Nastia Voynovskaya: If you go out in Oakland and meet people and are open, you really meet some of the most determined, heartfelt, and community oriented people.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Today, I talk with KQED arts and Culture editor Nastia Voynovskaya about Oakland’s queer nightlife renaissance.
Nastia Voynovskaya: Oakland always had really fun queer parties that were popular, but there were really only a couple of brick and mortar options that you could visit any night of the week before the pandemic. And coming out of the pandemic, we have kind of seen this explosion of a lot of new venues. We’ve had, you know, cocktail lounges, clubs, bars open. So now Oakland’s brick and mortar queer venues are up to eight. That’s up from two, you know, in 2020. So it’s been this really amazing explosion of energy that a lot of people are calling a renaissance.
Nastia Voynovskaya: Most of these venues are located walking distance from 19th Street Bar and 12th Street Bar, so you can really do a loop. And you can start, you know, at Town Bar, for example. I hit the dance floor, maybe see a little drag or one of the other events that they have going on and, and, and then go to feel more and have a classy cocktail. Then you can make your way down to Katie Girl, which is a Latin club. Right across the street from there there’s Nectar Social Club and they have this huge, diverse array of events, art shows, open mic nights and dance parties to.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: It seems like you’re describing like a scene that is not really just one thing. It’s like really a diverse sort of range of like vibes and music and spaces. It sounds like.
Nastia Voynovskaya: Yeah, absolutely. Historically, Oakland’s queer scene has always been a lot more diverse than San Francisco’s. I think when people think of the queer scene in San Francisco, they often think of the Castro, which, for decades has been very male oriented and also skews very white. And Oakland has always been driven by queer people of color and often black women.
Nastia Voynovskaya: But this new explosion of energy, there’s that. And I think it’s gotten even more diverse in terms of just different events on any night of the week, catering to different gender identities, but also ones that are not just segregated, but really embracing the way that people fluidly identify now.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: It seems like it’s not just the venues are these brick and mortar is themselves, right. There’s like also a plethora of programing and events that are happening in the queer nightlife scene organized by queer party promoters. Can you tell us a little bit more about the growth of that over the last year?
Nastia Voynovskaya: A lot of these promoters were here before the explosion of new venues, but now they have more places to throw events. And with that comes a diversity of more types of events. All these promoters are sort of roaming around town and activating different venues.
Jeremy Redford: More so than ever. We need community and that’s what people are looking for.
Nastia Voynovskaya: Jeremy Radford, the owner of Nectar Social Club, put it really well. We’re he said people aren’t necessarily just going out to downtown Oakland necessarily just see what’s going on. Which is why it might seem more quiet or more sleepy these days, but they are really loyally following these culture makers.
Jeremy Redford: So many people are following and tracking the community leaders in the community, builders who they feel aligned with, and they’re putting on their calendars the events that they want to go to that really resonate with them.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And I know you talked with some of the owners of these spaces. What did they tell you about why the scene seems to be growing?
Nastia Voynovskaya: Yeah. Jeremy pointed out that during the pandemic, when everything was shut down, many people had the time to think about what they really wanted to do and come up with new avenues for themselves. So just coming out of that, people are really, really hungry to express and connect.
Jeremy Redford: I wanted to create a space that wasn’t just a nightclub, that was it just a cafe that wasn’t just a small event space. That was a blank canvas and a true third space in its fullest sense that were open daytime to nighttime. And you can come here and do everything from launch a new creative project to chat up the bartenders and make friends, or come dance until 2 a.m. and, you know, bring out all your friends and have the time in your life.
Nastia Voynovskaya: With a lot of storefronts still sitting empty. People also ended up activating sort of unconventional spaces like we’re an actor social club is. It may not be. If you just looked at it, you may not see it as the typical place that would hold a bar in a venue. It’s this very kind of like narrow, skinny bar, and it’s very, very intimate. And with that, you know, they’re able to have these more experimental events because it’s a pretty small space and it can just feel very full when 50 people are there dancing.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, I want to talk now some more about the need that these spaces are filling. And I know you spoke with someone named Montana Hooks, who’s the creator behind Queer in Oakland. Can you tell me a little bit about her and her role in the scene?
Nastia Voynovskaya: So Montana Hooks is the creator of this platform called Queer in Oakland.
Montana Hooks: As Queer in Oakland. I started throwing events probably in like 2018.
Nastia Voynovskaya: It’s, an online publication where she interviews and writes about queer culture makers, mostly folks of color. And then she also throws events under the Queer and Open banner at different venues. So those can be dance parties, artists markets. Speed dating has been a fun one because she says, you know, people are kind of sick of their phones and sick of apps.
Montana Hooks: Queer folks to date, especially if you identify as a queer femme where, you know, you maybe when you’re walking down the street, it’s maybe easy to blend in. And the apps were great for that. It helped solve for that problem. But at the same time, there are a lot of, difficulties that come with using these apps. And, and I think we’re experiencing phone fatigue and app fatigue.
Nastia Voynovskaya: She says with all these new brick and mortar spaces, some of which are queer owned but don’t necessarily build themselves as exclusively queer, but that there’s more visibility than there has been in a while.
Montana Hooks: And as we’re becoming stronger as a community, I feel like that we can take up space now in ways that less marginalized communities don’t even have to give a second thought.
Nastia Voynovskaya: You really see that at her events where, like, people are dancing and it has this very intimate energy and she’s been building a lot of really exciting momentum.
Montana Hooks: They often want to cry, and I’m not even joking because it’s just so beautiful. And I love seeing everyone’s smiling faces. I love watching people meet. I love just being in the background and just seeing everyone do their thing. It’s it’s all so beautiful.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Can you tell us about your connection to Oakland and why you wanted to cover this topic?
Nastia Voynovskaya: I’ve been living in Oakland for all of my adult life, and as a queer person here, you know, I’ve been going out on the scene for that that time also, and it’s just been really exciting to watch all of these new venues pop up. It feels really awesome to have places that feel more inclusive also to folks of different gender identity. And instead of kind of waiting for your favorite queer party to come around once a month or whenever it may be.
Nastia Voynovskaya: It’s just awesome having places to go any night of the week, and also different kinds of activities that don’t just revolve around alcohol. So it just feels like the community is stronger than it has been in years, and maybe in my entire, you know, decade plus here.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: How are you also thinking about this story in the context of the mainstream narrative around Oakland right now?
Nastia Voynovskaya: Yeah, I mean, Oakland definitely has its challenges, and we should acknowledge that. But I do get frustrated when people just exclusively focus on this doom little narrative, because if you go out in Oakland and meet people and are open, you really meet some of the most determined and heartfelt and community oriented people that you will meet.
Nastia Voynovskaya: There’s always this really inspiring energy in Oakland, where people are trying to uplift and support each other through their creative passions. And that’s the thing I love most about it. Queer and trans people of color have always been leading the way and that in Oakland. So with this story, I just really wanted to pay homage to that and and uplift the people that are actually making positive things happen, rather than this constant negative narrative about our town.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, Nastia, thank you so much.
Nastia Voynovskaya: Thanks, Ericka. It was great being here.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: That was Nastia Voynovskaya, arts and culture editor for KQED. By the way, Nastia has got a story on kqed.org that includes a full list of venues and parties to follow and add to your party calendar. We’ve got a link to it in our episode notes. Make sure you check it out.
