Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE A look at Hugh Hefner, the pipe-smoking icon who founded Playboy and died at the age of 91 surrounded by family. Wochit 
 
 Hugh Hefner in 2010. (Photo: Jae C. Hong, AP) 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO — In 1992, I was summoned to the gates of the Playboy Mansion in an impossibly beautiful corner of Los Angeles. 
 
 My finger poked the buzzer on the gate intercom and, after announcing myself, it swung lazily open. 
 
 Two bunnies crossed my path; the animals stopped, wrinkled their noses, and hopped off. As the car made its way up a winding path, a sign warned: "Children X-ing." The party, it seemed, was over. 
 
 Hugh Hefner was 66 then, in hindsight a spry senior citizen about to have his love life turbocharged in six years' time by the advent of Viagra. My visit coincided with the release of a favorable documentary called Hugh Hefner: Once Upon A Time. 
 
 The plan was for me to watch the movie with The Man Called Hef in his fabled screening room, home to many a Mansion movie night but perhaps not much movie-watching. Like clockwork, Hef appeared proffering a hand and a grin, flopped down on a sofa and said "Let's roll it." 
 
 More: 'Playboy' founder Hugh Hefner dies at 91 
 
 (Photo: Jeff Minton) 
 
 I tried to play it cool, but it was all a bit much. Between the slippers, pajamas and the fabled red silk bathrobe — it was early afternoon, people — and the odd phenomenon of watching a movie about a man while sitting with that man while he's assessing the movie about himself, the experience was this side of surreal. 
 
 After the movie was over, we spoke for a bit about his life and times, which seemed largely to recap the movie I'd just seen. He offered me a soft drink. My visit was proving far tamer than history had advertised. 
 
 What was clear was that this was not party-hound Hef. In 1989, he had shocked everyone by heading to the altar with Kimberley Conrad, who was all of 30. The couple soon had two sons, Cooper and Marston, for whom the cautionary sign had been placed in the driveway. 
 
 But what happened some time after I left the Mansion — a visit that included a tour around the various rooms and grottos that had been home to fabled debauchery but now seemed eerily quiet — was surprising. 
 
 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE ICONIC PLAYBOY MAGAZINE Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner dies at 91 | 1:09 Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has died at age 91. For decades, Hefner was known as the pipe-smoking hedonist who revved up the sexual revolution in the 1950s and built a multimedia empire. Playboy says Hefner died of natural causes at his home. (Sept. 28) AP 1 of 11 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE ICONIC PLAYBOY MAGAZINE Here are some of the most famous Playboy Playmates | 1:26 Hugh Hefner, the man who created a magazine empire, died Wednesday at the age of 91 and his legacy includes some of the most famous Playboy playmates ever to grace the cover. Buzz60 2 of 11 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE ICONIC PLAYBOY MAGAZINE Playboy reinvents itself (again) | 1:21 With Hugh Hefner's son Cooper in charge of creative control, Playboy vows to depict nudity tastefully. Nathan Rousseau Smith (@fantasticmrnate) reports. Buzz60 3 of 11 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE ICONIC PLAYBOY MAGAZINE Hugh Hefner can RIP with Marilyn Monroe | 1:29 Hugh Hefner led an amazing life. Here are five fascinating facts about the original playboy. USA TODAY 4 of 11 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE ICONIC PLAYBOY MAGAZINE Hugh Hefner as you've never seen him before | 1:32 Hugh Hefner's son Cooper discusses "American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story," Amazon's new docu-series about his father. (April 7) AP 5 of 11 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE ICONIC PLAYBOY MAGAZINE Nudity is back at 'Playboy' | 0:50 After announcing that nude photography was no more at Playboy, the iconic magazine is reversing course. Veuer's Nick Cardona (@nickcardona93) has the story. Buzz60 6 of 11 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE ICONIC PLAYBOY MAGAZINE The Playboy Mansion might go for over $100M, and Hef is included | 0:58 Reports say Hugh Hefner's neighbor is buying the property, which is expected to set a record for the priciest residential sale in Los Angeles. Video provided by Newsy Newslook 7 of 11 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE ICONIC PLAYBOY MAGAZINE Playboy's first non-nude edition: Snapchat and Instagram models | 1:34 The cover of the revamped magazine features Instagram model Sarah McDaniel posing as if she's taking a Snapchat selfie. Video provided by Newsy Newslook 8 of 11 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE ICONIC PLAYBOY MAGAZINE Playboy To Stop Running Nude Photos | 0:58 Playboy is about to find out how many people really do read it for the articles. The magazine has announced that it will no longer run photos of completely naked women. (Oct. 13) AP 9 of 11 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE ICONIC PLAYBOY MAGAZINE Ex-bunny on life with Hugh Hefner | 1:21 Former 'Girl Next Door' reality star and No. 1 girlfriend of Hugh Hefner, Holly Madison, has written a new tell-all book called 'Down the Rabbit Hole.' It details her life before, during and after the mansion. (June 23) AP 10 of 11 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE ICONIC PLAYBOY MAGAZINE Teacher fired over Playboy photos | USA NOW video | 2:03 Spanish teacher Cristy Nicole Deweese was reportedly fired from teaching at a Dallas-area school last week, because of her modeling shoots for Playboy. Watch USA NOW to see how she is dealing with the situation. (USA TODAY, USA NOW) 11 of 11 Last VideoNext Video Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner dies at 91 
 
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 Hugh Hefner (left) and then-girlfriend Barbi Benton (center) are served by Playboy Club bunny model upon their arrival at LaGuardia Airport in New York. (Photo: AP) 
 
 I had recently moved to join USA TODAY's Los Angeles bureau from its Virginia headquarters, and Hefner's PR handler called and invited me back to the Mansion for what can best be described as a salon. 
 
 Why Hefner would want me there, I had no idea; why he wanted to hold a salon made perfect sense. While being a formidable lightning rod for activists who condemned his magazine and lifestyle as inherently exploitative, Hefner nonetheless wasn't one to shy away from a good debate. 
 
 And it was in that spirit that he decided to hold these occasional gatherings to discuss the topics of the day. 
 
 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE Hugh Hefner led an amazing life. Here are five fascinating facts about the original playboy. USA TODAY 
 
 So I attended a few of them, and I'd be lying if I could tell you exactly what we discussed (one session focused on what California Regents should be doing about the soaring costs of public education). 
 
 I would try and just keep up with the conversation, but mostly I was staring over at real guests, such as his pals Smokey Robinson and Robinson's mentor and Motown founder Berry Gordy, wondering, "What am I doing here?" 
 
 Hefner was always gracious during these celebrity-packed kaffeeklatsches, sometimes throwing out a loaded question but mainly enjoying the occasionally heated sparring in his midst. 
 
 More: Timeline: Hugh Hefner, 'Playboy' founder 
 
 Hugh Hefner pounds out 'The Playboy Philosophy' for the magazine in the early 1960s. (Photo: Playboy) 
 
 Eventually my invitations stopped coming. I didn't know if I'd offended the host with a comment. But I didn't think that was the reason. The man had too thick a skin for that. Mostly, I figured, he just wanted to see new faces light up his room. 
 
 Perhaps family life was getting to him after all, I wondered. Maybe being holed up like a silk-robed Rapunzel in that opulent mansion was getting lonely for a man that had come to epitomize the wild nightlife. 
 
 Not long after, I heard that Conrad had moved out and into a nearby house. In 1998, the couple separated (and much later divorced). The "Children X-ing" sign came down, and the Bunnies returned to the lawn. 
 
 That was a Mansion I never got to see. There was no invite extended for Hef's subsequent party years, which went on, staggeringly, for another two decades. 
 
 That's OK. My memories remain that of a rather quiet man who was curious about others and the world around him. Maybe a man more akin to Hugh Marston Hefner, than to Hef. 
 
 Follow USA TODAY reporter Marco della Cava on Twitter. 
 
 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2yuDIvY
– It must be pretty embarrassing to find yourself rejected by Playboy, but that's just what happened to these 10 celebrities rounded up by Fox News: Farrah Abraham: The Teen Mom star has been the source of many unspeakable headlines thanks to her recent sex tape, but multiple requests to appear in Playboy were turned down. So she did what any normal human would do and released her own nude pictures. Bridget Marquardt: Bizarrely, even one of Hugh Hefner's own girlfriends couldn't get her own solo spread in the magazine. After she failed her test shoots, Hef invited Marquardt to become one of the Girls Next Door, and she did at least end up in a group spread with her co-girlfriends. t.A.T.u.: If you've forgotten who this duo is, just recall 1990s hit "All the Things She Said." They got rejected from not one, but two editions of Playboy, the American one and the German one. LuAnn de Lesseps: She definitely seemed upset when fellow Real Housewife of NYC Kelly Bensimon was asked to pose in the mag, and responded with, "No one asked me!" She later claimed she didn't really want to be in Playboy anyway (and you'll notice she never was). Audrina Patridge: The Hills reality star reportedly had topless pictures taken to submit to Playboy, but got turned down ... and somehow, the photos were "accidentally" leaked. Click for the complete list.