Editor’s note: After a photoshoot with Playboy, Alexandra Mora found herself absorbed into the culture of the Playboy Mansion, where she spent a lot of time and made the kind of memories you remember for life. In a chat with Playboy, she shares some of the ones she holds most dear.
Playboy: How did you end up going to the Mansion in the first place?
Alexandra: It was kind of interesting. I did some shoots for Playboy-actually, I went to a casting call. I cannot even remember the year because it was so long ago. (laughs) I was so excited. It was kind if funny because I was so unprepared. I didn’t really know what I was walking into. All the other ladies had hair and makeup artists and they were on point. I just walked in. I was like, “Oh man, am I in the right place here?” I really wanted to do this, but I felt like I should have done my makeup better, got my hair done.
So it came time for the casting call, and a man who I had seen on Girls Next Door – who I immediately recognized – came in and said they loved my look. A few days later, I got a call from Playboy to do my first photoshoot. They even had on the website, “We found Alexandra’s hot body in Phoenix.” I was like, Oh my goodness! It was so cool. So I guess the more natural look worked for me.
So I fell in love with the brand and the people. The shoots were so much fun, they were so respectful. It was a blast. There were some funny things like shooting on a hammock where I fell off buck naked a couple times. Or when they wanted me to get into a pool and it was freezing, so I was trying to battle that and look pretty at the same time.
Playboy: That sounds rough. (laughs)
Alexandra: I really wanted to go to The Playboy Mansion, but just because I was shooting it didn’t get me an invite. And I was wondering how to go. At that time, I noticed a company called Karma Foundation and they were allowing people to go if they were picked. And I got picked – and so did my mom! So the first person I went to the Mansion with was my mom! It was such a fun time.
Afterwards, I kept going to the Karma Foundation parties, and they were super fun. I met so many people and met tons of friends. I ended up doing some bottle service at the Mansion. I used to go on Playboy Radio with Brian Olea every now and then, and I was in town, and I met someone who said, “Oh you’re shooting for Playboy? You should reach out to so-and-so to come to a movie night at the Mansion.” And so that’s how I got invited. It was around Halloween time. I was so excited. I ended up meeting so many great people. It was a surreal moment, like “Am I really here?”
Playboy: Right! That had to be wild.
Alexandra: I lived in Arizona at the time, but I would let them know when I was in town, and I would go up on the weekends. Then I moved to Los Angeles to work for a photographer, and I continued to go up to the Mansion whenever I could.
One thing I noticed about how the Mansion system worked is that there was Sunday Funday, where the movie screened was something currently in theaters, so it’s a bit more modern. And then on Friday and Saturdays they screened movies from the 1920s, lots of black and white films. And although Sunday was great because there was so much you could do – swimming, yoga, etc – sometimes I would skip that day and come on a Friday or Saturday because they were so intimate, and I had such an interest in what the Mansion guests were interested in.
Playboy: Wow, how touching.
Me going up on those more intimate nights brought me closer to everyone in the house. Eventually I started to get invited to sit at the main table for dinner every night, and I would sit next to Chia Hefner and her husband Keith. And I got close to the family and friends of everyone there.
I got to meet Ray Anthony, who’s 102 now and he’s in better shape than I am! He used to date Marilyn Monroe and run around with the Rat Pack. I sat next to him one night and we watched “Some Like it Hot,” and when Marilyn came on, he grabbed my hand and said, “I forgot how beautiful she was.” It was so sweet.
One of the other things that really touches me about my experiences there… on Thanksgiving, I ended up wanting to make plates to feed the homeless since I wasn’t going to be with my family. Some people at the Mansion saw that I was going to be alone, and they reached out to ask if I wanted to spend the day at there, which ended up being a really spectacular event. So that was really, really touching.
