Perhaps most important, the sandy, sundrenched space provides plenty of room for folks of all orientations, genders, abilities, ages and identities to let loose. Their presence, which inevitably received enthusiastic media coverage, was thought to diminish the. Yes, there are comedic moments throughout, but this is a short drama film showing the troubles a young gay person can have coming to terms with who they long and truly should be. It reminded me of Coyote Ugly meets The Birdcage, minus the comedy. It sets the stage for a certain type of unbridled glee, the kind that most adults rarely experience anymore. It was a time when drag queens were discouraged from walking in Atlanta’s gay pride parade. Kings & Queens is a well-made short, crafted with love and care from everyone involved. It’s an undeniably campy escape from the everyday, a refuge as whimsical as it is inviting. The backyard volleyball court embodies the bar’s spirit. I didn’t know where the heck I was, but this bar had a volleyball court. The Richmond native performs weekly at Babe’s as a part of the drag troupe Triple X Divas. Follow the Spaulding Turnpike to Exit 16 and follow the signs to Route 125 North toward Milton. Go left at the split (Exit 4), which will put you on the Spaulding Turnpike (Route 16 North) toward New Hampshire. “One of the first times I went, it was for a Virginia Pride benefit called Drag Dodgeball,” says Michelle Livigne, the bar’s entertainment director. From Boston: Take Route 95 North to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
“There’s no way you could ever walk in Babe’s 20 years ago, or 20 years from now, and not feel community and family and love.”- Michelle Livigne, entertainment director, Babe’s of Carytown Then there’s the dance floor, its annexed quarters strung with disco lights and streamers, the floor bouncy and pleasantly worn from years of DJ nights and raucous drag shows.īut the real draw, the thing that elevates Babe’s from a friendly, everyday dive to the stuff of late-night legend, is the massive beach volleyball court stationed off the back patio. Inside, a broad bar crowned with roofing shingles distributes cold beer, cocktails, Jell-o shots and belly-warming pub grub to crowds lounging in tall wooden booths and on shiny vinyl stools. The banana-yellow awning beckons passersby, while a conga line of neon stick figures peers out from the front window and casts a rainbow glow onto the sidewalk. Babe’s of Carytown has occupied a sprawling corner lot in Richmond’s Carytown neighborhood for 35 years.