The booming music and cheering crowd flashing dollar bills filled the room as drag queens donned in flamboyant wigs and dramatic makeup performed. Hamburger Mary’s in Long Beach decorated for Halloween with orange and black fabric strewn across the ceiling and swirling disco balls glittering the room in honor of its monthly Ho House show Saturday night.
The show is organized by drag queen Wendy Ho on the fourth Saturday of every month. It was hosted by Psycadella Facade who started the night off with a lip-sync of “Get the Party Started” by P!nk. For any newcomers, she reviewed some ground rules for any drag show.
“If you like what you see, give the bitch a dollar,” Psycadella Facade said. “If you don’t like what you see, give the bitch a dollar.”
The show had six queens performing lip syncs of well-known songs while sashaying up-close to audience members who cheered, sang along and flashed Washingtons.
Jewel Leah Mykals danced and lip-synced to a soundtrack full of laughing. Her soulful rendition of Jennifer Holliday’s “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” brought audience members to their feet as they rained dollars on her while she reached the high notes.
“When you take them to church, they really love it,” Mykals said.
Her love of makeup and hair has become a career as a drag queen for four years now. Mykals said that one Halloween she got put into drag and “that is where it all began.”
The restaurant is best known for their customizable burgers along with the live entertainment of drag queens. Customers can choose from exotic burger meat such as ostrich, buffalo or kobe (American wagyu).
For guests ages 21 and older, a classic Mary’s Leg glass to sip signature drinks such as Classic Long Island, Electric Lemonade or Tokyo Tea makes for a fun souvenir to take home. The leg cups stands on a platform wearing mesh stockings and stiletto heels with sizes of 20 oz. or 60 oz.
Chatter, alcohol and the sweet scent of diner food filled the room with a full house of more than 50 guests ages 18 and older. Mel Giddens is a frequent customer at Hamburger Mary’s and said her favorite performance was from first-time performer Juicy Bites who came out dancing in a flurry of arm and leg movements.
“I loved it. I’ve been here four times already and this time we celebrated a birthday,” Giddens said.
Mariah Paris Balenciaga, a season three RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant, strode down the steps in a red catsuit to the center stage where she snatched off her wig and revealed a different one underneath. Her lip sync of “White Girl” by Trina had two cartwheels, one of which went into a side split that resulted in the eruption of cheers and applause from the audience.
Drag queen Anne Dromeda began the night with “Turn Me On” by David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj. She gracefully walked down the steps in a long white gown with a Frankenstein’s wife wig. She quickly removed the long exterior fabric to unveil a puffy, short skirt costume for her to easily strut around the room.
Her second performance of the night was to Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” wearing a bedazzled claw hand.
“I wish my hat would’ve stayed on, but sometimes that just doesn’t happen,” Dromeda said. “But overall a good show, a good crowd. Nothing’s worse than when you are walking into a quiet room, so any noise is good.”
Gozi Anyanwu, a first time attendee, was celebrating her birthday with Giddens and her family.
“It was phenomenal. My friend Mel here told me so many times,” Anyanwu said. “ I was also with my 70-year-old mother and she had a blast. I’m so glad we made it tonight, it was so much fun.”