This Longform Reprint is reprinted by permission of author. Deep in Laurel Canyon, the Wonderland Gang was planning its last heist. It was Sunday evening and the drugs were gone, the money was gone, the situation was desperate.

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It was a match made in hell: Dawn Schiller was a year-old high school student; John Holmes was a married porn star twice her age. He then lured her into an affair so dark, it would eventually end with the couple being hunted by contract killers. In her new book, The Road Through Wonderland, Schiller describes her surreal life with the famously well-endowed porn king—who inspired the films Boogie Nights and Wonderland —and how she escaped.
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Blushing, I looked up from my script notes and saw them all grinning, including the naked star of the movie, John Holmes. They got me. It was , San Francisco. And if you were breaking into film work in the Bay Area, sooner or later you'd have a chance to work in the thriving porn industry. San Francisco was especially popular because it was cheap, the vice squad was understanding some said well paid and the crews were eager. In fact, certain crew people, caterers and soundstage owners made a decent living working exclusively on pornos. But as a feminist who had just completed a documentary on the emerging women's health movement, I had very mixed feelings about working in a genre that notoriously denigrates women. However, my boyfriend helped by reminding me that certain practicalities of life also had to be addressed, like paying the rent and buying groceries.
Born John Curtis Estes on August 8, , in rural Pickaway County, Ohio, the youngest of four children, porn legend John Holmes was raised by a religious fanatic mother named Mary and an abusive alcoholic stepfather named Harold Bowman. He was a bible student, but at the age of 16 dropped out of school, left home and enlisted for a hitch US Army, where he was stationed in West Germany for three years. After his discharge he moved to Los Angeles in where he married a young nurse, and worked odd jobs such as taxi driver, door-to-door salesman, postal clerk, temp worker, coffee vat attendant, ambulance driver and forklift driver. In the late s he gravitated to the underground porno industry. One story was that a female neighbor was making porno loops and advised Holmes he could make good money. Unfortunately, his first check bounced and, after that, he always insisted on payment in cash. Another story is that in Holmes was frequenting a mens card playing club in the Los Angeles suburb of Gardena when a photographer for an underground magazine noticed his large "member" while standing next to him at a restroom urinal and gave Holmes his business card, telling him he could get plenty of work in still photo magazines. By , with the advent of X-rated porn films, Holmes moved into the movie business. His tall, slim build, curly light brown hair, a light mustache and bright blue eyes made him an instantly recognizable star.