50) The Cock
Gay NYC’s longtime destination for raunch remains steadfast, even as today’s thots are mostly getting their fix through the hookup apps. But never underestimate the power of exhibitionism! It should also be said that the Cock deserves credit in their marketing of events for emphasizing the sexiness of diverse body types, ages, races, proclivities, etc. And if none of that is your thing, chill out upstairs with some sweet, fun bartenders like Franco, Brian and Lola Michele-Kiki.
49) Steve Sidewalk
Perhaps New York and New Jersey’s most followed dance floor pop DJ, Steve has a rabid babygay following thanks largely to his popular Gay College Tuesdays at the Ritz. Also a regular at POSH, Feathers and Paradise, Sidewalk has been touring venues across the country lately as well.
48) Will Sheridan
The larger-than-life college basketball star turned emcee and DJ just celebrated the sixth anniversary of Hot Fruit, the Metropolitan Bar party he long ago revamped to include a showcase for diverse Brooklyn talent. Will also dropped the EP LexIcon, performed a few showcases at Rise Bar with
and Dezi 5, produced a new monthly party at Rockbar called The Phunktion, started bartending at GYM in addition to Macri Park, and generally remains a powerhouse of the scene.
47)
Having rapidly become one of Manhattan’s favorite queens, Shuga is fierce, funny, and as her name suggests probably the sweetest person you know. You can feel her love for drag (which was a later-in-life career change for her), and that love is infectious… even to a house full of jaded HK Marys who have seen it all. Give Shuga all the finger wags–while you still can–at her solo Thursday Hardware happy hour, her Wednesday night Pieces show with JanSport, and Sunday nights at Bedlam hosting the seminal Look Queen competition.
46) Therapy
The increasingly famous HK destination boasts good eats, great beats, heavy pours, a more diverse crowd than you’d think (particularly the sexy bar staff), and some of the best drag shows in town: Slurp (Paige Turner), The Help (Pixie Aventura and Kizha Carr), Stage Fright (Marti Gould Cummings), and the new Soaked (Brita Filter, Lagoona Bloo and Rosé). Plus, JanSport’s singing competition “You Tried It” has electrified the babygay Broadway hopefuls that frequent the bar.
45) Aquaria
Aquaria’s Season 10 win brings home the reality that RuPaul’s Drag Race’s largest growing audience demographic is teen girls. What teenager doesn’t want to be Aquaria, with her beauty and fashion sense and confidence? Which isn’t to say that she didn’t deserve the win… every look she presented was genius, and once the music is cued she’s an electrifying performer. A distant and stilted host by her own admission, she brilliantly found ways to work around or even incorporate that handicap into the acting challenges. It’s quite clear that she’s destined for Warholian Living Fashion Installation Iconicism, and that’s as it should be. A former fixture of every scene queen party in the city, Aquaria’s never going to our parties again. She IS the party now, and we all dream of getting an invite.
44) Ragamuffin
Brooklyn’s high concept fashion and performance art folk hero crossed the river and became a Manhattan star in 2018. She hasn’t compromised her signature Demonic Raccoon beats, asymmetric silhouettes or off-the-radar drag numbers for anyone, but she’s found a way to incorporate it all into a more mainstream package when needed. She’s also enforced the “artists should actually get paid by the house” philosophy of drag, moving her hit workshop / showcase “Failure” from Bizarre Bushwick to the East Village’s Club Cumming (she’s also regularly lent her drag there to the monthly cabaret revue MARY). You can still catch Raga giving you Brooklyn realness for her seminal pairing with Ruby Roo, Mondays on Mondays at Macri Park–as well as a solo late night Sunday show at Metro.
43) Rosé
New York’s uber-talented singing drag trio Stephanie’s Child have officially taken over the scene, and became the standard of quality the queens are expected to meet if they wanna make it big here. Musical theater baby Rosé–aka Stephanie’s Child’s “Pink One”–sings, dances, jokes, and does killer mixes with the best of them. Pleasantly kooky, well-spoken and free-spirited (and newly the drag daughter of legendary Kizha Carr), she made her drag debut last year with an explosive crown-winning turn for the final Lady Liberty weekly competition season. You can now catch her co-hosting the pop-up showdowns of that franchise with Brita Filter at the Ace Hotel. Rosé is also co-hosting Therapy’s new hit Thursday show Soaked with Brita and fellow Child Lagoona Bloo, Turn It Up Sundays with the third Child JanSport at Hardware, and Tuesday karaoke at Pieces with Lagoona.
42) Switch N’Play
With a current core roster consisting of K. James, Miss Malice, Divina GranSparkle, Zoe Ziegfeld, Pearl Harbor, Nyx Nocturne and Vigor Mortis, it’s obvious that the nature of this troupe has evolved since its drag king beginnings (in fact, none of the original lineup remains in the group). Successful outfits change with the times, and Switch N’Play presently reflects Brooklyn nightlife’s current Fuck That approach to gender and genre. With two monthly showcases at Branded Saloon–and a recent excursion to the prestigious National Sawdust theatre (current home base of Sasha Velour’s Nightgowns) for their annual Addams Family tribute show–the group has gotten tons of love… not to mention a bunch of Brooklyn Nightlife Awards this past go-around.
41) The Carry Nation
The famed DJ duo
and Will Automagic are currently enjoying another successful season of residency at Brooklyn’s Good Room, but were super in-demand across the city this year. We danced to their beats at Nowadays, Elsewhere, the House of Yes, Battle Hymn, 3 Dollar Bill, the Pines Pavilion and Bushwig, just to name a few. Their best DJ GLAM nod this year is well-deserved indeed.
40) Ric Sena
Creating the Alegria brand of circuit parties 18 years ago, Sena married gorgeously hypnotic visuals with sonic sensory overload, and a circuit standard was born. Or rather, a cult was formed. Alegria continues to be the seasonal event that circuit queens around the world plan their lives around, but these days in NYC Ric Sena Presents also offers the monthly VIVA at FREQ, and the occasional morning after Sunrise day party at Hudson Terrace.
39) The Rosemont
Not really the new kid on the block anymore, former jazz club The Rosemont has become well-established with a certain brand of queer nightlife: young, diverse, experimental, but still unabashedly worshipful of all things pop. Well-attended nights there include the dragtastic OOPS Wednesdays, Bitch Nasty Fridays featuring DJs Ickarus and Hannah Lou, and the bi-monthly Saturday Fake Nudes with DJ P_A_T and The Haus of Sterling.
38) Maddelynn Hatter
Hell’s Kitchen’s favorite GlamourGhoul kept the party roaring at The Ritz with her scary popular TURNt Wednesdays, and now also a weekly Friday drag competition Open Call. She was also a third of ReBar’s “Bad Bitch Review” and made several Brooklyn appearances, all while keeping us a-gag with her high fashion monster beats.
37) Lagoona Bloo
“The Blue One” of the megapopular singing drag trio
Stephanie’s Child is a superb singer and performer in her own right, and there are undoubtedly even bigger things to come for this queen on the rise. The party never stops with this one! Catch her co-hosting Tuesday karaoke at Pieces with fellow Child Rosé, hosting a solo show Wednesday nights at The West End, co-hosting the new party Soaked with Rosé and Brita FIlter, giving us an all-sung set monthly Fridays at Stonewall, and dropping fierce pop-up bombs for Hardware’s Slay Saturday party alongside Ruby Roo.
36) Rockbar
The bear-centric bar on the far end of the West Village’s Christopher Street stays faithful to the gayborhood’s cruisy past with a slew of monthly underwear and gear / fetish events, and keeps true to its name with occasional live music acts and a DJ emphasis on rock music and new wave. But the bar has also been developing a noteworthy roster of happy hour drag shows that you should not be sleeping on.
35) Rify Royalty
Brooklyn’s longtime Sexy Guy and host of the popular Metropolitan Bar monthly party Straight Acting has gone deeper into drag in 2018, with fascinating results, presenting as a gorgeous fashionista with a sex-positive masculine edge (we guess that’s how one can describe most drag queens, but that edge just feels sharper here). Turning lewks at Bartsch parties and creating a fun and flashy new weekly Miss Girl at the East Village’s Narcbar of the Standard Hotel, Rify is now becoming a force to be reckoned with in Manhattan as well as Brooklyn… even earning a coveted Entertainer of the Year GLAM nomination.
34) Ruby Roo
If Bob didn’t already utilize the title, we’d be calling Ruby the Queen of the People. When she’s not serving you spirits as a (GLAM-nominated!) Pieces bartender on Wednesdays and Saturdays, she’s a versatile performer onstage who knows how to work a room and cater her drag to it. She’s dryly funny for the attentive loyalists of her long-running Mondays on Mondays at Macri Park, she’s flashy and fun for her mobbed parties Frisky Fridays at Pieces and Slay Saturdays at Hardware, and she delivers the Full Unfiltered Roo for her solo Sunday show at The Duplex. Bonus, she’s a Cosmo Queen! Bonus-bonus, look at that wig up there.
33)
New York City nightlife’s most iconic living figure remains the person that even Hollywood’s top celebrities want a photo op with. If you spot Amanda in the place you’ve chosen as your evening destination – whether it be one of Susanne Bartsch’s massive scene queen affairs or a smaller lounge situation like Acme’s STRUT – you’ve chosen your night wisely. And also, cheers to trans hero Amanda for explaining to Victoria’s Secret who she is and who they are, simply and elegantly.
32)
As one half of The Only Productions (the other being his bestie Bob the Drag Queen), Mitch keeps himself quite busy producing major events like the epic annual Halloween party Bloodbath, as well as music tracks for Drag Race alums (notably Aja this year) and original multimedia content. But he’s also a DJ who began his nightlife career bartending at the Monster before working his way up to hosting that bar’s popular Saturday night kiki, Manster. After years of manning Manster there (and also DJing Monster’s epic drag competition Look Queen that was Bob’s brainchild), Mitch and Manster’s hostess Honey Davenport abruptly quit The Monster after the bar’s general manager Italo Lopez criticized a Manster poster via text for featuring black men as opposed to “beautiful” (white) men. When Mitch and Honey put the comment out into the public, it forced everyone into the uncomfortable but entirely necessary conversation of racism in nightlife. Mitch has since brought a variation of Manster to Phoenix on Friday nights, and spins Look Queen at Bedlam, but the importance of his actions this year make him a person of great interest when looking at the possible future of queer nightlife in this city.
31) Brenda Dharling
One of our city’s most cherished queens is still the only dancer in the biz who can pull off a quadruple pirouette. Lovely on the inside and out, Brenda’s basicallythe queen we all want to be, and every year she becomes an even better show hostess. Aside from chilling with her poolside at the Ice Palace during the summer season, you can enjoy Miss Dharling at her solo Monday night Barracuda show, her Legend Wednesdays diva worship at Rise with co-hosts Bootsie LeFaris and Marti Gould Cummings, giving you themed realness on select Thursday nights with Industry’s megashow QUEEN, and turning Blackout Fridays at Suite Bar with Pattaya Hart.
30) JanSport
After breaking through in 2016 as a Kris Jenner impersonator with powerful Broadway singing chops, Jan evolved over time into a multidimensional queen in her own right. And if you go by her Insta following and the general fame she’s acquired through media appearances – particular as a major part of the singing queen trio Stephanie’s Child–the funny and cheerful Jan is basically a full-on icon in the making. Catch her with fellow Child Rosé Sundays at Hardware, hosting a popular singing competition Tuesdays at Therapy, Wednesdays at Pieces with Shuga Cain and Izzy Uncut, select Thursdays with the ladies of QUEEN at Industry, and hosting a Friday party at Icon in Astoria.
29) Jasmine Rice LaBeija
The diva who’s clearly taking over the city is is entirely unafraid to speak her mind–whether it’s to take down a queen who crosses her, clap back at a pageant judge who didn’t favor her, put a non-paying employer in his place, criticize the “No Fats No Fems No Asians” culture of Basic Gaydom, and even a bit of self-depreciation here and there. We live for the Extra, but what keeps us coming to all the gigs each week is the talent. Bitch is funny, fashionably fierce and ferociously smart, encompassing both the gritty old school queens of golden age drag and the polished new school. Plus, the classically trained opera singer can siiiiiiiing. The gigs: Sunday with Brita Filter at Hardware, Mondays with Pissi Myles at Rise, alternating Tuesdays with Sucia hosting karaoke at Boxers Washington Heights, Thursdays at Pieces, and Fridays back at Hardware with Izzy Uncut.
28)
Here’s a hilarious veteran comedy queen and hostess who’s always showed fierce loyalty to her employers… most recently following the gogo boy troupe Spunk after they vacated the Fairytail Lounge’s Saturday party she hosted, and also standing by The Monster during their recent troubles. She continues hosting her long-running Wednesday show at The Monster as well as a new Saturday Spunk party there–and Sundays she hosts the Pieces Spunk party down the street. Holly also keeps Industry’s QUEEN machine going as its showrunner, and joins Bootsie LeFaris, Pixie Aventura and Brenda Dharling on select Fridays for the still super-successful Distorted Diznee at the Beechman.
27) Bootsie LeFaris
One of the city’s hardest working and most professional queens, Bootsie doesn’t come to play… even when she’s being a politically incorrect, lowbrow goofball who’s unafraid to make herself look ridiculous. Our gurl always brings the funny, whether she’s Ratchet Hillbilly Ho or Mother of the Church of Celine Dion. Get your LeFaris fix at the Voss Events Drag Brunch at the Highline Ballroom, Legend Wednesdays at Rise, QUEEN at Industry select Thursdays, Super Size Queen Fridays at Hardware (and also Distorted Diznee at the Beechman on select Fridays), Sinful Saturdays for the past five years at Pieces, and basically any place that has the coin and needs a Bootsie.
26) The Urban Bear
The bears are the kings of these woods, henny! Robert Valin’s nightlife (and daylife) community is dedicated to all things large, hairy and masc (although the definition of what a “bear” is is certainly not limited to those identifiers anymore). With both weekly and monthly parties at Rockbar, a new monthly affair at The Brass Monkey and the annual Urban Bear Weekend that gets bigger and bearier ever year, these animals have found themselves at the top of the food chain.
25) The Ritz
Still the favorite destination for HK baby thots to dance and hook up, the two-story bar with the killer new sound system brings famed DJs from across the world to come and play, along with their rotating roster of excellent residents. There is also no shortage of hot guys (bartenders, gogo boys and patrons who might as well be gogo boys) and amazing queens (Digna and Nick Gaga in the hosting committee, Maddelynn Hatter and the cast of TURNt Wednesdays, etc.). The party never stops, seven days a week.
24) Kizha Carr
This stage and screen actor made good on her threat to return to drag full time after her run with The Book of Mormon on Broadway ran its course, and we couldn’t be happier for it. The brilliant makeup artist, fun-as-all-hell performer and well-respected queen among peers has new gigs all over town – in addition to her long-running Sunday show at Industry, which was the only drag show we could see her in during her Mormon stint. Now there are also Tuesdays at Barracuda, Wednesdays with Pixie Aventura for The Help at Therapy, and Fridays at Boxers Washington Heights.
23) DJ 2Face
New York’s most recognizable, two-time GLAM winning DJ (nominated a third time this year) and budding fashionista will probably take your requests at the booth, just don’t be so damn basic about it! And respect the fact that he works practically every night, at the best spots with some of the best known people in the biz.
22)
Brooklyn’s busiest queen had a major health scare this year, and it seemed for a minute there nightlife was gonna be a little less Merrie. But Da Bitch Is Back after a mere month of convalescence, and better than ever! See the mother of high-concept fashion, electrifying performance and major event production (including the Brooklyn Nightlife Awards) turn it all over the borough, notably as the host of the monthly pageant Dragnet at Metro and her own solo monthly show Pop My Cherry at Macri Park. And we hear that even bigger things are in the future for this queen among queens!
21) Ladyfag
The long-established Queen of the Night remains a sort of Pope figure for all the fashion / art / dance kids of the scene, and her main church these days is the monthly Battle Hymn in Chelsea. Ladyfag’s Ladyland Queer Music Festival at the Brooklyn Mirage (which had a lineup that included Eve, Kim Petras and Sophie) was one of the more innovative Pride destinations this summer, and her devotees are anxiously awaiting the December return of her revered monthly soiree Holy Mountain in its new Brooklyn destination, Avant Gardner.
20)
With Sherry Vine leaving town, this fashionably flawless opera diva takes ownership of the Longest Working Queen of NYC title. Which isn’t at all to say that she’s slowing down anytime soon: her weekly Shequida Show Thursday nights at Hardware remains one of the country’s most attended drag shows that major queens from across the world are lining up to guest star in, the Monday night Pieces competition Drag Wars she hosts has become a vital staple for new talent in the city, she runs the Voss Events Sunday Drag Brunch at the Highline Ballroom, and she frequently performs with fellow nightlife legends for the McKittrick Hotel’s Bartschland Follies on Friday nights. (Oh, and she’s probably the highest paid queen in the city, but you didn’t here that form us!)
19) Brian Rafferty
If you are a tried-and-true circuit queen in New York, you have a very different tHOTlist than what you’re reading now and this guy is probably your number one. With a long career in nightlife, the founder of Brian Rafferty Productions is currently best known for bringing the sex-drenched monthly circuit party phenom TRADE and its several incarnations to the venues in town that can still house it – like Times Square’s Rosewood Theater – and to lucky cities across the country.
18) Paige Turner
Classy vintage girlie looks, potty mouthed-yet-still-clever song parodies, occasional touching moments, lots of surprise naked guys and a rabid fanbase are the hallmarks of this massively popular longtime queen, both in her bar shows (Slurp Sundays at Therapy, and now Broadway Mondays with Sutton Lee Seymour & Cacophony Daniels at Hardware) and in her scripted stage shows. After a long relationship with the Laurie Beechman Theatre, Paige has mixed things up a bit by bringing her latest Christmas show to Yotel’s Green Room 42.
17)
One of New York’s best (and best known) drag hostesses has been going strong for some three years now, rocking us with giant wigs and costumes and the biggest (most expensive) smile in the business… even as her waistline shrinks (do we detect a pattern with big queens getting slimmer here?), Making appearances all over the country (as of this writing, she’s at the Austin International Drag Festival) and all the city’s star galas and private events you wanted to go to, Brita still manages to keep one of the city’s fullest weekly show schedules. Catch our “anything but pure” comedienne Sundays (with Jasmine Rice) and Tuesdays at Hardware, Wednesdays (with Honey Davenport) at Boxers Washington Heights, Thursdays (with Lagoona Bloo & Rosé) at Therapy and Fridays (with Ruby Roo) at Pieces.
16) Club Cumming
Despite a massively successful first year that put the small, eclectic bar and venue on the international map, Club Cumming almost ceased to exist earlier this year when a licensing snafu paralyzed their live performance calendar for months
(although the bar’s flagship performers did have a guest presence at Fire Island’s Community House this summer). But the club’s unique fanbase–a true and rare cross section of queers and straights, locals and tourists–kept loyal through a long stretch of silence and Spotify playlists. When the error was finally corrected, The Good Wife star Alan Cumming’s club roared back into life with more ferocity and weirdness then ever before. Now sporting drag, cabaret, comedy, dance parties, burlesque, readings, a knitting circle and a guy who paints with his penis as regular attractions to their small but mighty stage, the infinite possibilities of the space have created more excitement in NYC nightlife than nearly anything else. Recent reports have had Paul McCartney, Vanessa Williams, Emma Stone, Kesha and even Monica Lewinsky come through and at times actually perform impromptu. So if you come on the right night when the stars and planets align, Club Cumming could give you stories you’d actually tell your grandkids. But maybe leave out the ones about the penis painting guy. [photo: @jeffreycampagna]
15) Honey Davenport
Everyone who knows Honey understood how difficult it was for her to walk away from Manster, the long-running party at The Monster she hosted with DJ Mitch Ferrino, and to do it so publicly at that. She’s been a consummate professional who only wanted to entertain since the beginning of her drag career. But those who knew her best were aware that she also has convictions, and the time came when she had to take a stand against not only a moronically racist statement from the Monster’s general manager (regarding black men pictured in a Manster flyer), but also all queer culture’s infrequently discussed racial problems. She didn’t solve those problems, of course, but she got us talking. And she also kept us laughing and living at all her other gigs, which are multiplying faster than Gremlins on Christmas (right now it’s rotating Gay College Tuesdays at the Ritz, Wednesdays at both ReBar and Boxers Washington Heights, and Fridays at Paradise in Asbury Park). 2019 will undoubtedly be the biggest year of her career thus far… and few queens are more deserving of success than she.
14) Barracuda & Industry
Sisters bars in different neighborhoods with opposite decors, there’s still lots in common with Bob Pontarelli’s gay properties: many of the same queens (among the best in Manhattan) doing world famous shows, cute bar staffs and cash only policies to name just a few. Chelsea’s Barracuda first opened its doors 33 years ago, and even with the recent loss of the world’s tackiest wallpaper decorating the stage remains charmingly kitschy… while boasting some of the city’s most important shows like the long-running Star Search now hosted by Tina Burner. Industry Bar in HK is newer and swankier, but with shows like the huge revue QUEEN has become just as vital to drag and nightlife. It would be impossible to get the full gay NY experience without a visit to both of these places… just remember to bring cash!
13) Daniel Nardicio
Club Cumming’s entertainment director has had a long and storied history of producing nightlife events. He and his production company DWorld are known for favoring the raunchiest parties he can get away with, but also building nights around divas ranging from local favorite
to folk hero
to Liza Minnelli. Besides ushering Club Cumming through its Dark Period earlier this year – and also honoring his departed friend, legendary nightlife comic
Robbyne Kaamil – Nardicio embarked on a massive venture with his recent purchase of Bedlam Bar on the East Village’s Avenue C. It’s going to be a tough sell to get nightlifers to come that far south, but based on his own history and his willingness to try anything (including *ahem* Thotyssey’s own brand new Viva Variety Tuesday night show), it should be another huge win for both Daniel and the scene. Bonus: he still has the cutest Nightlife Dog ever.
12) Pixie Aventura
Whether she was turning it on the massive outdoor stage alongside legends of the scene for this summer’s surprise Wigstock revival, or performing at this year’s Obie Awards with host and idol John “Chi-Chi“ Leguizamo, or hosting her slew of popular weekly shows (Sundays at Barracuda, Tuesdays at Hardware, Wednesdays at Therapy and select Fridays at the Beechman for Distorted Diznee), Pixie has reminded the world that she’s arguably New York’s best drag performer, as if it needed reminding. A diva in the truest sense of the word – huge personality and charisma to match her talent and quest for perfection – Miss Aventura, who is best known for her dancing but really brings every damn thing to the table, is the shining star of the nightlife sky.
11) John Blair, Jake Resnicow & Alan Picus
The four masters behind most of New York’s largest and most popular circuit parties, Blair (co-owner of Rise Bar), Resnicow (Producer of the Life Ball) and Picus (BoiParty) keep the thots sweaty and entranced by the thousands. Between various combinations of the three (along with tons of high profile promoters in their employment), we get M.E.A.T. at the Highline Ballroom every month and a few pop-up events scattered across the city, like December’s launch of Laboratory at the new Chelsea Music Hall.
10) The Eagle NYC
Still the best place in NYC for boys to be boys, men to be men and Leather Daddies to leash up their Pups, the Eagle represents the best of a trailblazing gay scene we don’t see as much of nowadays, but need around in order to keep that level of kink and roleplay alive in the subculture. The leather and fetishist communities found at the Eagle represent a tight-knit and vital queer community.
9) Horrorchata
The Queen of All Brooklyn Nightlife Today and the founder and producer of the annual Bushwig festival–which put Brooklyn nightlife on the map–continues her colorful, fashionable rule over her borough. Although not often performing herself these days, and too busy with international versions of Bushwig to experiment much with new nightlife events here in NYC, Horrorchata still brings us the epic monthlies Be Cute at Littlefield and Yas Mama at C’Mon Everybody, while spinning the weekly party CAKES at Metro and sundry other DJ gigs throughout the month.
8) Tina Burner
We hate having to crop a Tina pic because there is always a full lewk to gag over, and summarizing her contributions to the city’s nightlife could never be done in just a blurb like this either. As the current host of Barracuda’s long-running drag competition Star Search and the creator of the annual Miss Barracuda pageant, Tina fosters so much young drag talent in the city. As the hostess of Industry’s new Monday night show and Barracuda’s Wednesday Gurlesque revue, as well as her Saturday and Sunday brunches at Intermezzo and her One Woman Show at Hardware on Saturdays (not to mention her summer dominance of Cherrys on Fire Island), she exemplifies why New York drag is the country’s best. As a non-stop co-designer of her nightly and pageant looks which can range from the sublime to the ridiculous, she reveals how far the art form can be taken as a visual medium. As a national Comedy Queen finalist and our current reigning Miss Fire Island, she lets us all know that she’s a key player in not just the city’s scene, but the world’s. Unapologetically outspoken and larger than life while 100% devoted to her craft and the social responsibilities of drag in the queer community, Tina is the “drag queeniest” drag queen of them all… and we love her for it!
7) Stonewall
Our current President may have at one point wanted to overturn the ruling which made this bar a national landmark just to spite his predecessor, but that wouldn’t de-emphasize the importance of this destination to the LGBT movement at large. The birthplace of gay rights remains both a vital community center (featuring political rallies and fundraisers, theater and arts events) and a nightlife hub (weekend dance parties, karaoke, a seasonal singing competition, weekly and monthly drag shows including the career-making, different-featured-queen-per-week Stonewall Invasion). The staff (and the staff of its neighboring sister bar The Duplex) still come across as a giant family, and on their best nights they make their patrons – tourists and locals alike – feel like family as well.
6)
You may have noticed that some of your nightlife friends have become a lot more politically active and aware on social media these days, which of course is largely to do with necessity for survival thanks to the current administration. But it also can be traced to the visibility and persistence of this queen, who aside from being the founder of the Hell’s Kitchen Democrats and a major campaign fundraising figure for Cynthia Nixon’s gubernatorial run is also seated in the mayoral appointed Nightlife Advisory Committee. Marti is keenly aware of who or what we should be voting for to best protect our community, and she’s not afraid to tell us what we need to know. And what’s amazing is, she’s able to keep up with her responsibilities on the political front while still juggling a motherload of drag gigs: Sunday happy hour bingo at Pieces followed by a late show at Hardware, Monday nights at Therapy, Wednesday nights at Rise Bar, and lots of other pop-up shows and appearances all across town. Few people in the biz can turn the dial on and off between serious / hopeful activist to absolute drag clown with more success than Marti, who was just included in an even more prominent list than this one: the Out 100.
5) Macri Park & Metropolitan Bar
Having just celebrated their third and fifteenth anniversaries respectively, the smaller Macri Park and its nearby Big Sister institution Metro are the standard for what makes drag great in Brooklyn… whether its drag-infused parties or full on shows. They remain the only places in the borough where you can still see the scene’s pioneers perform on a regular basis, as most of them–Ruby Roo, Ragamuffin, Rify Royalty, Alotta McGriddles, etc.–have branched out into Manhattan gigs. And Metro’s the best place in the city to see visiting Drag Race queens and famous out-of-town performers do their thing in a surprisingly intimate setting. If you haven’t experienced these bars yet, than you don’t know the full story of NY drag and nightlife.
4) Susanne Bartsch
The Godmother of Nightlife is finally getting the credit she deserves as a vital figure of pop culture at large, having helped define a whole scene as Music plus Fashion equals Living Art. This year saw another successful run of her weekly summer party at LeBain; the creation of the Bartschland Follies weekly performance series at the McKittrick Hotel (fittingly the home of Sleep No More) featuring the likes of Amanda Lepore, Murray Hill, Joey Arias and other nightlife legends who Bartsch helped establish; the random kiki blowouts KUNST and 3 Dollar Bill’s new Play Now plus her famous annual Halloween affair at MoMA PS1. And then of course, there was the release of Susanne Bartsch: On Top, a much-discussed documentary biopic. Presenting the highest quality of nightlife in terms of art and music and community, Bartschland remains the golden standard.
3) Boxers
With a fit, shirtless staff, some tasty bar food and and sporty-esque atmosphere, Boxers in Chelsea established itself as a simple-yet-effective brand destined to be a chain of the Gay Hooters variety several years ago. It’s since done just that, with a very popular Hell’s Kitchen site and one all the way out in Philly. This year, the Boxers franchise fought the good fight and won, having earned two new uptown locations in the Upper East Side and Washington Heights. Both the new spots strayed from brand slightly with the inclusion of drag shows (and big ones at that), but nonetheless the company’s successful formula seems to offer infinite franchise possibilities.
2) Pieces & Hardware
An important West Village destination founded in the 90s, the narrow Pieces began as a cruisy karaoke dive and evolved into a destination for great drag and dance parties. Its younger Hell’s Kitchen sister Hardware has become something of a drag institution in recent years, establishing some of the city’s best shows and many of RuPaul’s Drag Race’s recent contestants and winners. With a sexy and charming staff of bartenders and DJs that cross between the two venues all week, neighborhood snobs break their habits and follow them between HK and the West Village pretty regularly. Owners Eric Einstein and Justin Buchanan recently acquired the West Village’s vacated Boots & Saddle property (which they will revamp and rename) as well as a new Hell’s Kitchen venue, both set to open in 2019; it’ll be exciting to see how the city’s nightlife further evolves when that happens.
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The nightlife impresario and entrepreneur behind the wildly successful Westgay at the Westway has been making things happen for quite some time, but really seemed to take 2018 as his own. Let’s review! In 2018, Frankie has: 1) maintained Metrosensual, the Saturday night party at Metropolitan Bar featuring guest spots from RuGirls and buzzworthy performers the world over; 2) established MARY, a raw and electrifying musical revue with a full band and large cast of singers, now a popular monthly happening at Club Cumming; 3) took charge of ReBar’s Friday nights with the sexy party BOYS; 4) became the programming director of Brooklyn’s cavernous new nightlife hub, 3 Dollar Bill, where in a few short weeks he’s already whipped up a dizzying calendar of drag shows, dance parties, live concerts and sexy soirées; 5) maintained his persona as a sharp-dressed, sexy AF personality and DJ on the scene. Basically, we all want to be Frankie on some level… we just don’t perceive that we could ever possibly have the time, talent, resources, connections and sheer force of will that Frankie has. He’s the whole package, and the living embodiment of what a person with vision can accomplish in this town.
Thotyssey 