybar at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Open: Noon to midnight Friday-Sunday. Noon until sunset Monday. Swimming not allowed after 8.

Topless: No.

Entrance fee: Free to hotel guests; $20 for nonguests. Locals who work in the hotel, casino and nightlife industries are free on "Relax Mondays."

Cool pool amenities: An infinity pool by the bar has "windows" on the bottom to reveal bathers to those in an HRH Beach Club below. The bar has Italian furniture and cool views of The Strip at night. Another pool is surrounded by cabanas.

Best for: Those looking for a quieter, more sophisticated atmosphere than that at Hard Rock's Rehab.

Information: hardrockhotel.com

The skinny on dipping: The third in a chain of cool lounges — it's sister to the first in L.A. and second in South Beach, Fla. The look is contemporary and chic.

TAO Beach at The Venetian

Open: Daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in spring, summer and early fall. It's a swimming area by day; an extension of TAO nightclub Thursday through Saturday nights, with no swimming allowed at night.

Topless: Yes, Monday through Thursday only.

Entrance fee: $20 for non-local males Saturday and Sunday.

Cool pool amenities: There's a staffer who mists guests with cool water, and food from the TAO kitchen, including sushi, and $8 red mango frozen yogurt. You also can get a "sun recovery" massage for $85, and even get married.

Best for: A clubgoer crowd (no drinks allowed in the small pool). Celebs including Jamie Foxx and Reggie Bush have populated the cabanas. Pamela Anderson is scheduled to host a birthday party for herself July 10. No surprise, Paris Hilton has been there, too.

Information: taolasvegas.com

The skinny on dipping: An intimate extension of the popular TAO nightclub, the space is small but sophisicated, with Asian-inspired furnishings and décor and cabanas with Balinese daybeds.

Sunset Pool at Wynn Las Vegas

Open: Daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. April through September; more limited hours in the offseason.

Topless: Yes.

Entrance fee: None. It's for Wynn and Encore hotel guests 21 and over only.

Cool pool amenities: "Lilypad" round loungers surrounded by water that usually rent for $300 and up; gaming tables.

Best for: An upscale visitor who doesn't want rap music or crowds.

Information: wynnlasvegas.com

The skinny on dipping: Tucked away and surrounded by topiary, it attracts an upscale crowd who swim (there are lap lanes, rare for an adult Vegas pool), sun, listen to pop hits and gamble at tables by the popular sunset bar. Servers wear one-piece suits and can't have visible tattoos, signaling that this pool is more dignified than others.

WET REPUBLIC at MGM Grand

Open: Daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. from March to October.

Topless: No.

Entrance fee: Generally during the week, men pay $20, non-local women, $10. Local women free. Rates may rise on weekends and for special events.

Cool pool amenities: In-water loungers; VIP bungalows with daybeds and dipping pools overlooking the action.

Best for: Young and noisy partiers. A deejay is always on duty. Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and reality TV's the Kardashian sisters have been on display here; rapper Diddy has performed; weekly bikini contests on Fridays are currently popular.

Information: wetrepublic.com

The skinny on dipping: A WET REPUBLIC on a Vegas boulevard declares war on nightlife. The music is high, there are two saltwater pools, special events abound and the space gets packed. Spring for a cabana if you can. It can hold about 1,600 people, and food isn't exorbitant (four sliders with bacon and cheese are $16; Thai chicken salad, $17).

Jun08

Stephen Clancy Hill ‘Steve Driver’ porn star tasered by police, falls off cliff - VIDEO

Surrounded by a SWAT team on a rocky cliff, a porn actor suspected of killing a colleague last week moved to the edge of the outcropping and fell some 40 feet to his death, ending a dramatic, daylong standoff with police outside Los Angeles.

Video of the apparent suicide captured by news cameras Saturday shows Stephen Clancy Hill in Chatsworth, talking to police negotiators. With a crowd of media and officers watching, Hill tumbled down the hillside after scooting to the ledge from a seated position.

Police said Hill had repeatedly threatened suicide in the hours leading up to the fall, which came a day after murder and attempted murder charges had been filed against the 34-year-old porn actor.

"He was bent on taking his own life," Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese said. "It's very unfortunate. We wanted this to end a different way."

Waiting paramedics rushed Hill to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead from injuries suffered in the fall.

Police say a "less than lethal munition" was used against Hill as they tried to apprehend him just before he apparently took his life.

It was unclear whether the projectile that officers fired had struck Hill or missed.

Albanese declined to discuss details of the weapon police used, citing an ongoing internal investigation that is launched after every serious use of force by officers.

SWAT officers had spent part of Saturday afternoon trying to talk Hill down from the hillside as he clutched a sword.

It was unknown whether the sword was the weapon in Tuesday's deadly attack at a DVD production center that also left two people injured.

Hill fled to the Chatsworth neighborhood hillside after leaving a house where he was barricaded for most of Saturday.

Charges in the attack had been filed against Hill Friday after Eric Jover, who runs the Ultima DVD production house, offered a $2,000 reward on the company's website for information leading to his arrest.

Authorities said Hill, whose professional name is Steve Driver, attacked a colleague with a sword that was used as a film prop. The rampage occurred during a social gathering at Ultima's studios about a week after being told he was being fired and that he would have to move out of the production facility, where he had been living, authorities said.

He then turned on two others who rushed to their co-worker's defense. One of those who attempted to help, Herbert Hin Wong, 30, was killed in the attack.

The Internet Adult Film Database lists 13 credits for Hill, including fetish films for Ultima and other companies.