Previous: #150-101
100. Gloria Swansong
99. Phil Chanel
The Jersey-based event producer and host is best known for the pivotal Polish The Queen drag competition at Stonewall, but was busy this year helming events at ReBar, Bedlam, Sall Restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen and other spots as well.
98. Lady Bunny
Even the most jaded and seasoned among us can’t help but sometimes be like the other lady in this much-memed pic, gawking at the splendor of New York’s (and Earth’s, really) most famous Golden Age drag queen and her towering coifs. Entirely un-P.C. and unfiltered, Bunny’s had a long career of marching to the beat of her own drum–on her own planet–that we can learn from and respect. Whether she’s getting banned from Twitter for playfully calling Bianca Del Rio a “lezzer” or staunchly Bernie Bro-ing, Bunny can be a controversial figure to some… but that just makes her all the more important to nightlife. Besides DJing disco tea dances at Monster and RuGirl revues for Voss Events, and touring with her new comedy stage show Pig In A Wig, this year our Lady was the lead subject of WIG. HBO’s documentary covered her groundsbreaking drag festival Wigstock and its massive 2018 reboot, and seeing archive footage of a svelte and short-wigged 90’s Bunny shaking it in Tompkins Square Park is a true trip down the rabbit hole.
97. Blvck Laé D
96. Pepto Dismal
All the way from LA, this edgy queen recently performed at The Vault in Brooklyn but has otherwise become one of that borough’s go-to DJ for parties and shows.
95. Yuhua Hamasaki
94. Hot Rabbit
93. FiFi DuBois
92. Haus of Sterling
91. Shane Tate
One of the NYC Bearverse’s best known partymakers, Shane manned Key West Bear Weekend and Fire Island Bear Weekend before bringing his fan favorite weekly happy hour “Beers & Bears” back to The Ritz. He’s since transferred it over to the already bear-friendly Rockbar.
90. Mocha Lite & Misty Meaner
The longtime pair both on and off-stage have weathered all that nightlife and its destructive underbelly have thrown at them, emerging as true cult heroes of Brooklyn and Manhattan as well. And while folk heroism is surely fun, the pair are mostly just here for their mutual love of drag and entertaining people. These days, the duo hosts Queerpong Thursday nights at The Phoenix, while Mocha does shows with Lilith LeFae at Macri Park.
89. Heidi Haux
88. Occupy The Disco
One of the best known EDM and House DJ teams in the city, OxD (Josh Appelbaum, Tad Haes and RuBot) maintained their super successful seasonal residency at Le Bain–Paradisco–while bringing the beats to additional venues like Good Room, 3 Dollar Bill and the Pines Pavilion.
87. Viva Vidalia
The drag diva has been gracing us with her versatility as of late: showing off her opera-trained singing chops, her electric dance moves, and her warm, funny presence as an emcee. She also deals with as ever-expanding scope of commissions as a designer for other queens. These days, Viva is hosting karaoke and a monthly party at Boxers HK, Thotyssey’s own monthly “Viva & a Diva” at The Vault, and is now a frequent presence at Macri Park as well.
86. Nicole Onoscopi
85. Jeff Eason
No one captures images of nightlife while its actually happening better or more frequently then this veteran photog, who at any given moment can be found somewhere in Manhattan, or Fire Island, or in the pages of Get Out Magazine.
84. Shiny Penny
83. Misty Mountains Davenport
82. West Dakota
81. Diogo Ambrosio
The Brazilian bombshell is a relative newcomer to the scene, and is already producing some of the city’s most popular Latin and mixed nights, including weekend parties at various Boxers locations (Atrevete Fridays in Chelsea, Set It Off Saturdays in Washington Heights), plus the monthlies Pegate at ReBar and Fiesta Latina at Barrage.
80. Nowhere Bar
Known for a music-centric, friendly and unpretentious atmosphere, Nowhere remains the East Village staple where folks go to congregate and avoid the scene of a loud dragshow or circuit party. Not that the bar is completely devoid of sexiness (parties like Macho Mondays and Fire In The Hole feature gogo boys, and Ruffhouse is a popular fetish fest) or drag (Shiny Penny, Princess Bitch and Sandy Devastation pop in for special occasions), but the general atmosphere is something refreshlingly unique. It’s noteworthy that Nowhere is also the site of the city’s only recurring trans masc mixer (as far as far as queer bars go), SCRATCH (pictured above).
79. Ty Sunderland
The pop princess of club DJs is riding high with the continued success of his newish nightlife staple Heaven and Earth, a diva-of-the-month dance party / worshipfest at the China Chalet. Now Ty can also add the monthly Love Prism at 3 Dollar Bill to his hit parade, as well as frequent stints with Susanne Bartsch and Ladyfag.
78. Sutton Lee Seymour
As we’re writing this, we’re preparing to bid adieu to one of the city’s most beloved and bawdy Broadway comedy queens as she prepares to embark on her latest annual residency in Puerto Villarta. We’ll make due with her also amazing co-hosts from Hardware’s Broadway Mondays, Cacophony Daniels and Paige Turner, in her absence. But we’ll still be counting the seconds til her return (as will the fans of her weekly Albatross show). Hopefully she’ll bring a new scripted show back with her, like she did this last time around with the mega-entertaining DRAGFLIX.
77. Kandy Muse
76. The Nobodies
Reading the comments below the trio’s latest episode of Nobodies Watching Wrestling, their YouTube web series gay-critiquing (queertiquing?) recent matches, one really gets the impact that Ariel Italic, DJ Accident Report and Lady Bearica Andrews have had on that fandom. Their viewers seem to be mostly young, straight wrestling fans wishing love and luck to Bearica’s sobriety (which she discusses in the ep), reminding us all that sports and drag entertainment are not mutually exclusive worlds, and that wrestling fans are not completely homophobic. Likely The Nobodies’ popularity with wrestling fans (the three really do know what they’re talking about in their albeit salty commentary, after all) helped soften a bit of the homophobia that was there. And who knows… maybe they helped open the doors for the WWE’s first out wrestler? Meanwhile: the Mx. Nobody all-exclusive, drag-as-art-friendly pageant they run had a fourth successful season; Accident Report is still getting actual articles published in real magazines; Ariel and Bearica host a popular brunch at Dromedary; and the trio make several queer wrestling event appearances a year in addition to hosting a monthly dance party called Nope at the Vault.
75. Izzy Uncut
74. Alotta McGriddles
73. Magenta
72. Egypt
71. 3 Dollar Bill
Brooklyn’s cavernous, castle-esque venue is still fairly new and working out the kinks, but in certain respects has already found its groove. It doesn’t hurt to have a killer sound and light system with an actual stage for ideal live performance, a chill outdoor space, delicious Mexican food, and an overall dungeon decor that pushes carnality right to the surface. It’s the perfect spot for circuit parties (M.E.A.T.), drag shows (King Ivy’s weekly House Down Boots), balls (Leggoh LaBeija’s OTA Mondays), bigger ticket events (more and more Drag Race girls are starting to favor this younger, hipper spot for their stage shows over the same old cabaret spaces), awards shows (the Brooklyn Nightlife Awards), live music festivals (GiantFest) and immersive theater (the hit Oscar @ The Crown, pictured above). Lets hope more of the kids catch on soon enough!
70. Chauncey Dandridge
Stonewall’s house DJ was a pretty important person this past World Pride Month, providing the soundtrack for the million or so visitors who came through to celebrate one of the most important civil rights movements in the country’s history. But Chauncey’s a busy guy in general, manning the audio and lights for most of Stonewall’s shows and parties (including his own monthly live music and poetry-centric showcase Freak-Out and his annual Madonna Worship) while occasionally venturing out to DJ in spots like The Cock and Rockbar. Also a recognizable figure in the NYC Bearosphere, Mr. Dandridge helps run the events of The Urban Bear Weekend, while almost simultaneously helping to steer the Dance Parade these past few summers. Somebody let this man hibernate!
69. Miz Jade
The longtime Brooklyn beauty can do it all: dance, turn a look, destroy RuGirls with blistering Drag Race viewing party commentary, etc. Nowadays she’s hosting a Sunday weekly at Metropolitan and monthlies both there and at sister bar Macri Park, but Jade is definitely a queen who can make the children gag all over the city when the opportunity presents itself (she’s a daytime dance teacher, so a diva has only so much time to serve us).
68. Lady Simon
Although rarely revisiting the drag stage these days (he was an angsty pioneer of a certain generation of Brooklyn art queens), Lady Simon has become one of the favorite DJs for both kikis and shows thanks to his eclectic discography. Catch him in the booths of Macri Park, Metro, The Rosemont, The Vault, Happyfun Hideaway and wherever queer Brooklyn people happen to be craving out-of-the-box music.
67. David Serrano
66. Scarlet Envy
One of NYC’s most beautiful queens made for some great television. Even though she’s well-known in this city for being a kind professional, we still got five minutes in the RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11 reunion episode of cast members talking about how unlikable she was. It was kind of a gross moment–especially in a season where Silky Nutmeg Ganache hogged the bulk of camera time with tyrannical drama and was widely panned by viewers–but to her credit, our girl seemed largely unbothered. The season did showcase many of her hidden strengths: she was a skilled comedic actress in the sketch challenges, and in her quite unjustifiable elimination she cut herself out of a gold dress with scissors while her competitor (what’s her name again?) relied on the usual dipping and dropping for the win. Obviously Scarlet is busy now on the road with her castmates and without, but here’s hoping we see more of her in the city in time.
65. Logan Hardcore
64. Ritzy Bitz
New York’s most gymnastic queen is also one of our favorite brunch hostesses. In 2019 Ritzy left La Pulperia (where she hosted brunch shows in the East Side location on Saturdays and the HK location on Sundays) to start an all-new, super fun Saturday and Sunday brunch experience at Haswell Green’s. And less we forget that this queen also comes out at night on occasion, Ritzy currently co-hosts a Wednesday show with Nicole Onoscopi and Jack Barrow at the Rosé Mansion.
63. Kimmi Moore
Turnting out your Spotify with a catchy original song “One Night” (which comes with a lavish video directed by her sis Nick Gaga), Kimmi reminded us that she is more than dancing queen–although she’s pretty damn good at that as well. One half of the founding members of drag family The Assassins, Kimmi’s been electrifying audiences with killer performances at her Tuesday Pieces show and Thursday Hardware show–both co-starring that other founding Assassin, Boudoir LeFleur. And this summer, she was a main attraction at Cherry’s on Fire Island.
62. Jada Valenciaga
A musical theater actor first and foremost, Jada has spent much of the year touring and rehearsing for productions. But this textbook definition of “fierce queen” did grace us with two versions of “Gurlesque,” her show with Tina Burner and Holly Box-Springs: weekly Wednesdays at Barracuda, and also this past summer at Cherry’s on Fire Island. She’s also a castmember of both QUEEN at Industry and the Voss Events Drag Brunch at the Imperium.
61. Pattaya Hart
60. Amber Valentine
59. Ari Kiki
58. Holly Box-Springs
57. The Carry Nation
DJs Will Automagic & Nita Aviance, both legends in their own right, have enjoyed a professional partnership for several years now. Best known now for their annual residency at Brooklyn’s Good Room, the pair ignite tons of dance floors here and abroad, together and individually.
56. Shuga Cain
55. Flaming Saddles Saloon
Both nightlife insiders and eye candy-hungry tourists can’t get enough of the fairly simple gimmick that makes Flaming Saddles such a hit: cute bartenders line dancing on the actual bar. Most of the bartenders there have extensive performing backgrounds and put on a legit good show, so there’s no reason why they shouldn’t keep packing it in for years to come.
54. Charlene
While most of the subjects of HBO’s documentary WIG are veteran queens who performed alongside Lady Bunny in the earliest Wigstock festivals, Charlene’s inclusion shows us how today’s Brooklyn drag scene directly evolved from the punk counterculture of those earlier days. And really, it doesn’t get much more punk rock than this outspoken and truly iconic trans performer, who lets it all hang out literally and figuratively during her riveting performances. Check her out long-running monthly JIZZ at Metro, her occasional pop-up brunches with Tyler Ashley, the several other appearances she makes across the borough, and in music videos she appears in with artists like Colin Self and Blew Velvet.
53. Monet X Change
52. The Cock
The City’s most sextastic watering hole is still everyone’s favorite open secret in queer nightlife. With a variety of thirst traps among the bar staff and really in every dark corner of the space, there is a lot to keep us coming back to the East Village night after night.
51. Steve Sidewalk
A DJ who has always been popular with young nightlifers thanks to his pop friendly playlist and pro-request policy, Steve’s big night is Gay College Tuesdays at The Ritz (where he’s joined by host Zarria and protege DJ Mikey Mo). You can also dance to his beats at Monster, POSH, Club Feathers and Paradise among many other venues.
Continue to #50-1
