By Kyra Breslin. Animals , Features. The New York City bar is half full, with customers at only five of its 10 little tables. Still, DeRito hopes that with the people who have shown up, she can raise money for a dog named Romeo, who was fighting for his life when she rescued him in Tijuana, Mexico, in late January. DeRito points to an older gentleman with shoulder-length white hair and a bald crown.
I got the ass guy. Everyone has their thing. Her nonprofit organization, Waggytail Rescue , formed in , has helped foster and find homes for nearly 9, dogs and cats in New York City and Los Angeles — something that makes her no money but captures her devotion. Events like a small East Village bar celebrating its musical icons on a Sunday night serve as a reminder of what was. Now, the streets are overrun with finance bros in white leather sneakers, and girls with their hair slicked back in claw clips posing for Instagram, emulating the trends and energy of people like DeRito who come from a New York City that no longer exists.
Characters like her — who go against the flow — are harder and harder to come by. DeRito is a time capsule perfectly preserved in her petite 5-footinch frame. For 25 years, DeRito has lived in a five-story walkup on Norfolk Street, performing several odd jobs around the city to get by.
Fetish sessions evolved into a bondage-themed workout class, Slavercize , which gained the attention of ABC News and Playboy as men and women garbed in black latex masks waited to be spanked by a stiletto-heeled DeRito after performing a series of push-ups. It became standard, leaving the shelter with 10 dogs climbing all over the pair as they drove down the FDR. How could you not love that? I asked DeRito what a typical day looks like for her.
Her response was utterly chaotic and yet perfectly on pitch for her personality. They say the body keeps score, but it is hard to imagine someone who spends her time zipping through the city streets on her bike, often with a dog, or seven, in the front basket, as someone in distress.
