When I first arrived in NYC in the spring of 2000 I worked like a dog, never seeing the light of day as I entered work at 8 AM and exited after midnight. To get to know my new coworkers, I attended a coworker’s birthday shindig at an S&M bar on 23rd street, which has since closed its doors. When we first entered the restaurant we were greeted by what I thought was a woman in a short skirt, then she (or he) began to speak in a husky voice, “$5 cover!” After I picked up my jaw from the floor, I quickly found the birthday girl very intoxicated and ready to be strapped up. In the middle of this very dark restaurant was this large contraption that had shackles and straps dangling from the top, with a bunch of whips and chains in various sizes next to it. To my surprise, you had to pay $20 to get blindfolded and whipped for 15 minutes in full view of the whole restaurant. This was before Tom Cruise’s Eyes Wide shut, but it reminds me now of a scene from that movie. When you looked around the restaurant, the crowd looked like the normal business happy hour crew, and one of the waiters noted to me that they get CEOs and other business types. As I watched in horror, many of the people had their eyes locked into the person trapped in the contraption getting whipped and brushed. I don’t know why this would turn on anyone and what makes this so sexual because it looked very painful to me. So for the next couple of hours I cringed at the parade of people get strapped in, blindfolded, whipped and felt up. Till this day, I don’t get it but I guess this stuff really turns folks on. So that’s the first birthday party I went to in NYC and I remember thinking that New Yorkers are sure crazy.
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