The Hideaway and Kink Down South Celebrate Gear Night Anniversary
On the second Wednesday of each month, Atlanta’s kink and leather community gathers at the Hideaway for Gear Night.
Founded and hosted by David Elsea and Paul Beauchamp, formerly known as Good Boy Productions, the event was started to fill a gap they felt had opened in the community after the pandemic and closure of the Eagle.
“Paul and I had been typical members of the community ... but then the pandemic happened, and the Eagle closed,” Elsea told Georgia Voice. “We were seeing left and right that we were losing so much of our community. One night, Paul and I were hanging out and bemoaning the state of things. We had just enough cocktails that we had this genius idea to do something ourselves. We weren’t seeing anything do what we loved most about the community in terms of events.”
They decided to host it at the Hideaway and expected an intimate happy hour of a few friends. Instead, over 100 people attended.
“It was really overwhelming in a great way,” Elsea said. “It was impressive to see that people really respond to this, they need this. They had been wanting something like this.”
That initial success only grew, and the event became a monthly mainstay for the community. Now, Gear Night is celebrating its first anniversary with a special event on April 12.
From 8pm to 10, kinksters, leather daddies, pups, doms, subs, and everyone in between will don their best leather gear, meet new friends, reunite with old ones, and dance the night away with music from DJ Rob Reum. As on every Gear Night, everyone who orders a drink from the bar dressed in their gear (even if it’s as simple as a leather arm band) will receive a raffle ticket for a chance to win a prize. Elsea says the prizes will be amped up for the anniversary, but common prizes include a $25 bar tab at the Hideaway, items from Barking Leather, gift bags, and more. Professional photographers will also memorialize the night and capture everyone in their gear.
“We really take pride in it, it’s a good event to have,” Jay Malloy, Events Manager of the Hideaway, told Georgia Voice. “It’s a safe space, it’s a fun space.”
“For this anniversary event, we really just want to look back on how far both we have come as this Gear Night as well as how the community has grown and changed postpandemic since we’ve started doing these events, Elsea said. “We’re still here, Atlanta still has a leather gear kink scene.”
Along with celebrating the kink scene, the event also serves to attract new people to the community.
“Because it’s a neighborhood pub, there are a lot of people who will come to just take part and enjoy [who are not yet part of the community],” Malloy said. “If someone just wants to experience it but may be fearful of going to a leather bar can come to our bar and find it’s fun, fantastic, and wonderful.”
“It helps other people see, ‘Hey, this exists and there is this community here. Maybe I can do that, too,’” Elsea said.
The one-year mark also serves as an opportunity for Good Boy Productions to rebrand to Kink Down South. Those looking for even more leather goodness can rejoice, as Kink Down South will also be hosting a weekend street fair akin to those found in major cities like Chicago and New York. Kink Down South Weekend will be held from June 2–4. The festival on June 3 will include an outdoor vendor market with demos, classes, discussion panels, educational resources, and sellers, all relating to the kink leather community. Beyond the festival, fetish theme parties will be held at several venues all weekend, including the Hideaway, the Heretic, and the Eagle.
For more information on Kink Down South Weekend, visit kinkdownsouth. com. Gear Night will be held on April 21 from 8pm to 10 at the Hideaway. Learn more about the Hideaway at facebook.com/ atlantahideaway.