On the tip of Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, past the vape-scented sidewalks and partygoers ready for his or her ride-shares, there’s a velvet-roped portal to a different dimension. Each first Saturday of the month, these within the know collect on the historic Highlight nightclub for Simon Says, the town’s most daring, avant-garde LGBTQ+ occasion.
It’s a scene that defies straightforward description: Nipple tassels twirl beside kabuki-painted faces; “My Fair Lady” hats tilt above bodices constructed from yellow warning tape; liberty spike hairstyles collide with uncovered flesh; {and professional} dommes in fishnet bodysuits playfully flog (with permission) their associates whereas goddesses with antlers sip drinks on velvet couches wedged between potted palms.
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1. Daffne E. Cruz, left, and Daniella “Ellez” Herrera at Simon Says. 2. D’Mahdnes LaVaughn and Nathan Sierra. (Chiara Alexa / For The Occasions)
This isn’t Studio 54, although it shares the identical spirit. It’s Hollywood reimagined. And if Simon Says, you’d higher convey it.
Seductively clad dancers, together with longtime host Love Bailey, flank the stage the place DJs spin a fusion of New Wave, late-stage disco and early bloghouse that draws L.A.’s queer inventive underground. It’s not unusual for celebrities like singer-songwriter Adam Lambert, electronic-pop star Slayyyter, queer streaming community co-founder Damian Pelliccione, contestants from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and movie director John Waters to pop by for a go to.
The overwhelming majority of attendees determine as LGBTQ+, and whereas the door is technically open to all, it’s those who present up remodeled — glistening, feathered, glammed out — who’re whisked within the quickest. Founder and government producer Andrés Rigal, half grasp of ceremonies and half fairy godmother, prowls the road, handpicking essentially the most hanging attendees and sending them previous the bouncer with a nod and a smile.
Reese Rush and Andrés Rigal.
(Chiara Alexa / For The Occasions)
“We do run an old-school nightlife door, rewarding those who show up in stunning looks,” Rigal says. “If they’re wearing an elaborate costume they’ve been gluing together all week just to be at Simon or are a trans person all the way in the back by themselves in heels — ouch — I will give them that special moment and make them feel seen.”
Rigal is one in every of Los Angeles’ most prolific nightlife producers, with a status that precedes him. Quite a few Simon Says attendees advised The Occasions that they initially got here to the occasion just because they noticed Rigal’s title on the flier.
Cassie Carpenter, an leisure reporter who identifies as asexual, makes it some extent to attend each occasion Rigal places on. Wearing a revealing keyhole costume and towering beehive wig, Carpenter involves Simon Says for the atmosphere and the possibility to decorate in drag.
Cassie Carpenter.
(Chiara Alexa / For The Occasions)
“I hate to get in full glam for a subpar party; it’s a waste of lip gloss,” she says. “Simon Says is always worth it. I’ve met amazing people and ran into surprising old friends. Friendship is everything when you’re asexual.”
Principally recognized for large-scale fêtes that appeal to the likes of Katy Perry, Kesha and Paris Hilton, Rigal has been a characteristic within the metropolis’s queer occasion scene for the reason that mid-2000s when he revamped Avalon’s former Spider Membership into the boho-chic nightclub Bardot and unveiled one of many metropolis’s longest-running and hottest Satisfaction occasions, SummerTramp.
If Simon Says sounds acquainted, it’s as a result of it had a short-lived second in 2012 when Rigal’s firm, Andrés Rigal Presents, launched it on the now-closed A-lister membership Smoke & Mirrors.
Greedy onto the coattails of the waning mid-aughts, Simon Says did not conjure a lot curiosity on the time. Rigal thinks it may need been too early to money in on the hipster-indie-sleaze period, as “everyone was still coming out of their American Apparel hangover.” Concurrently juggling a lot of different occasions comparable to Evita, Rasputin and Mr. Black, Rigal determined to shelve Simon Says in the meanwhile.
Towards the top of 2023, pining for a extra intimate occasion that wouldn’t draw crowds within the hundreds, Rigal mentioned reviving Simon Says along with his companions Daisy O’Dell, Sean Patrick and Mark Hunter. A possibility to host it on the Highlight, a brand new Hollywood membership housed within the bones of one in every of L.A.’s oldest homosexual bars, introduced itself, and the occasion kicked off originally of final 12 months.
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1. A masked partygoer, left, with Drake James. 2. Wang Newton. (Chiara Alexa / For The Occasions)
On Saturday, Simon Says will rejoice its one-year anniversary, with music by Felix Da Housecat and home DJs Patrick and O’Dell.
The small-capacity venue sees round 700 partygoers by way of every evening, every of whom pays $10 to bounce from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Motivation for visitors to reach early comes within the type of a limited-edition zine which will comprise a photograph of individuals from the earlier month’s occasion.
Co-founder Hunter, higher generally known as the photographer Cobrasnake, has compiled these tactile time capsules printed in black-and-white since Simon Says’ first iteration in 2012. The aim is to focus on the occasion’s best-dressed visitors. Because the again of the zines say: “Turn a look, get in the book.” Though the zine is free, solely a handful are printed, scattered across the venue at the beginning of every evening, and also you gained’t know for those who’re within the zine till you look by way of it.
Queer dressmaker Drew Arvizu, 25, has attended all however two of Simon Says’ occasions within the final 12 months. He’s develop into a celebration fixture not simply on account of his common attendance however due to the over-the-top bespoke outfits he dons.
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1. Drew Arvizu. 2. Colin Campbell, left, Drew Arvizu and Pat Posey holding a Simon Says zine. (Chiara Alexa / For The Occasions)
For the inaugural Simon Says, he wore a horned luchador masks and polka dot clown go well with; in November 2024, he balanced a four-foot, 20- to 30-pound classic Las Vegas showgirl headdress atop his head; and in March 2025, he flaunted one in every of his personal creations: a floor-length yellow taxicab-checked tube costume with intentional cutouts throughout the breasts and groin space.
“Simon Says reminds me of why I love nightlife, and it’s definitely an incentive to pull out my sewing machine,” Arvizu says. “These zines are keepsakes from a moment in my life, and I hope I keep them forever.”
Christian Morris, a pansexual, nonbinary artist from Inglewood, attended his first Simon Says in March wearing a tiger stripe go well with, blond mullet wig and Aladdin Sane-inspired lightning bolt face make-up. Describing the occasion as “feeling plugged into a queer power source,” Morris seen the partygoers didn’t simply wish to go to the occasion; they wished to be the occasion.
Christian Morris.
(Chiara Alexa / For The Occasions)
“From the leather and chain looks to the queens in long black and yellow spiral dresses to the woman dancing on a speaker in a gold sequin romper outfit, everywhere I looked people felt hot and haute and danced with abandon,” he says.
And apparently, miracles can occur at Simon Says. Regardless of hardly assembly romantic companions on nights out, Morris left with the telephone variety of a “funny, super smart, sexy” crush he met on the dance ground, and the 2 scheduled a picnic date for the next week.
A component of romance permeates the Highlight’s inside, with an intimate dance area and a luxurious lounge space outfitted with Persian rugs, Victorian-style furnishings and steam trunks that double as espresso tables. Additionally, there’s no want to go away your drink behind or seize your coat if you’d like a fast nicotine pick-me-up once you’re at Simon Says. Because of a grandfathered-in again patio, which incorporates the venue’s second bar, one can smoke indoors as a result of the world doesn’t have a roof.
“Being in the space just makes me feel at home with the couches, the rugs on the dance floor and the fact that you can often find a place to sit even if you’re not paying for bottles,” says pop musician Morganne Yambrovich, 27, who got here to Simon Says in March to rejoice her first evening out after ending an eight-year relationship.
To mark this transformation and get again in contact with a inventive facet she’d stored dormant throughout her relationship, Yambrovich spent six hours wrapping craft wire round hair extensions to create her search for Simon Says. The ensuing piece was a pair of butterfly wings braided into her hair supposed to represent her latest metamorphosis.
“If you go out in certain neighborhoods, everyone’s going to look the same. But there’s no such uniform at Simon Says,” she says. “Most people show up in the most creative expressions of themselves. For instance, I would not wear a giant hair sculpture and butterfly makeup to Tenants of the Trees [a bar in Silver Lake].”
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1. Carter Daniel. 2. Phoenix Lee. 3. A partygoer with Ian Lomas, heart, and Francisco Alcazar. (Chiara Alexa / For The Occasions)
Because the adage goes, those that flip a glance most likely will get into Simon Says’ guide, however those that don’t fairly flip a glance will nonetheless get into the occasion. That’s as a result of the occasion is about inspiring others as a lot as it’s making a secure area for self-expression. On any given evening, you’re prone to discover three generations of partygoers on the membership — Gen Z, millennials and Gen X — and sure, straight individuals are welcomed with open arms.
“Once we gather under the disco ball, identities blur,” Rigal says. “On the dance floor, we become something shared, something bigger.”
Rigal and his crew make some extent of assembly with safety and employees earlier than each occasion to make sure that the ethos of welcoming all is maintained all through the evening. Though the bogs are divided by gender — and marked with Basquiat-style dinosaur imagery — on the nights when Simon Says takes over the Highlight, these designations are ignored, and the bathrooms develop into unisex. There aren’t any VIP sections both, and whereas it will probably get chaotic, everyone seems to be allowed on the stage. When this reporter descended the stage stairs to the dance ground, a safety guard provided their hand for assist.
“It’s kind of like making a salad,” Rigal says. “The more ingredients touching one another, the better. I want all of my spaces, especially Simon, to be melting pots of interaction. When you allow the space to be free, you are more likely to have these really incredible moments, and I don’t want to rob anyone of that.”
In latest months, some Simon Says attendees have funneled political statements into their fashions. Longtime associates Colin Campbell, 63, and Pat Posey, 46, coordinated purple and black seems to be for a latest occasion. Posey wore a mini costume that includes the colorway, whereas Campbell dyed his beard purple and black and donned a purple and black pigtail wig and shirt with the slogan “Resist Fascism.”
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1. Colin Campbell’s colourful beard. 2. Pat Posey. (Chiara Alexa / For The Occasions)
After the November presidential election, the buddies skilled their first hate crime in Hollywood when a automobile passing by shot them with airsoft pellets and yelled a homosexual slur. Now greater than ever, Campbell and Posey stress the significance of being seen and preventing again, and trend is their chosen automobile for doing so.
“We dance to celebrate ourselves, to recharge our batteries, to have the energy to put up with the ignorance and hate that is spewed at us every day,” says Posey, who began cross-dressing after shifting to L.A. six years in the past. “At Simon Says, everyone is welcome. Bring your true freak, and let it fly.”
Impressed by Campbell and Posey, to whom he has grown shut by way of Simon Says, Arvizu has began imbuing political messages into his clothes as effectively. For a latest red-carpet occasion, he wore a shirt with the message “Protect trans youth,” and on the December Simon Says occasion, he wearing rainbow from head to toe.
Because the 2001 Basement Jaxx tune “Where’s Your Head at” thumped by way of the audio system on the March occasion, one partygoer dressed as a cowboy initiated a spontaneous dance-off with one other partygoer wearing a classic Vietnam Struggle vet uniform.
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1. Cocoa Rigal. 2. Omarr Herrera. (Chiara Alexa / For The Occasions)
“Work it out, work it out!” cheered the cowboy, Ricardo Logan, 36, who included gentle blue in his outfit for trans solidarity.
His dance accomplice, tax and accounting skilled Omarr Herrera, 44, a stranger till this second, gurgled again, “Ahhhh, I love you!”
It’s moments like these that remind Rigal why he created this occasion.
“Queer nightlife is a sanctuary,” he says. “For the kid arriving in L.A. from a conservative hometown, for someone pushed out of their family, for the dreamers and the outcasts — this is where they find kinship, voice and vision. That metamorphosis is the heartbeat of everything I do.”
