A Queer dance party

Photographs By Jules Monstera, Rachel Gray, and Lala Thompson

Gorgeous Gorgeous is a Los Angeles based pop music dance party by and for queer and trans people and their friends. Held every month at the Resident, Gorgeous Gorgeous is dedicated to creating an inclusive environment for the LGBTQIA+ community. Founders DJ Louie XIV, Omri Rolan, Lala Thompson, and Fran Tirado open up about the lack of diverse spaces in Queer nightlife, how the party has grown , and the importance of feeling completely free.

Los Angeles, USA

What is the Gorgeous Gorgeous Party?

Gorgeous Gorgeous is a pop music dance party by and for queer and trans people and their friends. Our goal is to create an incredible night where everyone feels welcome and featuring a super-high quality pop musical extravaganza. Our founders, Louie, Lala, Omri and Fran, were eager to create the monthly party we ourselves wanted to go but felt was lacking in LA — a space that truly reflected the diversity of the queer community in this city and delivered them a relentlessly banging soundtrack of all their favorite tunes.

How did it begin? Why was it important to have a party like this?

All four of our founders are NYC-transplants and were eager to find “our” spot again, with bars opening up once more after the pandemic. We’re all pop-music obsessives and were eager to find a party or bar that gave us a euphoric, can’t-get-off-the-dancefloor pop music experience. One of our favorite spots, Oil Can Harry’s, didn’t make it out of the pandemic and some of our other favorite parties felt too few and far between.

We also felt really dedicated to creating a queer nightlife option that was an alternative to the homogeneity of the WeHo scene, which while amazing in its own right, can sometimes be centered around white, cis gay men. One of our primary goals with Gorgeous Gorgeous was to foster a truly inclusive environment, one where queer and trans people, regardless of orientation, race, body type, or gender expression, were centered and could feel like they owned the space. Unfortunately, this is still too rare in queer nightlife spaces in this city, especially for women, femmes, and trans people.

One of our founders, DJ LOUIE XIV, is a nightlife veteran with 15 years of experience getting a dance floor moving. We knew if we created the atmosphere and drew the right crowd, Louie’s sets, which are a fast-moving, thoughtful, fun-loving celebration of pop music and divas, could keep everyone coming back for more.

Anyway, you can’t complain about something if you don’t try to fix it! And so Gorgeous, Gorgeous was born.

How does it stand apart from other LGBTQIA+ events in Los Angeles?

For us, the biggest impetus for this party was to make a space where all parts of our queer community could comfortably spend an evening together dancing, flirting, having a drink and worshiping all the pop divas many of us live for. We want it to be a space where you don’t have to worry about fitting into some mold of what you think you need to look or dress like, where you can unabashedly be who you are and most importantly, feel completely free. We’re so happy to see so many more parties catering to queer, trans and femme crowds in LA recently and are happy to be a part of the wave.

We were lucky to find a great venue in Resident, which has a great dance floor and outdoor space, allowing our partygoers to sweat it out to incredible pop music inside and then grab a breather and drink, snack and flirt on the patio before coming back inside for more. Most importantly, Resident is also very welcoming to and accommodating of our community and makes everyone feel safe and welcome, which has been key.

Gorgeous Gorgeous has been around for almost a year. How has the party grown and evolved?

While our first party featured some incredible drag performers, we’ve since switched to a full night of non-stop pop music. With Los Angeles’ last call being relatively early, we want to pack the night with as much possible dancing as we can from the minute doors open, to the minute we have to (sadly) ask our crowd to leave. And while there have been some minor tweaks to how we do things, the party has stayed pretty simple and straightforward since its inception.

The most incredible thing is seeing how our community has grown. We are so touched to see so many of the same faces at party after party and hearing people say they come back every month because they have such a blast. Creating that moment to look forward to and then delivering on that promise is really all we could ask for.

What have been some highs and lows over the past year? What have you all learned?

Apart from Louie, all of us have ‘day jobs’ outside of nightlife and this whole process was new to us. We’ve learned a lot as we’ve gone along, from how to market the party on socials to how to deal with venues and talent. The most stressful thing during our first few rounds was being so nervous that people would simply not show up. And while we have never had that issue, we still get jittery in the hours leading up to each party that perhaps this will be the month no one comes.

For the most part though, this has been an extraordinarily positive experience for all of us. When we set out to create this, we thought if we could pull off one successful night, that would be a win. So to see it turn into a monthly destination for people and to hear so frequently what the space means to folks, has exceeded all of our expectations. Running the party has also brought the four of us closer together as friends, which has been a wonderful bonus.

What's next for Gorgeous Gorgeous?

Our next party is this weekend, Saturday March 25, at Resident in DTLA! You can get tickets here. Moving forward and without spoiling too many of our plans…After the massive success of our Rihanna-Super-Bowl-themed night, we’re planning another fun theme night later this summer. And there may be plans to expand Gorgeous Gorgeous to another city in the coming months, as well.