Entertainment

Claire Cavanah: My sexy New York

Twenty years ago, Claire Cavanah had a what-the-hell idea: “Let’s open a sex store!” Now Babeland, the chic sex-toy emporium, has three locations: two in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn and celebrates its 20th anniversary this summer. It also runs events such as the Sexy Valentine’s Trivia being held at Pacific Standard in Brooklyn tonight. Of Babeland, she says, “It’s a really great third-date location. Looking around a sextoy store together is a good conversation starter. I watched a couple discover that they wanted to try a blindfold because they stumbled across some when they were here. They were a new couple and had just come in for sexy underwear. They left happy.” The 48-year-old lives with her partner, Alexandra, and their two kids in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. This is her sexy New York.

1 & 2. Big Gay Ice Cream, 125 E. Seventh St. and 61 Grove St.

“These stores are big gay environments, to celebrate who you are. I consider that pretty sexy, to be proud of who you are. It can practically rub off on you, it’s so gay in there with all the crazy colors and vibrant characters that work there. My favorite flavor is vanilla with little candy bits.”

3. The Dalloway, 525 Broome St.

“I’ve been to lots of lesbian bars; this is the hottest one in a long time. The dance floor downstairs feels like a great sexy basement party with a crowd that contains a higher percentage of really gorgeous people than usual all getting sweaty together — no surprise as the co-owner was on America’s Next Top Model. I love the fireplace and the booths in the restaurant too: Great for intimate conversation.”

4. The Box, 189 Chrystie St.

“Everyone who works at this club wears outrageous costumes and because a lot of the crowd do, too, and there’s a lot of sexy making out going on, you can’t tell who’s a performer and who’s not. The stage is so close you feel you’re on there with the erotic vaudeville performers as they gyrate above you. I saw trapeze artists using ropes like a stripper uses the pole at a strip club and yes, they strip all the way down to nothing — very Weimar Germany. It’s like seedy old New York but remade for a hip, young new audience.”

5. An hourly-rate hotel (such as the Liberty Inn, 51 Tenth Ave.)

“You can now get a luxury hotel room for the middle of the day when you’re out and you’re saying, ‘I wish we had somewhere to go that’s private.’ Clearly people are demanding it, so you can get your afternoon delight.”

6. Temple Bar, 332 Lafayette St.

“The room here is lit by table candles, so all you can see is people’s silhouettes and the colors of the booze bottles. It’s really sophisticated sexy — it’s decorated with deep red velvet curtains and people sit in the leather banquettes two by two. It’s easy to miss who you’re meeting but it’s equally easy not to be seen — great for a secret assignation.”

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7. Pok Pok, 127 Columbia St.

“Spicy food helps your endorphins flow, so I’m going here when we get our first date night in a while. I’ll have the Vietnamese fish sauce wings — hot but light too! I imagine feeling really ready to go afterwards. [Sex columnist] Dan Savage says you should have sex before you go out, because you’re going to feel all food coma after. I say: Have sex before you go to Pok Pok and after you go to Pok Pok! You can get laid twice with this place.”

8. The Chocolate Room, 86 Fifth Ave.

“Chocolate is obviously required on Valentine’s Day, and it’s a supposed aphrodisiac. I have kids, and they love candy, but you want to go there with your lover. It’s so sexy with lover-y desserts that are not for the Hershey’s Kisses kind of crowd. It’s small and cozy, and it’s just a really quality place to go.”

9. The Vale of Cashmere, Prospect Park

“There aren’t many places you can be alone and outside in New York but there’s never anyone here in this quiet part of Prospect Park. I haven’t taken my partner here but I could see a couple going there to get it on, knowing they’re hidden away from the cricket players in the Long Meadow and competitive bikers on the road. They might be spied by bird-watchers with their binoculars though!”