Remembering Stingy Lulu’s

Part of why I chose to live in Brooklyn was to start fresh. To avoid walking past this building or that and think “oh, that used to be…”

But nostalgia comes anyway. Sometimes because I go looking for it. Case in point: Stingy Lulu’s. It was my spot.

Via Vanishing New York

I hung out there a ton circa 1995-97. My good friend S, who I knew from college, and I went there often, usually weekly. We got to know one of the staff members pretty well, Harlow. She was probably the first transgender person I had gotten to know. Her vulnerability was apparent, as was her humor.

S and I were 21, 22. I usually drank a cocktail with pureed strawberries and cheap Champagne. It all seemed so exotic then. I’m trying to find a more original way to say “the world was our oyster” but right now, I can’t. It fits.

I walked down Avenue A one day last fall, not long after moving back to NYC, afraid to look. When I didn’t see Stingy Lulu’s familiar facade, I convinced myself that perhaps I had missed it, or maybe forgotten the exact address (St. Mark’s Place and A – duh).

But Stingy Lulu’s is gone of course. Thanks to the magic of the internet, I was able to find some tidbits about my old hangout.

I didn’t realize SL was in the movie Uptown Girls.

After SL closed, it became a beer bar.

Like this blogger, I used to get the penne ala vodka.

3 thoughts on “Remembering Stingy Lulu’s

  1. Pingback: We Are All Prudes Now: Why Outrage Has Replaced Outragousness | People of Shambhala

  2. Matt

    I was there a little after you, from ’99 to ’02. Spent almost all my Friday and Saturday nights there before I went to the clubs after midnight. Always had a lot of fun. It was my early 20’s and my first real exposure to transgenders and gays. My friends Talib, Mook, and others who work there treated me great. Took me to a bunch of other spots, and although I am straight, I always had a great time. I got married and moved to South Jersey which is why I stopped going. Went a few times in the mid-00’s and was there to see the switchover from what it was to a beer spot. Wish I had a way to contact my old friends from Stingy’s.

    Reply

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