A Rainbow of Dresses: Ketty Teanga and the Country’s Oldest Latino Drag Bar
3rdMar. × ’11
By Rachel R. White
This is a profile inspired by my feature story Hanging by a Sequin: which took a look at the claims of “transgender prostitution” hurled by protesters at La Cueva, the country’s oldest drag bar.
Ketty Teanga decided she would become a woman at 15. Growing up in Puerto Rico, she always knew…but now she would embrace it. Ketty started dancing at a drag show. “Back then it was not femme, you had to take off your wig at the end of the show to prove that you were a man.”
Years later, in New York City, Ketty started taking hormones. It was the late 70’s. “You could transition, take hormones but you still had to dress like a man. Only on the weekends, you could be a woman—this is in New York, not even Puerto Rico!” Ketty was used to this. “In Puerto Rico, the police would stop you if you were in drag. We would get out at 4 am from a show, in street clothes. And they would press a napkin to our faces to see if we had on make up, if we did they would arrest us. Even in New York the police gave us a hard time.”
Ketty was doing the shows in New York, taking hormones when she met a man who wanted to read her palm. “Everything he told me was false. He thought I was a real woman.” The two began a tumultuous relationship. He was in and out of drug rehab and Ketty was often heartbroken. “Then one day I looked in the mirror and I saw a woman….I was really a woman.” She fled the relationship, and moved to Chicago where she first lived fully as a woman. Here, Ketty started the shows at La Cueva, which remains as a fiercely Spanish speaking only bar and the oldest Latino drag club in the country. A bit of a misnomer, as all the performers are women–trans M to F.
“The speakers sounded ugly sometimes the tapes stopped in the middle. And some of the own girls were singing with their own voice. I would sing, and never I sang in my life! So, the saxophone was playing. And I started to take off my clothes. And my body was so curvy from the hormones. That is when the shows changed. It became about femme, not men in drag.”
According to Manager, Ruben Lechuga, the bar itself was feistier in the beginning, with less bouncers and more fights. The patrons were more macho— straight males. “It is all gay now and more lesbians. In my day, it was straight men,” says Teanga, a little longingly. “In my time, I was seen as a woman, so it was [straight] men who came”. On a slow snowy night at La Cueva, two lesbian couples arrive just after midnight to cuddle at dark tables while gay couples slow dance under the disco ball. At the bar, there remains a few solo Mexican cowboys.
Teanga presses that La Cueva has become much more safe over the years. “There were a lot of gangsters–they’d throw bottles and shoot at us with BB guns. You had to park your car and run inside”. Teanga explains that this area of 26th has always been known for prostitution and drug dealing.
But last Fall, neighbors began heavily protesting for La Cueva to close. Opponents say the bar is to blame for drug dealing and “transgender prostitution”. According to La Cueva’s current performers, residents are protesting because they are highly religious. Mexico may have legalized gay marriage but they assert that homophobia within the Mexican community remains. It seems as gay issues get more press, this tension grows.
But in her fifty years of being out as transgender, Teanga has seen a change in the attitudes of the Latino community towards gays. “Latinos are just more positive about it, they are becoming more proud. Yes, of gays but somewhat of transgender.”
Now in her late 60′s, Teanga has mostly retired, but can still be seen sitting at the bar on the weekends to watch the 3 am. show, hair and lips still puffed to perfection. She’s taken a break for an illness for the last two years, but to her it isn’t over. “ I am gonna die in the show. Thats my life.”
Taken during the interview–Ketty shows me her dresses, I like how the silver one is just one of the “regular dresses. For addressing the public.”
This piece was inspired by my feature story Hanging by a Sequin which appeared in Gapers Block and Huffington Post. I reported on the rumours of prostitution and explored what is really going on at La Cueva.
An excerpt: ‘I have worked here for 10 years,” says Vanessa, who is soft spoken in contrast to her persona onstage… “Before, I worked out in the fields in Mexico, but I always dreamed about working in a place doing what I do now.’ When the topic turns to the protestors’ claims, emotions bubble over… Read that story here.
This is the personal blog of Journalist/Writer Rachel Rabbit White. Mostly she writes about sex, gender, human relationships and other things you aren't supposed to talk about. Won't you join the conversation?
R ♥
A Rainbow of Dresses: Ketty Teanga and the Country’s Oldest Latino Drag Bar
This is a profile inspired by my feature story Hanging by a Sequin: which took a look at the claims of “transgender prostitution” hurled by protesters at La Cueva, the country’s oldest drag bar.
Ketty Teanga decided she would become a woman at 15. Growing up in Puerto Rico, she always knew…but now she would embrace it. Ketty started dancing at a drag show. “Back then it was not femme, you had to take off your wig at the end of the show to prove that you were a man.”
Years later, in New York City, Ketty started taking hormones. It was the late 70’s. “You could transition, take hormones but you still had to dress like a man. Only on the weekends, you could be a woman—this is in New York, not even Puerto Rico!” Ketty was used to this. “In Puerto Rico, the police would stop you if you were in drag. We would get out at 4 am from a show, in street clothes. And they would press a napkin to our faces to see if we had on make up, if we did they would arrest us. Even in New York the police gave us a hard time.”
Ketty was doing the shows in New York, taking hormones when she met a man who wanted to read her palm. “Everything he told me was false. He thought I was a real woman.” The two began a tumultuous relationship. He was in and out of drug rehab and Ketty was often heartbroken. “Then one day I looked in the mirror and I saw a woman….I was really a woman.” She fled the relationship, and moved to Chicago where she first lived fully as a woman. Here, Ketty started the shows at La Cueva, which remains as a fiercely Spanish speaking only bar and the oldest Latino drag club in the country. A bit of a misnomer, as all the performers are women–trans M to F.
“The speakers sounded ugly sometimes the tapes stopped in the middle. And some of the own girls were singing with their own voice. I would sing, and never I sang in my life! So, the saxophone was playing. And I started to take off my clothes. And my body was so curvy from the hormones. That is when the shows changed. It became about femme, not men in drag.”
According to Manager, Ruben Lechuga, the bar itself was feistier in the beginning, with less bouncers and more fights. The patrons were more macho— straight males. “It is all gay now and more lesbians. In my day, it was straight men,” says Teanga, a little longingly. “In my time, I was seen as a woman, so it was [straight] men who came”. On a slow snowy night at La Cueva, two lesbian couples arrive just after midnight to cuddle at dark tables while gay couples slow dance under the disco ball. At the bar, there remains a few solo Mexican cowboys.
Teanga presses that La Cueva has become much more safe over the years. “There were a lot of gangsters–they’d throw bottles and shoot at us with BB guns. You had to park your car and run inside”. Teanga explains that this area of 26th has always been known for prostitution and drug dealing.
But last Fall, neighbors began heavily protesting for La Cueva to close. Opponents say the bar is to blame for drug dealing and “transgender prostitution”. According to La Cueva’s current performers, residents are protesting because they are highly religious. Mexico may have legalized gay marriage but they assert that homophobia within the Mexican community remains. It seems as gay issues get more press, this tension grows.
But in her fifty years of being out as transgender, Teanga has seen a change in the attitudes of the Latino community towards gays. “Latinos are just more positive about it, they are becoming more proud. Yes, of gays but somewhat of transgender.”
Now in her late 60′s, Teanga has mostly retired, but can still be seen sitting at the bar on the weekends to watch the 3 am. show, hair and lips still puffed to perfection. She’s taken a break for an illness for the last two years, but to her it isn’t over. “ I am gonna die in the show. Thats my life.”
Taken during the interview–Ketty shows me her dresses, I like how the silver one is just one of the “regular dresses. For addressing the public.”
This piece was inspired by my feature story Hanging by a Sequin which appeared in Gapers Block and Huffington Post. I reported on the rumours of prostitution and explored what is really going on at La Cueva.
An excerpt: ‘I have worked here for 10 years,” says Vanessa, who is soft spoken in contrast to her persona onstage… “Before, I worked out in the fields in Mexico, but I always dreamed about working in a place doing what I do now.’ When the topic turns to the protestors’ claims, emotions bubble over… Read that story here.