[For more context, read “A Re-Introduction to the tHOTlist” from 1.23.2025]
We don’t know what the future holds for New York nightlife, for the queer community in general, or for the country as a whole. It’s going to be a wild ride, to say the least. But the scene’s entire history has been about survival and adaption. We did spend a lot of 2024 balking about how little money everyone was making, how seemingly fewer people were coming out, how stale a lot of the entertainment had gotten, and how oversaturated the scene had become with its arguable excess of bars and drag queens since the post-lockdown boom. That was all kind of a bummer to live through.
But we also saw a lot of great stuff: the continued rise of drag kings and things, the appreciation of queens and all performers and producers were experimenting with new forms or just becoming more excellent at what they’ve been doing, the infusion of elaborate non-alcoholic “mocktail” menus that could draw non-drinkers back into the fold, and some fascinating new venues that are filled with promise. And honestly in this normally dire and frigid month of January when business is at a normal slowdown, people seem to be steadily coming back out in noticeable numbers. Perhaps much like with crises past, impending doom brings people over their socially deficient hurdles in search of real community.
Thotyssey decided to bring back it’s very subjectively complied tHOTlist, last seen in 2021, to make sense of it all in this crucial hour. It’s not definitive, but it’s vast and detailed. Maybe some of these entries will create new awareness and fanfare for some folks; maybe some omissions will generate a swelling of attention to those snubbed. But most likely, it’ll just give me a few more subscribers and followers that will lead to more eyeballs on my daily published event calendar, which will benefit everybody.
Okay, now that I’m sure everyone has read every word of this intro, let’s move on to our first entry that I’m sure will generate no ridicule or reaction whatsoever!
Intro
#500-451 | #450-401 | #400-351
#350-301 | #300-251 | #250-201
#200-151 | #150-101 | #100-51
#50-1 | Previous tHOTlists
Thotyssey 