Pain & Pleasure Palace
Pain & Pleasure Palace
Revisiting the Chateau by Colton Dunn --
From Hard Bound Magazine - Number 9, 1987
A semi-circle driveway is reserved for the patron's cars as their owners visit the no-nonsense bastion of pain, pleasure, bondage and domination known on a national basis as The Chateau. To its owner and major domo James D. Hillier, who controls The Chateau with a firm hand, the new Chateau is the fulfillment of a dream coming true-the establishment of a sanctuary for those with a liking for somewhat offbeat satisfaction of a physical/psychological sort.
There are those who regard such places in Los Angeles as "kink-a-toriums." Hillier dismisses those as merely the uninitiated. For him, and for his staff and patrons, The Chateau, named after the famed Chateau on the edge of what is now the expanded Orly Airport, Paris, is the ultimate of what such places should be.
The staff is personally and exhaustively trained by Hillier himself. It is a training program that moves at the pace of the individual staff member. Each, regardless of personal inclination, starts as a submissive, graduates into the switch phase, and them to a dominant, so that each member of the staff has a personal familiarity with the three roles.
This is not to imply that there is any role-playing involved, for such is not the case. Each staff member follows his/her own inclination. A submissive is employed as such, and a switch fulfills that role, as does a dominant play the dominant role.
It is only that each staffer must have a close familiarity with the other modes.
At hand is the latest in equipment, the latest theories of sanitation. After each session all equipment used is carefully sanitized before another patron puts the equipment to use.
There are no drugs or alcoholic beverages permitted upon the premises. The Chateau is centrally located on famed Sunset Boulevard, just east of equally known Western Avenue, and is readily accessible from the "out-back" by the Hollywood Freeway, thusly placing The Chteau in easy reach of virtually all of Southern California.
It is a place for strictly the serious practitioners of B/D activities, who are expected to approach it with the same intensity as does the well trained staff. Hillier himself is nationally regarded as on the leading edge of this esoteric art, having made a virtually life-long study and practice of it when he first gave overt expression to his inclinations as a dominant at the age of fourteen.
On that occasion he inflicted bondage on an available cousin, and the girl underwent an experience in bondage that she doubtlessly remembers to this day, while Hillier recalls it just as vividly.
It was while on leave ("The Air Corps called it furlough!") and making a tour of France, that Hillier discovered the institute for the S/M arts located at Ftemy, France. Shortly thereafter, having the necessary time, Hillier enrolled as a student, spending three expansive and comprehensive months at the famed academy. Graduation was earmarked by being taken for a walk through the village of Remy on a dog leash, something the imperturbable French were well used to seeing. After the Nazi, nothing surprised them.
Later, while working for the U.S. government in an undisclosed capacity, Hillier extensively toured the Orient, absorbing mystical tenets to add to his rigid philosophies on life and mental well-being. He runs The Chateau as a tight ship, abiding no nonsense in catering to demanding patrons who are seeking the psychological release that the establishment dispenses. Los Angeles and New York City are the two bastions of S/M emporiums, with L.A. being most likely on the leading edge, for here self-expression seems to come more expressively.
Hillier is a lean, athletic man of medium height and certain intensity unless he is in a laid-back mood. At those times he is most conversant and affable, giving the definite impression of education and well traveledness. He is not one to flap easily. He has killed coolly when under fire.
His is a penchant for the finer things of life, providing they are affordable. There is nothing wasteful in his nature. But when it comes to the Chateau, and his determination to assure its position as role-model for the rest of the nation, he is tireless and unstinting.
At times he wears a french chapeau, reminder of his early training days in France, His voice is of the timbre radio announcers envy. That he has an eye for beauty is evident by his staff. It is large, diverse in that it consists of submissives, switches and dominants, yet there is a common bond amongst all of them. Each is an exceedingly physically attractive specimen.
"Out of every ten applicants for an opening on the staff, we select perhaps one. Physical attractiveness is one of the standards we observe, but by no means the only one," Hillier stresses. "The applicant must have a natural calling for that which she wants to do. I can tell a phony in five minutes of questioning. If the applicant, invariable a girl, passes the interrogation, she is then subjected to a series of tests including bondage, humiliation, subjugation. Believe me, when we are through with the interviewing we retain only those who are genuine!"
Each is thoroughly trained in the use of the equipment. Each is strictly supervised before allowed to operate with a patron on her own. Each is thoroughly prepared to engage in psychodramas, when such are requested by a patron.
A psychodrama is acting out a fantasy. Persons with fantasies usually embellish upon them as time goes by, so that eventually they become quite complicated. Sometimes a girl staffer fulfills several roles in such psychodramas," Hillier says.
There are four rooms to accommodate patrons at The Chateau.
Each has a name, and there is a significance to the name, he tells you. "For example, there is the Frank Campbell Room. Frank Campbell, a Canadian, is a prolific writer in S/M activities, having authored some forty books and hundreds of magazine articles on the esoteric subject. He is a personal friend of Hillier, who has been known to gift Campbell by dispatching a submissive to the Canadian's digs when Campbell is in town. Campbell is a universally liked man who has an inexhaustible storehouse of knowledge about this psychosexual field.
Hillier himself is frequently called upon to lecture on the subject across the country, and at times has been approached by the police when taints of S/M are predominant in a case they are working on, Hillier says. Prostitution Vigilance "More dangerous than anything else to the ongoing practice of S/M in such places as The Chateau are certain unscrupulous "operators" who have allowed some staff members to engage in acts of prostitution while having sessions with clients,"says Hillier.
' 'We have evidence that The Chateau is checked out at least once a mouth by an undercover officer," he adds. "There is absolutely no possibility of any prostitution being committed on the premises," he tells you.
With his fervor for the field, and the life-long principles which he has embraced, it is easy to believe what he states.
The staff is invariably young, dexterous, and pleasing to the eye. The costumes they wear accent their abundant charms, without being anything but tasteful. In short, each sessionist is a pleasing eyeful, although she will not be an armful.
"But to the true S/M devotee, sexuality is a mental trip, not one physical," Hillier says. "The whole experience is the living of a fantasy, the awareness that the girl is unavailable, which she is."
While using the term S/M, it goes without saying that Bondage and Discipline are all part and parcel of the sessions.
There to insure that the client gets what is sought are a staff including: Kat, Kiana, Sheena, Prudence, Mishi, Mia, Dynah, Nastaschja, Yoko, Chastity and Monica. Also, there is Bridgette, Toni, Tevee and Laura. Kiana, of awesome beauty and radiant hair, is the major mistress at the Chateau, and has been Master Hillier's personal amorati and slave for some years.
All together they comprise a complement of dominants, submissives and switches to satisfy the needs of any B&D, S/M patron of these arts. They have an international reputation that they live up to on a daily, nightly basis. The watchword is discretion, for the patrons come from every recognizable walk of life. Nor are there any membership fees, hidden or special charges, or other monetary surprises awaiting the patrons. "This helps explain why our clients are invariable repeats," Hillier says.
As mentioned, there are four chambers, each high-ceilinged, and three with private entrances for those who prize discretion above all. The Campbell Room features a tilt table, suspension bars and a punishment chair among other equipment. There is also the Inquisition Room, the Victorian Room, and the Roissy Room, named after The Chateau's namesake, The Chateau M at Roissy, France, where Hillier received training. Crosses, spanking tables, suspension bars and stocks, as well as a wide assortment of restraints, whips and paddles are included in the equipment found in the high-ceilinged, mirrored rooms.
The entire staff, be they dominants, submissives, switches or slaves, have not an ounce of the actor within them. What you see-is what they are, and by this I mean in their off-duty personal lives.
The attractive, buxom and congenial Kat was our host this day.
Originally from a Pennsylvania farm near the state line of New York, she first realized her predelection for bondage by tying up animals as a form of control on the farm.
"When I came to California and heard about The Chateau here in Los Angeles, I applied for staff membership and was accepted by James for training...." she tells us. Kat's training took a full eighteen months which saw her, successfully complete the tri-level stages-from submissive, to dominant submissive, to switch, to dominant switch, to dominant, to full-dominant.
According to her, the clients are virtually 100, male. Approximately half of them want to be dominant, at which time they are referred to a staff submissive. The staff includes seven dominants, seven submissives, and the rest are switches, both at The Chateau and in private life.
It is Hillier's observation that so far as females in the B&D field are concerned, there are no naturally dominant female.
"When you analyze it, while we have females here who fulfill the dominant role in a two-way interaction, the dominant is such because she has been assigned that role, and is in a sense following orders. Following orders is submission to those orders," he smiles.
"Therefore, a commercial dominant is at her core submissive. But of course, the client never experiences it in this manner."
It is Hillier's conviction that a national awareness of B&D and S/M is gaining recognition as a positive entity, even though the centers remain only New York and Los Angles.
The practice has been prohibited as against the law in Chicago due to legal abuses. "Again, unscrupulous, exploitative operators who have succumbed to prostitution for the extra bucks."
Hillier regards such operators as phonies in it only for the money. That B&D has a world-wide recognition is evidenced by his recent trip to Tokyo where he stayed at a S-M hotel catering specifically to clientele with these leanings.
"The hotel has a staff of females skilled in varied elements of the art. When a male checks into the hotel he has a selection of girls from which to choose. Needless to say, each room is double occupancy. . .
On the day we toured The Chateau, we were privy to witnessing an actual session, permission having been granted by the establishment with agreement of the middle-aged male patron. It took place in The Victorian Room which has in addition to the whipping post, suspension bars and cross, an obstetrician's chair with certain modifications made.
A skilled interview took place lasting about fifteen minutes during which time the client expressed what he wanted from the dominant he selected, and at the same time she evaluated his sincerity and gauged his level of withstandment.
The idea is to totally fulfill each client's need, but to never hurt the client either physically or mentally. Lawsuits are naturally a chilling factor, to be avoided.
This customer wanted a psycho-drama that would stress an incident in his earlier life when he covertly lusted for a cheerleader during his high school years.
He selected a dominant,one he had been with several times previous to this and who therefore had a good grasp of his needs.
If nudity is to be involved, it is discussed beforehand. The girl, in a black, form-fitting corset and black mesh stockings and spiky black heels led him into the room of her choice, the Victorian Room which had the special reclining chair with the curious holes in it at mid-point. She led him into the room, told him to be seated, and that she would be back shortly. She went to a wardrobe closet in another section of The Chateau, and there she donned a white sweater with two black stripes on either sleeve, and a black skirt. The sweater was a pullover. She added to this, white bobbysocks and saddle oxfords. She had reformed her appearance to one'of a high-school cheerleader, circa 1950, about the time that the man might have been in high school.
She reentered the room. "What are you doing in those clothes!" she snarled at him. "I can tell by your face that you have impure thoughts, you dirty pig! You need a good whipping for the sinful thoughts about my body that you have. You're nothing but a worm! You are less than a worm, and you are not fit to even carry my book bag!
She snatched a paddle from a rack on the wall. "I told you to get out of those clothes!"
This man was a high-level executive at an aircraft firm in his employed life, having the mastery over the employment destiny of some 500 workers. Here he had no control over the situation whatever.
He began undoing his tie, unbuttoning his shirt. The dominant grew impatient with his progress, too slow for her liking. She shoved his hands aside and rapidly undid his shirt buttons, drawing the garmet over his shoulders and off, flinging the shirt onto a chair. Rapidly she unbuckled his pants, yanked down the zipper, ran the pants to his knees, yanked his shoes off and tossed them aside, following them with the pants and shorts. To the awesome young girl he seemed less than a thing wriggling on the end of a fishing hook. She glanced at him coolly, contemptuously. "0h, yes, I know the evil thoughts that run through that jelly brain of yours, you fornicating sonofabitch! It's written on your crude face, your pig eyes. Look at you!" she rasped.
Somehow, the hapless man had a half erection. "You are very bad, and you will pay for that! Come here!"
She sat down, paddle in hand, and obediently the man came to her and stood before her as she looked up from her sitting position, contempt on her lovely face and in her blazing eyes. "Bend over my lap! she snapped. The man did so, incongruously looking like a small boy in an overgrown body, She began to administer some thirty heavy-handed swats to his bottom, stopping only when it was nice and pink,streaked with red.
"You come over here with me, you trash!" she ordered, half shoving him toward the orthodontist chair. She ordered him onto it, face down. By now his erection was of huge proportion. "Put that goddam thing through that hole, and the rest of your pathetic tools of the devil too!" she ordered, eyeing his cock and balls with total disgust.
Doing as ordered, his cock and balls now hung through the accommodating holes in the table's surface.
The girl deftly tied them together with a leather tong, exerting enough tautness to give him a definite feeling of encapulation.
That done, she began to renew her paddling efforts on his bottom until the client began to gasp with a strange mixture of pain and pleasure, and his buttocks took on the appearance of an over-ripe tomato.
One marked enough to be passed up by most shoppers in the fruit section of any supermarket.
She dealt him a paradiddle of blows that would be the envy of any accomplished bongo player, only the resultant music to the ears of aill concerned was a painful shriek.
'Tbe louder it became, the more encouraged was the girl to redouble her efforts. The man was trapped, a prisoner face down on the table, for to attempt a departure from this leather-bound surface would be at the expense of both balls and cock.
Cock torture is nothing new to this girl and her conferees of The Chateau. Indeed, clients such as the one in hand demand it.
The ritual being performed was in recognition of a psychological quirk left over from his adolescent years-one he had a malingering guilt about, having frequently masturbated while fantasizing about a cheerleader of the past, and at the same time enjoying a sexual arousal for the memory.
Sensing his state of mind, a skill born of experience, the girl delivered up a tattoo of additional swats with the outsized ping-pong paddle, and now the man was gasping and moaning, having a paroxysm, a convulsive shuddering if you will, and the girl, his dominator, registered both shock and surprise as she witnessed him ejaculating through the table hole and onto the floor. He seemed to be getting off an inordinate long time before at last slumping downward onto the table.
"You are an incorrigibly bad boy!"
said the girl, but at this point her voice was somehow softer, as though she was resigned to the fact.
The client was freed, flush-faced from the table.
"If you promise to be good, next time I'll let you carry my books . . . maybe." she told him.
The man seemed to brighten at this, rubbing his bottom and looking totally relieved.
Outside the room, in the parlor, another man was being interviewed to gauge the scope and substance of his particular needs.
At The Chateau, relief comes in many forms and guises. This has been but one of them in a city where fantasies never sleep. . . .
Club Chateau Quick Info when 7 days a week where Club 7403 Fulton Ave., North Hollywood, LA time Sun-Thurs Noon-Midnight, Fri-Sat Noon-1am contact (818) 503-3003, www.thechateau.com
Anyone ever been to the Chateau? In late 1976, I was contacted by Sir James of the Château in Los Angeles, asking if I would be interested in going in with him and creating a dungeon for people on a pay basis. I rejected the idea and heard later he had gone in with Queen Adrena. That lasted for a short time. Sir James and I have remained friends over the years. In 1988 I remember he moved his location to a different area which was close to a church. It didn't take long for the church to find out what kind of a establishment the Château was and they picked the place, got the city council involved and was plastered all over the news. Every night the drama deepened. Come to find out , Sir James owned the property, B&D is legal in California and he had all proper license, permits and etc. Sir James then told the church to stop there actions towards him and the Chateau or the church would be required to move and NOT THE CHATEAU! Sir James won his day in court!
--Mistress Michelle
A NIGHT AND THE CHATEAU
- From Gini Graham Scott
In contrast to the air of disrepair and distrust surrounding The Dungeon, the Chateau, one of a small chain of three B&D houses, resembles an upscale social club, with a waiting room like that in a doctor's office. On a typical evening, nine or ten men sit in the waiting room, silently flipping through magazines about sex or motorcycles, gazing down at the floor, or glancing anxiously around the room. In the adjoining room, women are fixing punch and dip for a party, scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.Though most customers, as in any B&D house, come for their session and leave, the Chateau organizes these parties to create a somewhat more social ambience. But even so, the waiting men don't seem to want to talk very much. They are interested in relating to women, not other men. And some feel reticent, even embarrassed, about being at a B&D house in the first place. A few of the women occasionally drift into the waiting room to perk up the silent men.
On one such evening, Loral, a short woman with a pert elfin look appears and asks: 'Would anyone like to hit me?" She has a thin riding crop in her hand and looks around the room for takers. A few men glance about, looking to the others to do something first. But no one moves. Lorelei tries again, dropping down onto her hands and knees, her rear in the air, and crawling around the room, the whip in her mouth. Tentatively, one man puts his magazine aside, takes the whip, and whacks her lightly. She smiles, and with the ice broken, another man follows suit. But then no one else takes up her offer, and she leaves the men to their silence.
A Few minutes later, Sir James D. Hillier, the owner, who looks like a cross between a jovial English lord and a pirate in tweeds, arrives with his two women 'slaves," Gen, a submissive, and Shara, a switch; they live with him and work in the show. Shara prances into the waiting room to try to liven things up. She is wearing a studded gold collar, signifying she is an experienced switch, and she slithers about in her thin white sheath, fur wrap, and high stiletto heels, announcing: "The show will be starting soon. In the meantime, come join the party and talk to each other." But when no one budges, she gives up, too. "So don't talk to each other," she says and returns to the office.
But once the show begins, the place comes alive. A dozen or so customers follow Shara into a large unfurnished room, and they spread out in front of a large platform at one end. Then, Sir James begins the show, which is staged like an overdramatized 1920s silent movie, stylized like a fantasy. "We've just discovered some jewellery is missing," he announces. "And I've learned that one of my slaves has taken it. But no one will talk. Well, we'll just have to make them." He calls five of the women working at the Chateau to come forward, and they line up before him. he asks," Who did it?" But no one will confess. He will have Shara whip them until they do. He begins with Gen, and with mock roughness pulls her from the line and pushes her toward the two cuffs dangling from the ceiling. "No, no," she protests dramatically, as he tugs off her dress, revealing her frilly black underwear, and snaps her in. Shara approaches her with the whip, and strikes her across the buttocks, while her pleading continues: "No, no, I didn't do it.... Please, please, let me go." Afterwards, he drags Lorelei and Alta to the cuffs and has them whipped in a similar way, as they protest their innocence. The audience,which has now grown to about two dozen males, watches raptly. The brief mystery soon comes to a close. Gen whispers to Sir James, and he announces that Gen has just named Shara as the thief. To punish her, he strings her up in the cuffs, strips off her dress, and whips her like the others. The case solved, it is time to party or attend sessions.
Most of the men remain, chatting with the women. A few disappear into one of three rooms for sessions. Victor, a Chateau regular, goes to have a session with Vickie, a switch he has visited before. She asks him to lie across the stool and strikes him a few times on the buttocks with the paddle.
"Act like you're my school mistress," he asks"for this is his favorite fantasy. Immediately, she slides into the role. "So you've been bad again. Well, take this. And this. You've been a bad, bad boy." After about five minutes, he asks to switch, and she lies across the stool, just as he did, and he paddles her. He likes both roles since, he explains: "I not only liked being paddled myself, but I liked watching the other boys in school get paddled, too. It was a great sport. We'd huddle around the door and peer in through the window." They switch several times, giving one `another suggestions along the way. For example, Victor advises: "You can hit me harder.... Too much on that cheek for now; try the other. . . . Can you try the cane?"
A Few minutes before the session is to end, Vickie stops caning him and offers him his usual reward. "If you want to conclude the session now by masturbating to climax, go ahead." Although the Chateau, like most B&D houses, doesn't allow its dominants to engage in intercourse and, stricter than most, doesn't allow them to touch the customer, the women may allow the customer to stimulate himself if he wants. Victor masturbates to orgasm, and then thanks Vickie for an enjoyable session, saying he will see her again.
Once he is gone, Vickie completes the usual record of a session for the house files: name of client, length of session, and his sexual preferences. The file will refresh her memory if he returns or will be a useful introduction if another woman in the house sees him next time. Few mistresses or houses have such an organized system, however. And although customers may not like to think of their visit being recorded like a clinical case, the Chateau finds that the files systematise and professionalize what is usually an ad hoc business.
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