Photographs by Scott Dunay

To say that Friday night’s Original Plumbing launch party at Sugarland was something of an inside job would be an understatement. The two promoters, Sierra and Scout, are both hooked into the Williamsburg party scene. Sierra, who works the parties at Metropolitan, also hosts Hey Queen once a month at Sugarland, while Scout used to hold the general floor manager position there. And yet they were surprised at the turnout.“Three quarters of these people were already here before 11pm,” said an excited Sierra, gesturing to the eclectic crowd of queens, trannies, lesbians and punks that had already filled the place up.

Different from other Friday nights at Sugarland, the crowd chatted, mingled and took time to check out copies of the new magazine, a zine-esque booklet whose first issue was published this month. Meanwhile, Amos Mac, Original Plumbing’s editor-in-chief, was stationed in one of the small lounge areas below the stairs, posing for photos and selling copies. On hand were some awesomely bootylicious trannie go-go dancers who kept the crowd bumping and grinding. Noteworthy attendees included Murray Hill, MTV sensation Jasper James and Marilyn Monroe–protégé-cum-porn-star Lorelei Lee. A brief appearance was also made by the NYPD Vice Squad around 1am, who rode up in two SUVs, scoped out the scene (lights were turned up and the music lowered), and promptly made their exit. We heard one of the officers ask his colleague, “Want to check upstairs and round back?,” but the response was a quick no. That’s right, boys, nothing to see here!