The people we gathered for T’s freak extravaganza first arrived in New York from places as varied as Austin, Texas, and Chengdu, China, but all are deeply connected to the city. It’s where they established their careers and continue to showcase their work, whether on fashion runways or gallery walls. As Mark Harris writes in the feature’s introduction, freaks have long “proudly populated, redefined and expanded the shadowlands of New York City — a metropolis that, for a century or more, has in turn reshaped and reimagined itself to accommodate them.” Still, that begs a question: What’s the freakiest place in all of the city? When asked, our interviewees (unsurprisingly) had their own singular ideas.
“Listen, any queer bar that has a dark room or anything of that nature.” — MissMa’amShe, drag artist
“Marshalls and T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods. That’s where my true freak flag flies. I don’t want to be at the club. I want to be at Marshalls on Tuesday morning when their inventory is freshly stocked.” — Princess Nokia, rapper and actress
“The garment district. It’s visually become such a source of inspiration for ‘Fantasmas,’ my [recent] HBO show, and [my 2024 film] ‘Problemista.’ They’re very much tributes to New York people and New York characters.” — Julio Torres, writer, performer and filmmaker
“The Build-A-Bear in Herald Square.” — Matt Starr, artist and poet
“In the late ’80s, it was definitely Alphabet City, where it always felt like you were on a movie set of a failing city. Now, it’s Hudson Yards. That vision of the future looks pretty but feels lonely.” — Zaldy, costume designer
“Industrial areas where you see trash being processed. I love walking by those big empty areas and seeing the huge machinery smashing up the trash. It’s weirdly beautiful.” — Anna Bolina, fashion designer
“The diamond district. I wanted to design my own jewelry line, so I visited this office in one of those tall buildings. They present you with all these teeny-tiny stones that are worth so much money.” — Alice Longyu Gao, musician and multidisciplinary artist
“Anywhere there’s a SoulCycle. That freaks me out.” — Sonny Molina, hairstylist
“I’d say my parties. I take pride in that. I’m getting older, so I like having a mix of legends like Kevin Aviance with younger newcomers like CoralKilll, Fashion LaBeija and Pauli Cakes, who are really going for it.” — Gage Spex, artist, event planner and organizer
“The line at any pharmacy, anywhere, is freaky, but I think in New York, things that are pretty convenient in other places, like grocery stores and pharmacies, are particularly harrowing. Everyone’s just miserable. The people working there don’t want to be there, the people waiting for their pills don’t want to be there, so everyone’s their worst selves.” — Cole Escola, writer and performer
“The Box [a burlesque club] — it captures the spontaneity of New York culture. I love the stage shows.” — Edvin Thompson, fashion designer
“The Home for Retired Playground Animals [in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens]. Superold playground animals from the city’s parks have been brought to this one place.” — Fey Fey, fashion retailer
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
The post What Are the Freakiest Corners of New York? appeared first on New York Times.
