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"Out Late" is Time Out's nightlife and party column by DJ, Whorechata founder, and Staff Writer Ian Kumamoto, which will publish every other Tuesday. The previous edition highlighted Bias, a K-Pop rave at Market Hotel.
When the Red Pavilion, a Bushwick venue that evokes the nostalgic glow of Wong Kar-wai films and the charm of Prohibition-era Shanghai, opened, it was as much a new place to party as it was a political statement: Coming at the tail end of a series of anti-Asian attacks across the city, there was a renewed thirst for spaces that were blatant in putting the AAPI community first.
At Red Pavilion’s opening party last March, local drag queen Felicia Oh, and two of her closest drag sisters, Kekoa and Kanika Peach, decided to check it out. Like many others since, they were enamored by the red lanterns that have come to define the venue, the Chinese medicine-inspired seasonal cocktails (think: tequila tamarind blend with a Sichuan chili powder rim), and the overall sense that there was a community supporting the project. They pitched doing a monthly all-Asian drag show there, and the owner was ecstatic. The ensuing product, the Red Lantern District, is a nod to the raunchy, sex-forward neighborhood in Amsterdam, and has become a staple of the venue one year on.
Although Asian visibility in nightlife is definitely improving, NYC queer nightlife—which, by the way, is still largely run by cis, straight, white men—is fraught with a certain type of post-2020 woke tokenism. Felicia tells me that in most of the shows she’s booked, she’s the only Asian performer. “It’s very rare that I’ll get booked with another Asian queen in the same show,” she says. There’s a sense that producers feel like there has to be an Asian drag queen for optics reasons. “I wanted to create a space where we can all be celebrated and it’s not just one or the other. We all bring so much uniqueness to the table.” Red Lantern District creates an opportunity to appreciate the full range of Asian drag, not just the tip that you might get in a run of the mill drag show in Hell's Kitchen.
It’s very rare that I’ll get booked with another Asian queen in the same show.
As for the format of the show, expect several numbers by the three queens, followed by performances by special guests. The intermission leaves some time for dancing and socializing. At the end, the queens play a game of drag roulette, where audience members choose songs for the Felicia, Kekoa, and Kanika Peach to perform on the spot. Don’t expect a traditional dance party here—the performances take center stage. I think it's a great place to appreciate some of the best drag in the city while having amazing cocktails if you’re trying to have a more low-key but still great night. If you’re looking for a sweatier, more dance-centered party, it’s the perfect stopover before a Basement or Elsewhere moment down the block.
I went to Red Lantern District’s March 22 party, which, per Felicia, “was one for the books.” The party was extra special because Felicia screened a short film, “A Love Letter to Asian Women,” which is a heartfelt confessional in which she imagines coming out as a drag queen to her Taiwanese parents. This night also had one of the biggest guest performers the collective has ever had: Nymphia Wind, the Taiwanese drag queen who is a finalist on the current season of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
If Asian queer people once felt invisible, this is a place where they’re reminded that the concept of visibility itself is relative.
Although I’ve been to other Red Lantern District shows before, this one in particular felt like it exemplified the ethos of the collective as a place of healing. If Asian queer people once felt invisible, this is a place where they’re reminded that the concept of visibility itself is relative—queer Asians exist, and they’re everywhere. One of the most famous drag queens in the world right now is Asian; Asian queers in Brooklyn have an entire venue dedicated to them; and one Bushwick collective is tying all the diasporic pieces together.
When I ask her about what her biggest ambitions for the future, Felicia says she hopes to one day take the show home. “It would be a dream to go to Asia,” she tells me. “To be able to go back to Taiwan and produce my own show, because my parents still don't know that I do drag. I look forward to the day I show up in drag and my parents are in the audience and they can see that this is a valid, legitimate form of art.”
An hour-by-hour account of a night at Red Lantern District
11:15pm
I arrive with a group of five friends and there’s a line wrapped around the block. I go to the front of the line and I tell the security guard that we’re on the guest list. He doesn’t seem impressed. I tell him I know Felicia. He remains unfazed.
Out of a desperation that I find embarrassing in retrospect, I yell “I’m with Time Out!” He raises his eyebrows, “checks” the list again and lets me and some—but not all—of my friends in.
11:30pm
It’s getting really crowded. There are a lot of people who are here to see Nymphia Wind, who just made it to the top three in this season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Unlike other Red Lantern District shows I’ve been to in the past, there’s plenty of straight people now, usually an indicator that a party is getting bigger, and also a testament to the cultural power of RuPaul's show.
On the stage, there’s a projection screen set up. I wait in line to get to the bar and order a tequila soda and martini for my friend.
11:50pm
My other friends who were left behind finally somehow make it in.
12am
Kekoa, Kanika Peach, and Felicia get on stage to announce the screening of A Love Letter to Asian Women. The entire crowd is silent as the movie plays. In it, Felicia reads a letter that she wrote for her parents in which she comes out as a drag queen. It’s heart-wrenching and funny and just … perfect. I am very impressed that Felicia got dozens of drunk strangers to be completely silent for a film on a Friday night at midnight, but somehow she did it.
12:10am
The performances, as always, are rowdy and amazing. There is dancing on the bar, one of the queens walking two people with pup masks on a leash, an Ariana Grande song.
Then Nymphia Wind goes on and the crowd erupts. She’s having a huge moment, and we’re all in the eye of the storm. People are crowding around her and it’s hard to see, but she’s dressed in her now-iconic banana yellow, and I can see her arms flailing over the top of people’s heads. She gets on the bar and dances on heels and it becomes clear that she deserves to be the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race (don’t come for me).
12:20am
There’s an intermission and Baejing, a drag queen DJ, is tearing up the decks. At first, people dance in their little circles and then branch out to mix with the strangers dancing so closely around them. There’s so many people here that people are doing their best to keep their balance dancing on their steps that lead up the stage.
The music is a mix of pop, EDM and some hip-hop.
12:40am
I run into Felicia and we talk for a bit. She’s had an amazing night but needs to get ready for her next number.
1am
I’m feeling tired so I wait in the long line to retrieve my coat.
How to catch the next Red Lantern District party
Where: Red Pavilion (1241 Flushing Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn)
When: Every month, and the next one is on May 25.
Cost: $20
How to get in: Buy a ticket whenever they drop a link. Keep an eye on their Instagram.
The vibe: Relaxed and entertaining.
What to wear: Whatever you want (per Felicia).