A cast of local drag faves will bid Oasis nightclub farewell at its final musical cabaret show before the venue closes at the end of the year. Oasis co-founder and SF’s first Drag Laureate D’Arcy Drollinger will also be passing the torch to SF’s new Drag Laureate Per Sia.

As the Chronicle reports, beloved queer South of Market nightclub Oasis announced its final musical cabaret show will be taking place next Sunday, November 30, before the venue officially closes its doors after New Year’s Eve, per SFist.

Sunday’s cabaret show will be hosted by Snaxx, who’s credited as the first cis female drag queen to win Oasis nightclub’s Star Search pageant in 2019, per the site Xpress. The line-up will feature a long list of club staples, such as Manuel Caneri, Maureen McVerry and Vanilla Meringue, accompanied by the Tom Shaw Trio performing a set list about “loss, grief, memories, acceptance, and what the future may hold.”

The night will also include an onstage interview with Drollinger, who's also the owner and artistic director of Oasis, by the Chronicle’s Tony Bravo. Additionally, Drollinger will mark the conclusion of her two-and-a-half-year-long tenure as San Francisco’s first Drag Laureate when she officially steps down to make way for SF’s next Drag Laureate, Per Sia, a Drag Queen Story Hour veteran, afterschool arts program teacher, and trans woman, per SFist.

The Chronicle notes that the San Francisco Public Library, which manages the drag laureate program, is a supporter of the event.

Per SFist, Oasis was co-founded by Drollinger and the late Heklina ten years ago. Despite being a continually popular spot in the community, Oasis’s closure announcement in July cited rising operation costs and declining attendance, along with the extra burden of increased security and insurance stemming from an armed robbery in July of 2024.

See a PBS News interview with Drollinger about her role as Drag Laureate below.

Per the Chronicle, Drollinger assures the public there will be much more programming to come at local venues in the future via the nonprofit, Oasis Arts. Although it was announced in July that the nonprofit was partnering with the newly reopened Castro Theatre, per SFist, the theater is not listed as a partner on Oasis Arts’s website.

Event Information

'Happy Trails: The Final Live Musical Concert,' // 7 pm, Sunday, November 30 // Oasis, 298 11th Street, San Francisco // $47.08

Image: D’Arcy Drollinger/Facebook

Previously: Queer SoMa Nightclub Oasis Set to Close After 10 Years, Citing Declining Attendance

Breaking: Per Sia Is San Francisco's New Drag Laureate

D'Arcy Drollinger’s Reign as SF Drag Laureate Coming to an End, Search for New Drag Laureate Underway

Related: Heklina Memorial Features Hours of Laughs, and a Few Tears, for a Beloved Queen and Mother

Following a march taking place in London to protest the apparent police bias that has held up the investigation into the 2023 death of SF drag legend Heklina, a similar march and vigil, with two "angry drag shows," will be happening here in SF.

A previously announced "Justice For Heklina" march happening Monday, March 31 in London, to protest the London Metropolitan Police Department's seeming negligence and bias in their investigation of the suspicious, untimely death of Heklina in April 2023, will coincide that same day with a march and vigil here in San Francisco.

Police in London have slow-walked their investigation, says Heklina's longtime friend and collaborator Peaches Christ, who found her friend dead in the flat they were sharing while getting ready to perform there. As we learned in January, the London Metro Police have had CCTV footage of three men leaving the flat around the time Heklina would have died, and it took them nearly two years to release it seeking the public's help identifying them.

Heklina was found, Peaches said, in a "compromising position" after an online sexual encounter in the apartment, and there were drugs present in the room, which she believes led police to de-prioritize the case. While foul play was not necessarily suspected, the suspects abandoned Heklina and the circumstances of her death remain unclear.

The Chronicle reports today that a medical examiner found a "lethal amount" of drugs in Heklina's system — and Peaches elaborates on the "haunting" image of coming upon her friend, "dressed in drag, on her knees with her face on the floor and her hands on either side of her head." She adds that Heklina had a history of relapsing on drugs and alcohol when traveling, and these relapses would be accompanied by sexual binges.

Peaches further says that it would be strange for Heklina to be entertaining a group of three men, and that she preferred to line up her tricks back to back. And, she says of the three men, "I am not convinced that they didn’t have something to do with it."

A London detective reportedly told Heklina's friend and executor, Nancy French, that there likely was "investigative bias" in the case, and he apologized for how long this has taken. A new investigator was put on the case, as the Chronicle reports, and a team of five from the London Metro Police traveled to San Francisco and Palm Springs to interview Peaches and French last week.

The BBC subsequently picked up the story, as this case follows several others in the last decade in which the London police have ignored or neglected cases involving LGBTQ+ victims. And in one high-profile case of a gay serial killer who was meeting young men on an app in 2014 and 2015, the police interviewed the killer multiple times and let him free, leading to the deaths of more men.

"I hate being the person who incorrectly would cry 'homophobia' if it's not homophobia. They have left me no choice," said Peaches Christ, whose birth name is Joshua Grannell, in the BBC broadcast.

While the London protest will begin in the morning on Monday, gathering in front of Parliament, the San Francisco protest will begin later in the day, with folks gathering at The Stud between 5 and 7 pm Pacific Time. There will be a 6:30 pm drag show there, according to a Facebook post, and a candlelight vigil and silent march up Folsom Street to Oasis is set to begin at 7:30 pm.

The march will double as a protest against the Trump administration's rhetoric against and treatment of LGBTQ people, and the "new world order."

"Bring signs & placards highlighting London MET Police & Trump administration abuses of power, as well as their institutionalized homophobia and transphobia. Also ones celebrating the life and accomplishments of Heklina are very welcome as well," the post reads.

A drag show at Oasis will follow at 9 pm, and the after-party will be at the weekly Pillows party at Powerhouse. Scheduled to perform during the evening are Crickett Bardot, Falsetta Knockers, Laundra Tyme, Lindsay Slowhands, Mocha Fapalatte, Raya Light, Stanley Frank Sensation, Suppositori Spelling, and others to be announced.

Peaches Christ will not be in attendance, as she will be in London for that protest, along with Ana Matronic of Scissor Sisters fame, and London drag queen Cheddar Gorgeous.

Peaches tells the Chronicle, regardless of the outcome of the case or the London police's recent activity, "it does not take away the fact that we were mistreated, mishandled, ignored."

This post has been updated with new details of the case from the Chronicle's report.

Local drag icon Peaches Christ is organizing a protest in London on March 31 as part of an ongoing effort to push the investigation forward into the 2023 death of longtime friend and creative partner, Heklina.

Frustrated with the mishandling of the case surrounding the death of late local drag legend, Heklina, Heklina’s longtime friend and tour partner Peaches Christ and the greater drag community are holding a protest in London on March 31 to pressure police to prioritize the investigation.

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A post shared by Peaches Christ (@thepeacheschrist)

In SFist’s most recent updates on the case, it was revealed that police still have yet to access Heklina’s cellphone, which they initially shipped to her friend Nancy French, and then French had to return it to them after they sent her a box. It also took two years of persistence from Peaches and French for police to release CCTV footage near the scene of Heklina’s death, which showed three men who are now people of interest.

Additionally, London police admitted to “investigative bias,” which was confirmed in a 2023 report that said the department was “riven with institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia and doesn't do enough to weed out bad officers.”

As Peaches told the Chronicle recently, "I think the bias started happening from the moment she was found. This was considered a dismissed case from the moment we started going down this road.”

The protest will start at London’s Big Ben at 10 a.m. on the 31st, followed by a march to the London Met Police headquarters for speeches and peaceful protest until Noon. Speakers will include Peaches Christ, Scissor Sisters’ Ana Matronic, Cheddar Gorgeous, Crystal, plus more.

In a recent Gscene Magazine post, Peaches spoke of Heklina’s covert kindness:

Heklina was maybe one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. She was dark and hilarious and what she didn’t want the world to know was that she was secretly kind.

Quietly behind the scenes, she was constantly helping people out. But the deal was you couldn’t tell people.

Previously: London Police Admit 'Investigative Bias' In Heklina Death Probe as They Try to Unlock Cellphone

The London Metro Police have much to answer for in the now almost two-year-old investigation into the death of San Francisco drag legend Heklina — and more details are coming to light about just how slowly they've been slow-walking this thing.

We learned two weeks ago that London police are still seeking three persons of interest in the death of Heklina — three men who were seen on CCTV footage leaving the Soho neighborhood flat she was staying in early in the morning on the days she was found dead.

Peaches Christ, aka Joshua Grannell, was in London and sharing the flat with Heklina, and was the person to find her. She now tells the Chronicle's Tony Bravo that she knew about the CCTV footage because it had been used early on to clear her as a suspect — she previously said that she had left the flat two days earlier to stay in a hotel so that Heklina could arrange a sexual encounter.

Peaches said she found Heklina in the living room in a "compromising position," and now we also learn that drugs were present on the scene as well.

But the Chronicle also now reports the further detail that not only did the London Metro Police take two years to release the CCTV footage seeking the public's help in identifying the men, they also majorly flubbed another aspect of the case. Without attempting to gain access to Heklina's cellphone, they packed it with her other belongings and shipped it off to back to the states to her "next of kin," who is her friend Nancy French.

French says she informed the London investigators that she had the iPhone in a Zoom call a year ago, in February 2024. It would then take them four more months to send her a box in which to return it to them, and they have yet to be able to access the device without Heklina's pincode. French tells the Chronicle it's especially frustrating because if Heklina was only communicating with people via an app, after two years, those people could be impossible to locate.

French also says that London Detective Chief Inspector Dean Purvis has admitted that the department has failed in this investigation so far. "He basically fell on his sword and admitted they have not handled this correctly. He admitted what he called 'investigative bias,'" French tells Chronicle.

Grannell spoke to the BBC this week, appearing on a news broadcast Tuesday night in which the news agency reported on the accusations of homophobia against the London Metro Police, and a 2023 report that found institutional bias in the department.

"They convinced me that we would be updated weekly, that we would be included in the process," Grannell says. "I got on that plane, and every email went unanswered for months and months. They just completely ignored us."

Grannell adds, "I hate being the person who incorrectly would cry 'homophobia' if it's not homophobia. They have left me no choice."

The police department has previously faced serious criticism over the botched investigation into serial killer Stephen Port, who killed four young gay men in London in 2014 and 2015 before being caught.

Previously: London Police Say They're Seeking Three Men For Questioning In Connection With 2023 Death of Drag Queen Heklina

London Metro Police have put out a notice, nearly two years after the fact, about three men seen on CCTV footage in the vicinity of the apartment where SF drag legend Heklina was found dead. Friends of Heklina say the London cops have been inept and unresponsive.

It has never been suggested that foul play was involved in the April 2023 death of Heklina, aka Stefan Grygelko, or that other people might have been in the apartment she was staying in in the hours before her death. And it may be that foul play is still not suspected. But London Metro police have just publicly released footage for the first time of three men seen on CCTV footage in London's Soho in the early morning hours of April 3, hours before Heklina would be found dead by tour partner and longtime friend Peaches Christ.

As the UK Metro reports, police are asking the men to come forward, with Detective Chief Inspector Dean Purvis saying, "We know that the three men in the CCTV images were at the flat in the early hours of 3 April 2023. I am asking them to contact police. We need to establish what happened, and how Steven [sic] was when they left."

According to friend Nancy French, who was listed as Heklina's "next of kin" when she died, "There is no 'new' news here," adding that she has still been given no death certificate or official cause of death by the London police. "This CCTV footage should have been released 21 months ago. Releasing it now just proves their ineptitude and mismanagement that we’ve been dealing with for almost 2 years."

Peaches Christ, aka Joshua Grannell, adds, "To get the London Police to take more action has been something Nancy and I have been pushing for since the tragedy began. Why has it taken this long? There is so much more to this story that will have to be told."

"Two years later, we still have no cause of death, and getting the London Police motivated to solve this potential crime has been slow-moving and potentially anti-LGBT biased," says friend Sister Roma, in a Facebook post.

Grannell had previously revealed that he went to the Soho flat on the morning of April 3, 2023 to "collect" his friend, and found Heklina, age 54, collapsed and already deceased of unknown causes.

This week, Grannell shares with the Chronicle's Tony Bravo that he had left Heklina alone in their shared flat on Saturday and Sunday night, opting to get a hotel room, because Heklina had arranged a sexual encounter.

"I am not airing any dirty laundry. If you knew her at all, this is all stuff she would have been glad to talk about on stage," Grannell says. He says he returned to the flat to find Heklina deceased on the living room floor, in drag and in "a compromising position." Also, the door to the flat had been left ajar, and a noisy fan in the bathroom had been left on.

Regarding how police have seemed to de-prioritize the case, he adds, "I think the bias started happening from the moment she was found. This was considered a dismissed case from the moment we started going down this road."

Grannell adds that his anger toward the police and the mystery men involved is "indescribable," and he wants answers.

Peaches and Heklina had just arrived in London to begin a series of performances of their drag sendup of Mommie Dearest, called Mommie Queerest, at the Soho Theatre.

"If you recognise any of the men, I would encourage you to let us know who they are," DCI Purvis said in his statement.

Previously: Heklina Memorial Features Hours of Laughs, and a Few Tears, for a Beloved Queen and Mother

This post has been updated with quotes from Peaches Christ's interview with the Chronicle.

Since suffering a severe medical incident at Heklina’s memorial in May, Pippi Lovestocking has endured an induced coma, sepsis, and lost both hands and feet, but has opened up about the experience in a just-published interview.

It was a cruel act of the fates that longtime local drag star Pippi Lovestocking, whose real name is Scott Coker Free, suffered a cardiac infarction just minutes after speaking onstage at the May 23 Heklina memorial at the Castro Theatre. Pippi was a co-founder of Trannyshack in the early days, a significant SF drag star going back to the 1990s, and had been doing film and television work while based in Southern California.

Scott Coker Free acknowledged the incident in a June 25 Instagram post, more than a month after. “I had a cardiac infarction but I was sitting in the audience and luckily made it to Davies in time for surgery, but unfortunately, my hands were permanently affected, and now sadly must be removed. So I have to move forward in life without the use of my hands or feet.”

That sounds bad, but we’re now learning things were much, much worse. Today Broke-Ass Stuart published Pippi Lovestocking’s first interview since the incident, an interview conducted by renowned local drag king Fudgie Frottage. And Frottage also provides details of the awful ordeal Pippi has gone through since.

She went straight from the memorial to the Davies Campus emergency room, and two days later rushed to a cardiovascular care facility for surgery. Going on from there, Frottage writes that Pippi “suffered an aortic aneurysm when a cyst burst on the valve where she had surgery back in 1997. The complication of sepsis set in and Lovestocking’s doctors gave her a grim 22% chance of survival. Pippi was on a ventilator, dialysis, in an induced coma, and at least a dozen IV meds.”

But yes, Pippi is on the road to recovery, and well enough to speak.

“I was in limbo hovering between life and death in ICU — Heklina tried to drag me to hell with her, but I said NO — I want to live,” Lovestocking said in the interview. “I was doped up on Propofol, unable to grasp what had happened. My doctor had to explain. If anything, it was a complete shock that my hands and feet were ruined in the process of what happened, so clearly, that’s the hurdle I’m facing right now.”

Both of Pippi's hands and feet have been removed because of necrosis. “Sham Ibrahim, my Drag Daughter is going to help me do a Vlog while I am rehabilitating in the hospital which should be about 6 months or so,” according to Pippi. “I need to develop strength, balance and stamina.”

If you’re interested in sending flowers or cards, Scott Coker Free is at the Davies South Tower Short Term Skilled Nursing Facility.

There is also a GoFundMe to help Pippi Lovestocking cover the very substantial medical bills. Plus this Saturday, DJ Bus Station John is hosting the fundraiser Pennies for Pippi from 9 p.m. - 2 a.m. at Emperor Norton’s Boozeland.

Related: SF Drag Queens Heklina and Pippi Lovestocking Make 'Court' Appearance On 'Judge Steve Harvey' [SFist]

Image: thepippilovestocking via Instagram

The death of local drag icon Heklina won’t stop the Golden Girls from being a friend for your upcoming holiday season, as Miss Coco Peru has signed on to take Heklina’s traditional role of the garishly outfitted Dorothy Zbornak in this year’s production.

Is it too early to start thinking Christmas? Blanche, please… Of course it is. But there’s big news for cheesecake fans. After the sudden and stunning death of Heklina in early April, it seemed like it might be curtains for the annual Golden Girls Live! holiday stage show that every Christmas recreates the top-rated 1980s retiree sitcom that remains staggeringly popular among the gays.

Your favorite Miami vice will indeed return for its 18th year. The show has just announced that there will be a Golden Girls Live! for 2023, with Miss Coco Peru taking the Dorothy (Bea Arthur) role. Peru has previously been seen in the films To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, Wigstock, and Trick, and the television series Will & Grace, and Arrested Development.

"Although her shoes can never be filled, I'm honored to step in for my good friend and drag sister, Heklina, in the role of Dorothy Zbornak,” Peru said in a press release. “I believe with all my heart that Heklina would give me her blessing, and then call me a ‘cunt!’”

As has been the case in recent years, the cast is rounded out by D’Arcy Drollinger (Rose), Matthew Martin (Blanche), and Holotta Tymes (Sophia). It is not yet known which episodes the girls will reprise this year, but do not expect it to be one of the actual Christmas episodes of NBC’s Golden Girls.

As Heklina explained to us in a 2016 SFist interview "Well, since there were only ever two actual Christmas episodes in the entire seven seasons of The Golden Girls, we've had to take actual episodes and Christmasify them."

"How we keep the act fresh is to update the material with our own slapstick and in-jokes,” she added. “Also, of course, we need to come up with freshly campy outfits every year. Making outfits for Dorothy is a challenge in itself, Bea Arthur had her outfits custom made for Golden Girls."

This year’s Golden Girls Live! performances will again be at the Victoria Theatre, November 30 – December 23, 2023, with performances on Thursdays through Sundays, and matinee shows some Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets for the ever-popular run go on sale sooner than you think: Tuesday, August 22.

You can expect a great show, but do not expect Heklina’s signature filthy humor.

"This is the only family-friendly show I do all year long, so bring your grandmother," Heklina told us in 2016. "We love seeing real Golden Girls in the audience."

Related: 'Golden Girls Live' Christmas Drag Show Returns to SF For 15th Year, Actually Live This Time [SFist]

Image: Golden Girls Live!

Muralist Josh Katz has done a big new mural of the late, great Heklina, just in time for Pride Week, on the Market Street-facing side of the former Cafe Flore, at Noe Street, which remains under renovations.

The mural was just completed on Monday, and artist Josh Katz hasn't even added it to his Instagram yet, so maybe there are some finishing touches to add still. You may recognize Katz's work from the grand Sylvester mural he painted on the Folsom Street side of Oasis two years ago.

It depicts comedy queen, drag hostess, club owner, impresario, and longtime devotee of Bjork and Siouxsie Sioux, Heklina, who passed away unexpectedly in early April.

As Hoodline reported in March, Flore will be reborn as Fisch & Flore sometime this summer, under new ownership.

The local community is still awaiting word from the medical examiner in London on Heklina's possible cause of death.

She was found, as reportedly earlier, by her longtime friend and collaborator Peaches Christ, in a flat they were sharing while on tour in London, collapsed one morning. And she had reportedly been perfectly fine the night before.

Normally, Heklina would have been in town for this past weekend's monthly party Daytime Realness at El Rio, which she co-founded over a decade ago. And she likely would have stuck around to host another Pride party or two, perhaps at the club she co-founded, Oasis.

Fans can watch Heklina in her final on-screen performance on the Hulu drag/food competition-show sendup Drag Me to Dinner, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, in an episode she and Peaches shot last year.

Also, Heklina's 50th birthday roast at the Castro Theatre, which happened in 2017, was turned into a film, and the film was just screened over this past weekend at a "birthday memorial" event in Palm Springs. You all can still find it on Revry, the LGBTQ streaming service, as part of their "Drag Roast" series.

Previously: Heklina Memorial Features Hours of Laughs, and a Few Tears, for a Beloved Queen and Mother

Top photo courtesy of Peaches Christ

The weather didn't exactly cooperate Tuesday for the outdoor portion of the memorial celebration for Heklina — it was windblown and chilly in the Castro, as if Heklina's spirit was telling everyone to go home already, nothing to see here. But there was plenty to see, on both the outdoor and indoor stages at the Castro Theatre, and enough laughs and butt jokes that you could almost hear Heklina's signature cackle.

Dulce de Leche and LOL MacFiercen did their best not to get blown off the stage during the early portion of the evening, hosting a series of performances on a stage set up in front of the Castro Theatre. Fans gathered on a closed-down Castro Street watching performances by Grace Towers, Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, and more. Katya sang a live performance of "Blackbird," by the Beatles, and said the last time she saw Heklina — who she says "always hated that I sang live" as opposed to lip-synching — Heklina was singing live. When asked afterward how the performance was, Katya told Heklina, "You certainly were capable of producing sound."

Fans with tickets lined up around the corner and down 17th Street waiting for the Castro doors to open at 7 p.m., and the main memorial event, dubbed "Heklina: A Memorial (She Would Have Hated This)," was a doozy. The nearly three-and-a-half hour variety revue included memorial speeches, performances, and video addresses from out-of-town stars like Jinkx Monsoon, Lady Bunny, and Ana Matronic, commemorating the life, work, and onstage rimjobs of the groundbreaking drag queen and promoter named for an Icelandic volcano.

Many spoke about Heklina's role in launching a slew of drag careers at Trannyshack at the Stud every Tuesday night for 12 years (then eventually Mother and Daytime Realness), or on very bizarre, annual Easter weekend bus trips to Reno.

“Heklina left a gaping hole in our community,” quipped Drag Race alum BenDeLaCreme, before launching into a musical number that acknowledged Heklina’s well-known sexual proclivities by featuring a live rim job onstage.

The 8 p.m. show kicked off with The Muppet Show theme, as every Trannyshack traditionally started at The Stud, and launched into a 12-minute montage video showing Heklina and the club’s early stars like Squeaky Blonde, Metal Patricia, and Jason El Diablo.

“I would kiss the stage if it weren’t covered with blood and shit,” Heklina said in one vintage 90s segment. In another, she told someone celebrating their 21st birthday at Trannyshack, “I have wigs that are older than you are.”

A number of SF’s most recognized queens brought down the house with their eulogies. ”Heklina was one of the funniest people I have ever known,” said Sister Roma, who co-hosted events with Heklina for more than 15 years. “And somewhere in the distance, we’ll hear her laugh and her cackle.”

“We initially bonded over our love of alcohol,” said Pippi Lovestocking. “She was the best frenemy I ever had. I’m still thinking about suing her again.”

Performance highlights included a group number featuring all the former Miss Trannyshack winners, including Vinsantos, Suppositori Spelling, Fauxnique, Raya Light, and Hoku Mama Swamp. There was also a video memorial for other queens who’ve passed, like Cookie Dough, Phatima Rude, and Peggy L’Eggs.

Jackie Beat and Sherry Vine did a parody number of The Sound of Music’s “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria,” entitled “How Do You Roast An Icon like Heklina.” Jackie Beat yelled at the audience, “Don’t film this! I don’t want to be trans-celed!”

Numerous celebrities sent their remembrances via Zoom videos. Scissors Sisters vocalist Ana Matronic recalled meeting Heklina at her birthday in 1996 at an event dubbed "Pat Benatar Lip Synch Wars." "I knew right away as an AFAB queen, which we didn't even have that term back then, that I was welcome, and Heklina welcomed me," Ana Matronic recalled. "Her only rule was, 'If you were fierce, you were performing.'"

Kate Pierson of the B-52s added “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Heklina. And what he’s done for everybody.”

Newly minted SF Drag Laureate D'Arcy Drollinger, who opened the Oasis nightclub with Heklina eight years ago and was a costar with her in the annual "Golden Girls Live" Christmas shows, spoke about Heklina's legacy in the broader drag world.

"You can see her effort and her effect on drag around the country, on TV, even around the world," Drollinger said. "I want to reframe that," she added, gesturing at the assembled community. "WE changed the face of drag. But she gave us the opportunity."

Alaska Thunderfuck took the stage near the end of the event to sing Bette Midler's "The Rose" while an interpretive dancer accompanied her — and there was of course an anilingus joke built in there too!

Jinkx Monsoon, in her video address, said, "I’m sure Peaches Christ has already made countless poorly-timed jokes. I feel like that’s how Heklina would have wanted this. Everyone joking."

Peaches Christ actually made some great jokes and lovely observations in a stirring memorial speech. “Heklina without a doubt changed my life,” Peaches told the crowd. “So many of the people I met in 1996, ‘97, ‘98, they are still creative collaborators of mine to this day. And she did that. She created that space for us.”

“She was a tremendously successful businesswoman. She put business ahead of art. I did not. She has a house. I do not.”

“Naming the club Mother was so fitting,” Peaches observed. “While she could be an abusive mother and a cruel mother at times, she was still a mother. She nurtured a lot of us, and gave so many people a stage.”

Peaches also addressed the shocking circumstances of Heklina’s sudden death. “There was a lot written in the press about ‘Best friend Peaches Christ finding Heklina dead in London.’ And there was actually a kind of a glamor to that I think she would have appreciated,” she said. “It could have been a brunch in Fresno, you know? ‘Is it paid?’ That’s how it could have gone down."

But of Heklina’s final days, Peaches assured us that “This was someone who was excited by life, was making plans for the future, and was happy to be alive. This would have been a shock to her as much as it was to us.”

"I want that to be known, that her final days were happy days," she said.

Many fans and mourners made their way after the Castro event to Oasis for the official afterparty, which featured dozens more performances stretching into the wee hours of the morning.

Would Heklina have hated this? Maybe it doesn't matter. The evening certainly proved that her time on earth impacted many, and she will not soon be forgotten.

Previously: Drag Community Mourns the Loss of Legendary San Francisco Queen Heklina

Jay Barmann also contributed to this report.

Today is the day for the big Heklina tribute/memorial/celebration of life that is more than likely to look and sound like a combination funeral, posthumous roast and big, chaotic drag revue. The Castro celebration will be kicking off outdoors at 6 p.m., and organizers are seeking more donations to cover costs.

As SFist reported last month, the event, officially dubbed "Heklina: A Memorial (She Would Have Hated This)," is happening inside the Castro Theatre starting at 8 p.m., with the free tickets long-since claimed — but you may still be able to find a friend who has an extra. There are some 400 invited guests, speakers, and performers taking part, no doubt including some backup dancers in drag numbers that have been resurrected or retooled in Heklina's honor.

The show will be simulcast on screens outside the Castro, but there will also be an outdoor stage hosted by Dulce de Leche and LOL McFiercen, with tribute performances from 6 to 8 p.m. And the Castro Theatre memorial will be streamed live on Oasis TV and will later be available on demand.

Only one block of Castro Street is closed down, between 18th Street and Market/17th, starting at noon today. But contrary to KRON4's report here, the performances and celebration do not begin until the evening hours — only the setup is beginning when the street closure starts at noon.

The event will cause the 24 and 35 Muni busses to be rerouted between noon and midnight.

Organizer and longtime friend Nancy French, who is also the executor of Heklina's estate, posted to Facebook this week that "The bill has just come in [for the event] and it is a lot more than we anticipated."

In addition to having to compensate the city for bus disruptions and police, for which there was already a crowdfunding campaign last month, there have been a number of unforeseen costs, French says.

"Yes, there have been a lot of donations, however things like outdoor toilets, load-in, load-out & construction of the outdoor stage, screens, light, sound, street barricades, cables, trucks, and ALL the specialized labor still need to be paid and frankly were more costly than we thought," French writes.

They are seeking about $20 each from the estimated number of attendees indoors and out, and a GoFundMe has already raised nearly $40,000 of a $52,000 goal.

Friend and longtime collaborator Peaches Christ will be hosting the event, which caps off an extremely emotional eight weeks since Peaches found Heklina dead on April 3 in the London flat they were sharing ahead of a run of their drag send-up "Mommie Queerest."

As Peaches told 48 Hills, "It’s the most traumatic thing I’ve ever experienced... I’m having lots of nightmares, and it’s hard not to think about it."

The cause of death remains to be determined by a London medical examiner, after which there are plans for cremation.

"People still have questions. I have questions," Peaches said. "When we say that we don’t know the cause of death, that is true. So when the toxicology report comes back or when they finish the autopsy and everything, I think they will say."

Previously: Heklina Memorial Will Be a Block-wide Affair, With Outdoor Stage and Event Projected on a Closed Castro Street

Photo: sflgbtcenter/Instagram

Premiering May 31 on Hulu will be Drag Me to Dinner, a new, tongue-in-cheek cooking competition show in which drag queen friends compete against each other hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and husband David Burtka, along with Bianca Del Rio.

You can almost hear Harris and Burtka, perhaps with gay friends over watch Drag Race some night over cocktails, brainstorming this idea in real time. What if we paired up a bunch of drag queens who are pals or sisters in real life and gave them silly cooking challenges, and then let the ad-libbing and spontaneous shade begin? What do they win? Oh just a golden grater, of course! And some added publicity.

The late, great Heklina just got a special mention from Entertainment Weekly — given that this will be a final appearance, of sorts that was shot some months ago — for the episode she has with longtime friend Peaches Christ. And is this a first-time mention for Heklina in that publication, and it had to be posthumous?

"I only wish she could be here to see the finished episode," Peaches says on Facebook today. "We had a blast filming this TV show last year and sadly, this episode will mark our last appearance together as a duo."

Unlike that atrocity from New York Magazine in 2019 that ignored all the established queens from big cities who had never appeared on Rupaul's Drag Race, the casting for Drag Me to Dinner did a little better. While still very Drag Race-heavy, at least it includes some of the old guard like Heklina, Peaches, Jackie Beat, and Sherry Vine, and a few outside the Rupaul orbit like Jasmine Rice LaBeija and Biqtch Puddin'.

The show's "competitions," whatever they will be, are to be judged by head judges Harris, Del Rio, and Haneefah Wood, with famed New York City drag king Murray Hill hosting, and Burtka serving as "resident food expert." I guess that means he'll be in the Tim Gunn role here, before they let Tim judge?

The object of each episode is for the queens to throw "the best dinner party," and the show  has been described by Hulu as a "riotous, format-busting, fourth-wall-breaking, unapologetic sendup" of traditional competition shows.

The queens will be judged in three categories: Food & Drink, Design & Decor, and Entertainment & Overall Vibe, and the winner on each episode takes home the Glorious Golden Grater.

The rest of contestants include Alaska, Alexis Mateo, Bebe Zahara Benet, BenDeLaCreme, Chelsea Piers, Darienne Lake, Detox, Gigi Goode, Ginger Minj, Heidi N Closet, Jaida Essence Hall, Jinkx Monsoon, Kiki Ball-Change, Kim Chi, Latrice Royale, Manila Luzon, Marti Gould Cummings, Mayhem Miller, Meatball, Merrie Cherry, Morgan McMichaels, Mrs. Kasha Davis, Naomi Smalls, Nina West, Peachez Iman Cummings, Pixie Aventura, Raja, Rhea Litré, Selma Nilla, Symone, Thorgy Thor, Trinity the Tuck, Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, and Willam. See the full array of cast photos at Entertainment Weekly.

The episodes drop on Hulu on May 31, a week and a day after we'll be mourning/celebrating Heklina in the Castro.

Previously: SF Queens On How 'Rupaul's Drag Race' Has Hurt (and Helped) The Larger World of Drag

Now dubbed "Heklina: A Memorial (She Would Have Hated This)," the memorial affair for the beloved drag comedienne who died earlier this month has grown into a block-wide event that will shut down Castro Street starting at noon.

I'm not sure which thing Heklina would have hated more: that thousands of people would gather to memorialize and/or lovingly mock her, or that she wasn't making any money off of it. But the event next month will indeed be a not-for-profit affair, and due to overwhelming demand, the Castro Theatre piece of the memorial will be projected on screens outside the theater, so that those who didn't snag a free ticket the other week will be able to see it too. (We're all looking at you, assholes, who grabbed eight tickets apiece and who maybe only ever saw her perform once at Beyonce Night.)

As the Bay Area Reporter tells us, the festivities will kick off at 5 p.m. on May 23 on Castro Street with an outdoor stage, and the street will be closed from noon until around midnight between Market and 18th streets.

The outdoor stage, which will feature drag tributes to Heklina from 6 to 8 p.m., will be hosted by Dulce de Leche and LOL McFiercen.

The Castro Theatre tribute event will begin at 8 p.m. and run until 10:30 p.m., with doors at 7 p.m.

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman tells the BAR that he and everyone involved are "grateful to the MTA," and he said he was "glad to help apply and get the street closure."

The expanded event comes with expanded costs, and as Peaches Christ explains on Facebook today, they are seeking donations to offset those costs. "As you can imagine, this has added considerable expense including the cost of permitting, police officers, etc. and we are hoping friends and fans can help out and chip in so that we can cover expenses." A GoFundMe campaign has now raised $20,000 of a $25,000 goal.

The event will also be livestreamed online on Oasis TV.

Since we last discussed Heklina's surprising April 3 passing, multiple obituaries and eulogies have appeared online, including this great one by Adriana Roberts, and this one by the Chronicle's Tony Bravo.

Also, California Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, who represents Berkeley and Richmond, gave a speech about Heklina and her nights attending Trannyshack at The Stud two decades ago, discussing the value of safe spaces for "queer misfits" as an adjournment to the Assembly two weeks ago.

Previously: Drag Community Mourns the Loss of Legendary San Francisco Queen Heklina

Nine days after the death of SF drag legend Heklina in London, we have word of a big memorial tribute set to happen at the Castro Theatre next month — but wouldn't you know it, the free tickets disappeared fast and it is sold out.

Heklina would be proud to know that her memorial sold out in a matter of a couple hours Wednesday morning — even though she probably would have preferred to have charged admission. Oasis, the nightclub Heklina helped to open, announced the event, with free tickets on Eventbrite, via Facebook, saying, it will happen May 23 at the Castro Theatre.

"The evening will be a celebration in remembrance of the many facets of Heklina's life," the event posting says. "Join us for performances, stories, and more from Heklina's friends... and maybe some frenemies."

Though the seats are all now spoken for, friend Sister Roma subsequently posted on Facebook, "We are currently exploring options for accommodating more of you. Stay tuned."

In related news, the Bay Area Reporter tells us that Heklina is set to be added to the LGBTQ Wall of Honor in New York. The Wall of Honor, inside the landmark Stonewall Inn, was dedicated in 2019, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. It was the project of the International Imperial Courts of the U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico and the National LGBTQ Task Force, and it "celebrates LGBTQ leaders who have paved the road to liberation and contributed significantly to progress for LGBTQ people."

Nicole Murray Ramirez, known in the Imperial Court as Empress Nicole the Great, Queen Mother of the Americas, announced this week that both Heklina and former Portland Empress Darcelle XV would be inducted on the wall this June. Darcelle, a.k.a. Walter Cole, had been known as the world's oldest living drag queen until her death on March 23.

"I knew both of them," Murray Ramirez tells the BAR. "They inspired and entertained a lot of people."

Among the first 50 names inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor were San Francisco's Jose Sarria, the founder of the Imperial Court; onetime SF resident Gilbert Baker, the creator of the first rainbow flag; Harvey Milk; gay marriage crusader Edith "Edie" Windsor; Keith Haring; James Baldwin; and poets Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich.

Top image: Photo by José Alberto Guzmán Colón

There was an update Thursday afternoon from Peaches Christ, who posted to Facebook from London that an initial post-mortem examination of Heklina found no sign of assault or foul play. Peaches (a.k.a. Joshua Grannell) is preparing to return to San Francisco on Friday.

We learned Tuesday, via Grannell, that the circumstances of Heklina's death were fairly shocking and strange. Grannell returned to the apartment that he and Heklina (a.k.a. Stefan Grygelko) were sharing in London on their tour there on Monday morning to find Heklina collapsed on the floor. We still do not know the exact cause of death.

An investigation by London police ruled the death "unexpected," and foul play was not suspected. Grannell said Thursday that the post-mortem declaration was necessary to get access to the apartment again.

"I’m relieved for a number of reasons," Grannell said. "This determination meant our apartment is no longer considered a crime scene and I’m now waiting for an officer to collect me and escort me there so that I can collect our stuff."

He added, "I am slightly afraid to return but intend to walk through my fear."

Grannell has plans to return to SF tomorrow, and no memorial or celebration of Heklina's life has yet been planned.

Heklina's passing has inspired an outpouring of grief and remembrances on social media that are still ongoing. In addition to being a hilarious performer in her own right, the San Francisco queer community will remember her for celebrating the edgy, performance-art nature of some drag performers, and largely making the San Francisco drag scene of the 90s and early 2000s what it was.

Previously: Local News Stations Cover Heklina's Passing, Can't Quite Report On That 'Empty Chair'

Photo by Jay Barmann/SFist

• After Monday’s tragic and unexpected passing of Heklina, Sister Roma updated the community that Heklina’s autopsy will be performed Thursday in London. “As of today, Heklina is at rest in the Westminster Public Mortuary where an autopsy will be performed on Thursday to hopefully determine the cause of death,” Roma posted to Facebook. “Peaches [Christ] says she cannot leave Heklina alone in London until she has some answers so she will not be returning to San Francisco until Friday.” [Roma Roma via Facebook]

• 43-year-old Dogpatch diner Just For You Cafe had its final day in business on Monday, with owner Reid Hannula saying, “We’ve made no money since COVID.” The cafe originally opened in Potrero Hill in 1980, switched to a Southern cuisine menu under new ownership in 1990, moved to Dogpatch in 2002, and longtime employee Hannula took ownership in 2018. [Chronicle]
• Even the mighty Cupertino-based Apple is conducting a round of layoffs, though the number is “likely very small” compared to the tens of thousands of layoffs at some other tech companies. [The Verge]
• A fisherman is missing after his boat capsized Monday night in Suisun Bay, and the Coast Guard is asking boaters to alert them to any information or signs of someone. [KRON4]
• Petaluma police are seeking a silver four-door sedan they say was involved in a hit-and-run at 10:45 a.m. Sunday near the 600 block of Petaluma Boulevard North, and they’ve released images of the suspect vehicle. [KPIX]

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist