The police were after sodomy. I think the Rapture banner ad with Madam Sade as the "strap on superstar" was a factor.

Here's what I remember:

Somebody did almost die at the Nutcracker Suite. I think it was "Nutcracker After Dark". I don't know if it kicked off the raids.

I heard the following from one of the Dommes at Rapture after it was shut down: An Undercover cop arranged a session at Rapture and asked her if she would "fuck him". The Domme he was speaking to, thinking in terms of pegging, said "Sure, I'll fuck you". The cop then pulled out his badge and called in his backup (i.e., the raid), and the place got shut down.

My heart races any time someone mentions Lady Helena at Angel Stern's. I saw her twice in 1998. All she did was talk to me and then cane me. The caning was intense and unrelenting but somehow didn't leave a mark on my body. She didn't tie me down; she just told me to hold my position and not move, or she would bring the cane down with full force on the backs of my knees. I didn't move at all. My body stayed rigidly in place as if I had lost the ability to move. I screamed my lungs out, which she loved. She described my screaming as a "wolf howl". I don't, however, think I needed the threat; her command over me was effortless. I have images stuck in my head of how graceful she was.

At the end of our second (late night) session, we went out for late dinner / early breakfast at Veselka. Our conversation was relaxed and casual but she was unmistakably in complete control. She told me to tell the receptionist the following words when I next scheduled an appointment: "wolf howl merciless caning," and she made me promise to email her soon even if I wasn't ready to schedule my next session because she was going to retire soon. I was young and stupid and waited too long to email her and by the time I had summoned up the nerve she had retired. This is still one of my greatest regrests.

Mayor Bloomberg was an ardent Nanny Stater. The incident at the Nutcracker Suite (https://nypost.com/2008/02/09/hangy-spanky/) convinced him that BDSM was at least as dangerous as large servings of sugary soft drinks. Something had to be done about it. This applied to the industry as a whole.

It's striking how memorable these encounters are nearly 30 years later. I saw her eight times in the mid-90s, I am realizing. Not at the Angel Stern's on 23rd, which was my favorite, but the one in Chelsea. I had been sessioning with Veronika, and when she retired, I booked Lady Helena. On the first session she said, "I am taking Veronika's slaves, so you're mine now," which I thought was presumptuous. I don't remember many of the details of the sessions themselves, but that's how I am. (No caning, however.) I more remember her personality and the personal connection. At the end of one session, she sat down next to me and chatted for a bit and said, "You know, you only call when you want to session." I was confused by that, as I didn't have her private contact information. And due to relationship status at the time wasn't looking for anything outside of the compartmentalized dungeon space, so I didn't really say anything. Maybe I'd behave differently today, and it's cool you got to know her more over dinner at Veselka. I would have liked to have known her better than I did.

I don't remember knowing she was going to retire, but after one session I remember her saying something like, "I've seen a lot in this scene" in a way that made me think she had seen too much.

I hope she's doing well, wherever she is and whatever she is doing.

When you quoted her saying to you "You know, you only call when you want to session." I could hear her voice. She said something similar to me over that dinner at Veselka. She told me to write to her even if I didn't want to session just to connect. Given that she told me that she was going to retire soon, I think she just wanted to be friends (I didn't dream that she had an interest in taking me on as a personal slave). As I said, not reaching out to her was one of the stupidest mistakes of my life. My life would have been much richer for having her as a presence in my life, even if it was only for the occasional late-night meal in the east village.

I can understand why you don't remember exactly what you did with her because her personality was just so overwhelming, powerful and intoxicating. The connection I had with her during those two sessions is among the most powerful feelings of connection I've ever had with another person.

I second your hope that she's doing well, although I'm absolutely certain that she is. She was an absolute force of nature, and I'm sure she still is.

Here's another option for indulging in this nostalgia trip, "The Way Back Machine". I just pulled up a 1998 snapshot of Angel Stern's website: https://webcf.waybackmachine.org/web/19980610221751/http://www.sternangel.com/

It's not the most user-friendly website, but I'm sure that there's enough there to indulge everyone's taste for nostalgia.

You just inspired me to look for Lady Helena's profile on the Angel Stern website on the way back machine. Here it is:

https://webcf.waybackmachine.org/web/19990221235306/http://www.sternangel.com/helena.html

It definitely describes the lady we're both talking about.

And here's a snapshot of the Nutcracker Suite's website: https://webcf.waybackmachine.org/web/20030810194556/http://nutsuite.com/docs/index.html

This little detail at the bottom of the home page just cracked me up: "(917 is a new Manhattan exchange and not a pay number)"

This thread causes my memory to go back to those times. One of my favorite memories was at Bell Du Jour's place in the flower district, around 28th and 3rd. Bell brought out a domme to show me and another guy. She said which one of you guys eats pussy. I meekly said Me. She said I've got 4 kids and your my night out, get busy.