5 Things You Didn't Know About Hugh Hefner, Playboy Extraordinaire

LOS ANGELES, CA – Hugh M. Hefner, who founded iconic Playboy magazine in 1953, passed away from natural causes at his Holmby Hills home Wednesday and will be laid to rest at Westwood Village Memorial Cemetery in a crypt beside Marilyn Monroe, according to Playboy Enterprises.

But there are a few details from his life of which you may be unaware.

1) The Playboy empire was launched from a kitchen table in Chicago. After serving in the Army, attending college and working in the magazine business and long before donning his signature smoking jacket, Hefner put up his furniture as loan collateral, borrowed funds from family and friends and published the first issue of Playboy in December 1953, working from his kitchen table. He paid a Chicago calendar maker $500 for nude photographs of Marilyn Monroe and made her the "centerfold" in his first edition of the magazine, according to The Los Angeles Times. He quickly sold out the complete run of 70,000 copies.

Watch: Hugh Hefner, The Original Playboy, Dies At 91

2) Hefner saved the famed Hollywood sign. The Hollywood sign, originally “Hollywoodland” as part of a 1923 ad campaign for a housing development, had fallen into deterioration in the late 1970s. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce needed $250,000 to revitalize the sign and Hefner got involved, according to The Hollywood Reporter, throwing a lavish fundraiser and auctioning off letters from the old sign for $27,000 apiece. "Buyers included Alice Cooper, Gene Autry and Andy Williams," The Reporter stated.

3) Hefner's passing may be the death knell for the legendary Playboy Mansion. Playboy Enterprises in 1971 acquired the 20,000-square-foot mansion, which was built in 1927 and became the site of renowned parties. In August 2016, next-door neighbor and billionaire Daren Metropoulos closed escrow on the $100 million property with a clause allowing Hefner to continue living at the mansion for the rest of his life.

The Metropoulos family owns Hostess Brand foods and previously owned Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, Ghirardelli Chocolates, Chef Boyardee and Duncan Hines. He said last year that after Hefner's death he would connect his estate and the Playboy Mansion, "ultimately returning the combined 7.3- acre compound to the original vision executed by architect Arthur R. Kelly and its first owner, Arthur Letts Jr., the department store heir whose father conceived and developed Holmby Hills when it was the Wolfskill Ranch," according to a 2016 statement from his company.

4) Hefner was among first to mix black and white performers on television. In 1959 to 1961, Hefner hosted the syndicated, televised talk show "Playboy's Penthouse." It is credited with being the first television program to feature mixed groups of black and white performers and audience members together. The show was filmed on a Chicago set intending to appear to be Hefner's apartment and invoking a party atmosphere, complete with "Bunnies" and cocktails.

5) Hefner sued the U.S. Postal Service and won. In 1955 , Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield refused to allow the post office to deliver copies of Playboy magazine on the grounds that its material was considered to be objectionable and obscene. Fighting to unblock the distribution of Playboy and to champion sexual freedom, Hefner sued and won the case in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Playboy went on to become among the world's largest-selling and most influential men's magazines, spawning a number of successful global businesses, including nightclubs. The magazine is published in more than 20 nations around the world, and products featuring the company's trademarks drive more than $1 billion in sales annually, according to the company. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news from your California neighborhood. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app. Also, be sure to follow your local Patch on Facebook!)

Survivors include his wife, Crystal, son Cooper, the chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises; daughter, Christie, the CEO of Playboy Enterprises for more than 20 years; and sons David and Marston.

"My father lived an exceptional and impactful life as a media and cultural pioneer and a leading voice behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time in advocating free speech, civil rights and sexual freedom," said Cooper Hefner.

"He defined a lifestyle and ethos that lie at the heart of the Playboy brand, one of the most recognizable and enduring in history."

• RELATED: Hugh Hefner Dead at 91; Playboy Founder Challenged Society

--City News Service contributed to this report/Image via Dan Kitwood/Getty Images