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Sex At Airbnb Campground Horrifies Hollywood Hills Neighbors

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The party's over (for now) at an empty lot in the Hollywood Hills that was being rented out for such things as smoking, drinking, and—gasp—sex.In a listing that has since been taken down from Airbnb (but still preserved in Google's cache!), users could pay only $35 per night to stay in a tent on the "Hollywood Hills Camping Retreat." The lot, which was on the 6300 block of La Punta Drive and "walking distance to Lake Hollywood underneath Hollywood Sign," became a menace to residents who—shocker—didn't like having strangers around. "Who knows who's coming up to our neighborhood," said a neighbor to NBC 4.

"People buck naked, people doing sex out in open," said another neighbor of Airbnbers he's spotted on the site. "It's scary."

Another concerned neighbor invoked THE DROUGHT when complaining about the listing. He said a stray cigarette from a ne'er-do-well lodger could spark the dry brush and, "take the whole hillside and take the houses with it."

"Problems for hosts, guests and neighbors are extremely rare but when they happen, we work fast to make things right," Airbnb told the station. Neighbors were also looking to invoke zoning laws in an effort to get the site taken down, though that could be a legal gray area.

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The "camping retreat" is located next to one of the mansions in the neighborhood, and Airbnbers could pay an extra fee to use the bathroom and shower within. According to the listing, the verified host is a woman named "Judith," though as Curbed points out the profile picture is a stock photo of C-list celebrity Dita de Leon.

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