Drag Club Races to Open by New Year's Eve

The sounds of power tools and hammering reverberate inside the confines of the former Club Caliente in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood.

Piled against a wall are discarded building materials stripped from the nightclub's interior, which has been closed since March 2010. Following days of rain last week, water pools on the ground due to leaks in the roof that needed to be patched up.

In the middle of what once was the dance floor are piles of construction materials. Half a dozen workers are busy building out a new stage, bar areas, and unisex bathrooms.

"Things are happening so quickly. Everyday I get here and a new wall has gone up," said Jason Beebout, part of the quartet that is turning the 6,000 square foot space into a new home for drag shows, gay dance parties, and cabaret acts. "The last week has been insane."

Beebout, a straight bartender and lead singer of punk group Samiam, is the designated project manager among the four friends racing to open the venue in time for New Year's Eve in order to host its first event. Tuesday night, December 16, the city's entertainment commission voted to grant the club's owners the permits they need to operate as a nightlife venue with live performances.
The four partners in the new SF Oasis club and cabaret are, from left, Jason Beebout, Geoff Benjamin, D'Arcy Drollinger, and Heklina. Photo: Rick Gerharter

Dubbed SF Oasis, it will become the permanent home for weekly Saturday night drag shows hosted by famed local drag queen Heklina, one of the co-owners of the club. Formerly known as Trannyshack, the racy and risqu� drag shows have been rechristened Mother and will debut January 17.

After coming under fire from activists who considered the show's inaugural name to be transphobic, Heklina announced in the spring she would change it. During a tour of the new club space Friday, December 12, Heklina told the Bay Area Reporter she settled on Mother because of its double entendre meaning.

"It not only refers to becoming a drag mother, it is the mother ship of drag in San Francisco," said Heklina, whose given name is Stefan Grygelko. "It also provides for lots of great imagery for posters and photo shoots."

The opening of SF Oasis will end a yearslong effort by Heklina to own and operate her own nightclub. She and her business partners looked at several spaces in the Castro and had put in an offer to operate another nightclub on the 11th Street corridor but were rejected.

Once they settled on the former Caliente space, they discovered a recent zoning change for that area of SOMA allowed them to open a bar there but not book live acts. After Heklina publicly complained that the area's supervisor, Jane Kim, was moving too slowly to fix the problem, the up-for-re-election Kim introduced legislation to rewrite the rules, which were adopted this fall.

Asked last week how she is feeling as the opening night fast approaches, Heklina said she is mostly excited that it is finally happening.

"Now I am scared and anxious but still excited," said Heklina.

Along with Beebout, the other members of the ownership group are consultant Geoff Benjamin, a gay married father of two, and actor and choreographer D'Arcy Drollinger, a gay man who was an early performer at Trannyshack.

"For me it's been something I always wanted," said Drollinger, who moved back from New York City three years ago and joined with Heklina to mount drag shows at the former Rebel club space on Market Street. "This allows us to take chances to be theatrical. It is a hybrid of a drag club, theater, and cabaret space."

Drollinger will be remounting his own show, a drag spoof of the 1970s low-budget exploitation films called class=fsl>Shit & Champagne, at the club January 8. It will be the inaugural theatrical production there. He also plans to mount monthly nighttime versions of his popular SexiTude dance classes at the new club.

"We want to bring people here, especially younger audiences, who want to see these types of shows and not be priced out like at other venues," said Drollinger.

Added Benjamin, "I really believe we are going to transform nightlife in San Francisco."

Going against the grain

The opening of a major gay nightlife venue in San Francisco is a rare occurrence these days. In recent years the city has witnessed the closures of several gay bars, such as Marlena's and Esta Noche, with lesbian bar the Lexington Club soon to join the list.

Benjamin said the business partners are well aware they are "pushing against the grain" in their effort to see that gay nightlife continues to have a home in San Francisco.

"That is why the name Oasis makes so much sense," he said. "There is still a market and a demand for gay culture."

Also, the name is "not too campy," noted Heklina, who joked her business partners nixed going with just her name or another suggestion she had of calling it the Rim Chair. By opting for a more straightforward name, outside event producers and club promoters will not be gun shy about using it for their own parties, she said.

"Our intention is to make this an oasis in a city getting gentrified all the time," said Heklina.

The name also harkens back to when the club was first known as the Oasis in the early 1980s. The new owners have been scouring the GLBT Historical Society's archives to learn about the history of the corner site at 298 11th Street at Folsom.

They have been able to determine that the first gay bar to operate there was called the Covered Wagon, which hosted male-only parties for members of the Longhorn Club. It also featured an outdoor pool.

By the mid-1970s it was known as the Leatherneck Bar. Then it became a private club with the pool area known as the Plunge and a smaller bar area accessed from 11th Street dubbed Dirty Sally's. According to a flier the new owners posted to their Facebook page for the club, by 1979 it had become the Drummer Club and the Drummaster Bar.

By the 1980s it was rechristened the Oasis. Two decades later Annie A. Berthiaume bought the property and renamed it Club Caliente and the back bar as VSF. It targeted a largely straight Latino clientele, but issues with police and the gentrification of the 11th Street corridor led to the club's demise.

Berthiaume put the property up for sale, and according to the online site RealtyTrac, it sold in September for $2,850,000. The buyer, according to Benjamin, is Joe Carouba, who is straight and president of BSC Management, a consulting and management company that manages 10 adult clubs in the San Francisco area.

Benjamin said he and his partners have a 20-year lease for the nightclub space. They first gained access to it October 1 and construction started shortly thereafter.

While they declined to state how much the build out is costing - Heklina joked it is "$25,000 to $30,000 a minute" - Benjamin said the bones of the building are "strong."

"It is more than we thought but less than you'd think," he said. "We are keeping enough where it was but making it look better and upgrading the elements in there."

David Marks, owner of Room 4, is designing the club's interior look. The main entrance for the new club will be off 11th Street, where the owners are building a ticket booth in front of the back bar area. Patrons will then encounter a bar on the left of the lounge-like space, dubbed the Fez Room, and on their right will be stairs leading to a small mezzanine where two unisex bathrooms are being built.

At the end of the room is a built-in oversized red leather banquette, a remnant from the nightclub's former days, that will remain, as will two wall mounted lamps made to resemble torches found elsewhere in the room.

A doorway between the bar and seating area leads past a new, larger bar area being constructed under a large skylight. To the right will be a small lounge area with a built-in square-shaped banquette next to the entrance for a larger unisex bathroom that will feature five vintage sinks.

The larger bar area opens onto the new dance floor/seating area for cabaret shows. To the left is where the DJ booth and sound and lighting tech area will be. A smaller satellite bar is also being added to the area.

Two storage spaces are being built along the left side, one for tables and chairs and the other to house a baby grand piano. The club expects to have between 140 and 160 seats for cabaret or theatrical shows.

At the end of the room will be a brand new 24 feet wide and 13 feet deep stage. Off to the right of the stage in the back is a sizeable dressing room with private bathroom for the various performers to utilize.

There is also a rooftop the club owners are contemplating how to utilize. A clubhouse-like room on the roof is envisioned to one day be the private dressing room for Drollinger and Heklina.

The ownership team researched numerous dressing rooms at theaters and clubs around the country, said Drollinger, and took the best ideas to devise their own.

"We know performers often have to change in an electrical closet or bathroom stall, so we wanted to create a good environment across the board. A good stage, really nice dressing room and professional light and sound guys," he said.

Providing such amenities, added Heklina, "is a big selling point for artists, especially to get cabaret acts in here."

Already, drag performers Matthew Martin, Dina Martina, and Trixxie Carr, as well as transgender vocalist Our Lady J, have announced shows at the space in January. Swagger Like Us, a queer hip-hop dance and live performance event hosted by Kelly Lovemonster with Resident DJs davO and boy_friend, are throwing a party called Double Duchess at the space next month.

Unlike with most cabaret venues, there will not be a two-drink minimum at shows. Beebout, who will oversee the bar staff and cocktail menu, promises a classic drink menu with reasonable pricing.

"We want a price point where people can enjoy themselves without going broke," he said.

When the 21-and over venue is used for dance events, the capacity will be about 400 people.

"This is the largest gay venue in the city, I believe," said Benjamin.

The club owners decided to shoot for a December 31 opening since it is a major party night and will allow them to test out the space, staff, and equipment prior to when the drag shows and cabaret acts kick off in January.

"It sounded realistic to open in that time frame and it still does. We all agreed it was the way to go and open with a bang," said Heklina. "Plus, I would be lying if I said I didn't need the cash."

And if not all of the construction is complete by New Year's Eve, Heklina said they can use decorations to hide the rough patches.

"Spoken like a true drag queen," added Benjamin. "More rouge and taffeta on everything!"

To learn more about the venue, and to purchase tickets to upcoming shows and parties at SF Oasis, visit http://www.sfoasis.com/ class=fsl>.