I visited the Vault when I was in NYC back in the spring of ’97. I was lucky enough to be there for a Eulenspiegel Society femdom party with TammyJo Eckhart. It was great being in a part of New York BDSM history, seeing the famous sloping bar and the three levels of playspace. I also got to visit the Hellfire Club.
Sadly, both were gone when I returned in the fall of 2005. Blame it on a combination of rising rent, Giuliani, 9/11 and a recession. Now, the Vault’s former owner is about to tell all.
Anthony Marini, who owned the dungeon-like venue from 1992-2001, is shopping a tell-all book that he says will name names and blow the lid off scandals involving the rich and famous and the NYPD.
“Some of it is so controversial, there’s going to be heat,” Marini told Page Six. “It goes into police corruption. I have cops getting involved with transvestites – one who was a beat cop and is still on the force now as a lieutenant. And I’m going to name him.”
If you’re into celebrity name dropping, this might be a fun read, but I’m not terribly interested in a B-listers flirting with the edge of kink. That’s a mixed blessing. Like all transgressive subcultures, kink’s interface with vanilla culture is always hazy and constantly shifting, and the flow of social capital tends to go from the higher ground of kink to the lower ground of vanilla. When celebrities become mundane, what’s associated with them loses its magic too.
Fortunately, such things are cyclical, and kink will be back on the edge soon. Kink has outlasted several generations of celebrity.
Thanks to Gloria Brame for the link.
