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| Legend tells
of foot-flavored parties in the late 1970s, held in a New York
City nightclub called The Mineshaft. At Christmastime, men lined
up to lick Santa's sweaty feet after finishing their holiday shopping.
Most local footmen, however, place the first official feet and
footwear parties in the late 1980s, when a small group of men
met in several different watering holes in Manhattan, including
the Candle Bar on the Upper West Side and a tough Chelsea leather
club called The Spike, where we were thrown out because too many
men were wearing sandals! Our group eventually found it's way
to the back room of a bar in the West Village called Julius. A
sneaker hung on a hook on the wall to let you know that you had
found the place, and the sneaker was hung there by the legendary
Arnie Rowan, who was responsible for the gathering. In the days
before we all had PCs, Arnie spent a great deal of time and money
placing personal ads in every appropriate publication, seeking
out other footmen. The parties took place once every three months,
and as many as thirty or forty men attended them. The small room
we met in did not lend itself to footplay; however, the opportunity
to socialize with like-minded men was, for most of us, our first
experience of a men's foot fetish community. Those of us who remember
Arnie are deeply grateful to him for his hard work, persistence
and commitment to bringing us together.
When Arnie's health began to fail in the early 1990s, he passed
the reins on to our dear friend Adam, who coined the name Foot
Friends. Adam managed the parties for a year and a half, and then
turned them over to two gentlemen named John O. and Tim M. They
were partners and footmen and shared Arnie and Adam's commitment
to our community. Highly creative and industrious, John and Tim
established the NFN, or National Foot Network, and began publishing
The Foot Scene, a quarterly roster/magazine that listed up to
800 national and international members. The Foot Scene also ran
pictures, artwork, original "feetures" and reprints of foot-oriented
articles from other media sources. The Foot Scene was not only
mailed out to its membership, but eventually became available
in gay bookstores across the nation. As the ranks of the NFN grew,
so did the attendance at the now monthly parties.
Recognizing the need for a larger and more playful space, John
and Tim moved the parties to various spaces including their spacious
Brooklyn apartment, a waterfront club in Brooklyn, a loft space
in Manhattan on West 14th Street, and finally, in 1994, to two
clubs in Manhattan's meatpacking district called The Lure and
J's Hangout, where the parties are going strong to this day. Not
content with an organization, a magazine and monthly parties,
John and Tim began producing foot fetish films through their production
company KINK Video. KINK quickly became the nation's most popular
producer of male foot films. While Arnie Rowan forged the original
path for us, John O. and Tim M. truly blazed a trail for both
New York's Foot Friends parties and for the foot community at
large. In 1996, John and Tim moved to San Francisco, where they
continued building their KINK Video business and began throwing
foot parties in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Alan Pratt
began to manage the New York parties for John and Tim in their
absence. KINK grew steadily to the point where John and Tim realized
they would not be coming to New York on a regular basis, and in
1997, in an extraordinarily generous move, simply gave the ownership
of the New York Foot Friends parties to Alan, along with their
blessings for continued success. Due to the demands of their video
business, John and Tim ceased the publication of The Foot Scene/NFN
and also passed on the management of the San Francisco and Los
Angeles parties to other men. John and Tim continue to provide
the most extensive selection of high-quality male foot and other
fetish videos through their companies KINK and Underfoot.
When Alan took over the New York Foot Friends parties in 1997,
he used his history in the theater and event production to take
these gatherings to the next level. Along with the help of some
of his most spirited footbuddies, Pratt began to put on shows
and demonstrations, hold contests and workshops, hire sexy foot
models and display foot art. By this time, the Internet had become
the primary venue for footmen to meet each other. Our brilliant
friend Adam Rosenberg again stepped forward and offered his many
talents. He designed our internationally recognized logo and created
the original Foot Friends website. Adam also dreamed up some of
our best theme nights, including Sole Train: Feet of Flava, which
continues to be one of our most popular parties each year.
Our goal is to create a global network of parties, produce the
most awesome foot videos ever, and provide the most exciting foot
content on the net. To learn more about our plans for the future,
please read "Global Vision."
The future looks bright for lovers of men's feet and footwear,
and we are pleased to be a vital part of the global foot community.
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