Hello! We are thrilled to be hosting artist, documentarian, and community activist (and Lower East Side legend) Clayton Patterson, along with Tod Lippy, editor of the gorgeous magazine, ESOPUS, at Tompkins Square Library, Wednesday 7/12 at 6:00pm. Their conversation will center on Patterson’s stunning photographs of the inventive drag performers at New York’s legendary Pyramid Club in the mid-1980s. A selection of these portraits are featured in ESOPUS 24, which is now on newsstands. “Up to that point, drag had been about referencing movie stars like Bette Davis or Judy Garland,” notes Patterson in an accompanying interview in the issue, “But the queens at the Pyramid Club invented entirely fictitious characters.” Those characters, embodying everything from space aliens to goth punks to suburban housewives, were created by performers including Tabboo, Hapi Phace, Sun PK [aka Peter Kwaloff], RuPaul, Maze, John Sex, John Kelly, and International Chrysis, all of whom posed regularly for Patterson’s portraits. The conversation between Patterson and Lippy will be accompanied by a number of visuals, including a range of other photographs by Patterson of the Lower East Side, and audience members are encouraged to bring questions (and memories!) for an open discussion afterward. RSVP USING THIS LINK, or by calling us at 212-228-4747, or by stopping by our circulation desk. We hope to see you there! ​ Thank you, Corinne -- Corinne Neary Library Manager Tompkins Square Library 331 East 10th Street, New York, NY 10009 T: 212.228.4747 Inspire Life Long Learning | Advance Knowledge | Strengthen our Communities