GAYLETTER

Take the day off work and head to Jacob Riis Beach in Queens for a day of sun and sand, large naked lesbians, hot Latinos and Blatinos (yum) with giant subwoofers, fresh made cocktails hand-delivered by sketchy looking dudes, and hundreds of hot hipster boys in speedos in every direction as far as the eye can see. Fuck Fire Island, fuck the Hamptons, Riis is where it’s at. It’s close enough to Brooklyn and the city that it makes day trips ridiculously easy. The water is good..enough, the crowd is as diverse as it gets and the cruising is bananas. The beach is long, but the spot to be at is in front of the abandoned mental hospital (lol). It’s to your left, if you’re facing the water. Smoke your joints discreetly, the cops love to find any opportunity to write tickets, often for drinking, or peeing in the long grass. Enjoy those sun rays while you can! Go during the week for  more relaxing experience, bring a copy of GAYLETTER magazine and you'll be in heaven.  —t&a

I was at a dinner at the LGBT Center on Sunday night when a lovely young man from Vogue Magazine started telling me about a show he’d just seen. “It’s called the Judas Kiss, it stars Rupert Everett.” “Bridget Everett” I responded. “I love her!” He was polite enough not to correct me, but when we received an email about this show I realized what a fucking idiot I must have sounded like. Oh, well, it wouldn’t be the first time! So back to the show. In the Judas Kiss, Rupert Everett plays the famed playwright Oscar Wilde, beginning in the Spring of 1895 when Wilde “was larger than life. His masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest was a hit in the West End; he was the toast of London. Yet by summer he was serving two years in prison for gross indecency.” The play explores this time in Wilde’s life ending with his exile in Naples following his imprisonment. Everett has received glowing reviews for his performance so we highly suggest you check it out. (Are you sure you’re not in this Bridget?).  —tom

This is a super cute weekend, daytime, activity. Question The Store — Pop Up Market is brought to you by Eric Schmalenberger and is a pop-up market full of all kinds of interesting vendors and artists. Here’s how Eric describes the event:  “Queer wonders and fabulous finds at our new pop up market at The Best Venue Ever. With goodies from some of our favorite independent designers, as well as new friends, lovers, and art makers brought in special just for you.” Best of all, if you get hungry from all that shopping they will be serving brunch in their “stunning restaurant.” There’s toooooo many vendors to list them all out, but trust there’s something for everyone. Shop, shop, shop!  —tom

It’s been a year since the first edition of Cruise. Cruise 2 is brought to us by GAYLETTER contributor Tanner Cohen, and his friend Ivan Dutton. This Friday they will be celebrating their one year anniversary with a “tropical, nautical, cute-fest at one of Brooklyn’s most special hidden gems...” I found the venue, The Call Box, super interesting. It seemed like the bar had not changed in decades — it was a good contrast with all the young queers at the event; lots of them probably weren’t even born when the bar opened. Here’s what they are promising besides the fact that it’s gonna be “catered by McDonald’s” (seriously). “Everyone will get laid. We just want to celebrate the fact that we’re stuck together in the city by drinking as much rum as possible and pretending we’re on a yacht. A sad, old, but cute yacht filled with LITERAL hunks and babes and queens and extremely fun music for you all...” OK!  —Abi

We wrote about this a while back but it feels like the right time to mention it again — it’s finally getting warmer, (I guess at least for now, NYC weather is not coming thru). This is a super chill party, it happens at Metropolitan Bar, on the last Thursday of the month. Here’s what to expect: “Pulling out the freshest of their collections, we give you the treatment of deep disco, with a touch of soul, funk, house & techno…” DJs for the night are Madam Baran, Porkchop and David Sokolowski (from the parties Psychic and Hot Fruit). The performance for the night is by Elizabeth James, and it’s hosted by Sparklez. $4 drafts, get to know dive bar, yassss.  Also, maybe unrelated, but super important, we’ll be hosting another Pride Ball on June 25th, at the Wythe Hotel, so mark your calendars. It’s gonna also be 70’s theme. Disco!!!  —Abi

I’m a big fan of the podcast Startup. Season 1 of the show followed C.E.O Alex Blumberg as he created Gimlet Media, his podcast network. It was a frank and revealingly look at what it takes to start a business as a creative person. This season the podcast is looking outside of themselves to all kinds of unique businesses. Last week’s episode was about a woman, named Mary Going, who created a company that makes gender non-conforming clothing (basically men’s suits designed to fit women’s bodies). Luke Malone produced the episode and reached out to us to ask if we would consider it for the letter. I’d already heard it, and enjoyed it thoroughly, so was more than happy to. Here’s what Luke had to say about the episode: “It [the episode] covers the business, but also Mary’s back story: How she wanted to wear a cowboy outfit on her first day of school but her mom put her in a yellow dress and she ended up hanging onto the doorway screaming, begging not to go to school like that; coming out and having her mom pull a gun on her; her struggles to find a suit for her wedding; and how she used all this stuff to build a clothing company for butch women and trans guys, and give them something they needed.” If you’re a fan of podcasts and don’t know about Startup, then get your shit together and subscribe. Also, if you’re gender non-conforming and need a suit, hit Mary up. She seems like a sweet lady, and could use your support!  —tom