Is Playboy magazine moving to Los Angeles?

What, you ask? You didn't even know the publication wasn't here? It's based in Chicago, its birthplace, with its “Studio West” offices in Santa Monica. And yeah, the founder, Hef, is here too, in his Holmby Hills Playboy Mansion, as we all know.

But editorial director (that's the chief of the edit side) James Jellinek announced that he's coming west in August. And from our read of his memo it looks like …

… yeah, the rest of the Playboy edit operation is coming here too.

In a memo posted at Romenesko, here's what he wrote:

… I want to be clear that at this moment no definite plans have been made to relocate the rest of editorial. That we will be in Los Angeles [is] inevitable. When and what that time table will be I do not know but will endeavour to give you as much information as possible as it becomes available …

Asked about it, Playboy spokeswoman Theresa Hennessey told the Chicago Tribune that “Playboy has no immediate plans to move to Los Angeles.”

We'll put our money on them relocating here. And, well, it will be cool to call a such a familiar, global name a hometown brand.

Then again, the question is, in an age when porn flows from the internet like tap water, can Playboy become a compelling enough read to survive?

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