Heather Fontaine @ Queen Mary Drag Show Bar
YouTube
If
there ever was, a transgender Mecca that required our pilgrimage it was
the “Queen Mary” Nightclub in Studio City, California. For those of us on
the east coast it carried legendary significance. If any of our
friends went west they always visited and brought back stories. Get a
group together and the question would always come up ““Did any of you
ever get to visit the Queen Mary?”
My first time there was in the late ’80 and it was all I had envisioned it would
be. A great show, with many of “us” in attendance and place to hang
out after the show – the back bar. As much as we do not talk about it,
many of us built our confidence going out to drag bars. Somewhere we
could go dressed and maybe meet the occasional transgender like us.
Yes, be ourselves for an ever to short evening.
So, long live my memories of the “Queen Mary”. Too bad, it is never more.
Los Angeles Time, July 6, 1992
"Who hates wearing pantyhose?" sniffs the Joan Rivers look-alike, doing that ribald, let's-bare-it-all-ladies humor Rivers is famous for.
About a dozen hands go up in the audience. "Good. Now how about the girls?"
This kind of gender-bending humor has been a staple at the Queen Mary in Studio City for 29 years, making it the second oldest show bar featuring female impersonators in the United States. Only Finocchios in San Francisco has been operating longer.
While I have never been to the Queen Mary I do feel most comfortable in LGBT friendly establishments. I am glad (perhaps with a touch of envy) with your ability to engage in the civilian world as nicely as you do. As for me I like to consider that I am still in my 'confidence building' stage that you mention in this post.
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