After all of the movies and television programs we felt we knew the city before we arrived. How wrong we were! Yes, it is big, yes, it fast…yet it can still feel small and intimate.
We were staying in Vahni and Jonathan’s flat, the most fantastic base for our first ever visit to New York City (thank you ever so much!).
Sadly, we learn that things are pretty bare in New York event-wise, with the current Mayor closing down clubs and clamping down on dominatrixes and several big dungeons closures at Christmas. The meat-packing district in the West Village once used to have the coolest leather clubs and is now home to fancy restaurants and apartments. They are great in their own right, however we feel a touch of regret at having never experienced NY the old guard way. Thankfully, it’s business as usual for the Demask Ball, Kink in the Caribbean continues with their Miss Rubber World event and we also discover Paddles NYC club.
As our first stop, we visit Demask in the East Village, full of latex, leather and medical equipment. Staff are moderately helpful, but they warm up to us. Maybe we just looked like kink-gawkers, snapping shots of their shop window for the record.
We then pop in to a nearby “Toys in Babeland“, love the sweet jars of lubes in particular. Our online shop is fully operational throughout our travels, so it is very useful to get a good demo of toys before placing our own wholesale orders. We notice differences in price structure of many product lines, notably Fun Factory costing more in the US than Lelo, which is the reverse of European pricing.
We love Blue Stockings, an independent and great community bookshop, featuring a great selection of books, and a fair trade cafe. We never make it to Oscar Wilde Bookshop...
Even if kink is a little thin on the ground, you can’t fault New York for queer bars! There are some great places in town especially in the Village and around Christopher Street, including the fabled Stonewall Bar(http://www.thestonewallinnnyc.com), successor to The Stone Wall Inn. It is commonly considered the birth place of the the Gay Rights movement and original newspaper cuttings covering the riots now hang on the walls and make for a fascinating read. Since it ushered in the modern rainbow rights area, it seemed just the right spot to celebrate Obama’s Inauguration, with masses of complementary popcorn and red, white and blue Em & Ems. Some days later, on a repeat visits, the vibe was just as upbeat, chilled and inclusive, with queers of all genders super-friendly and great for playing with balls (i.e.pool).
We spend some time at an amazing LGBT centre (another good place to watch the inauguration was on the big screen). It seems New York is leaps ahead of London when it comes to LGBT services, many of which are organised by the centre and its library. Not everyone is aware that we used to have a LGBT centre in London, too, which sadly ceased operations a few years back.
Culture-wise, we find an interesting experimental theatre, and in particular “The Garden of Earthly Delights“ play at Minetta Lane Theatre.
We also have a stab at research capabilities of The NY Public Library and are fascinated by the story of a 17th century transgendered individual Thomasine AKA Thomas Hall. Baptised as a girl, s/he chose to present alternately as a man or as a woman depending on life’s circumstance. With clothing already the apparent determinant of gender, the good citizens of Virginia went to some lengths to determine what was in his trousers / under her petticoats, with the Courts finally sentencing Tomasine/Thomas to the wearing of garments of both genders at once as her/his punishment.
We go in search of “Sex in the City” and can attest to NY making any shoe fetishists happy. In just one day, we pick up 5 pairs of amazing heels at great prices, so sexy yet so comfortable!
Sonia seeks out 10/10 cheese cake at La Lanterna di Vittorio (be sure to grab a fireplace seat).
As we now have good cake and kink, all that is left is locating great coffee. We find a number of cool places, and love Think Coffee for its bookish vibe and Jacks for intimacy and an unusual coffee-brewing vat. However, we cannot find coffee which we liked quite as much as our own, and we once again appreciated how lucky we were to have Monmouth Coffee on our Covent Garden doorstep, and now in our online shop.
We do find superb teas, though, which inspires us to re-think the insofar tea-bag approach – leaf tea is definitely the way for the future, and in next CCK, there will be no more tea bags! We stumble on the original Teany tea shop, which we remember from its sadly short-lived Covent Garden appearance (Ex-Shorts Garden). Mc Nulty’s takes our breath away with the quality of their offering, and amazing vintage tea bins.
Our visit to Big Apple would not be complete without a visit to The Baroness, something of a NY kink institution, and a great place to get up to speed upon arrival. As it turns out, the lovely lady now known as Baroness, does indeed have “Baroness” in her passport. This is also where we encounter the most friendly staff who even invite us to a private bondage party on our last night!
