An iconic Fort Lauderdale drag restaurant was on its last leg. It just got a facelift

Lips, the beloved Fort Lauderdale drag and cabaret bar, needed a lot more than just filler.

It needed a whole face lift. Maybe even a BBL.

The restaurant had lost its luster over its 17 years of drag queen dinners-and-shows. The owners were ready to sell, but to no avail. And just when all hope was lost, days before the drag queen waitresses served their last brunch, a Hail Mary flew in from Key West. New owners secured a deal within 48 hours, and Lips was saved to slay another day.

After about four months of floor-to-ceiling renovations, menu updates and new daily shows, Lips has been reborn: Aquaplex Fort Lauderdale. All that’s left to do is a new sign out front.

“The new owners are amazing. Everything that they have done to this place has just made it so much better,” said Velvet LeNore, 52, a longtime Lips drag performer and the Aquaplex show director. “The energy in this place has really changed. After every show, I go home and I’m like in tears because I’m so overwhelmed with everything.”

Originally opened in 2007, Lips Drag Queen Show Palace, Restaurant & Bar was one of several South Florida LGBTQ venues featuring drag shows. Its revamp as Aquaplex comes as South Florida’s burgeoning drag scene gains national recognition, especially with several Miami-based queens appearing on the popular MTV competition show “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Fort Lauderdale queen Suzie Toot used to work at Lips before competing on the current season of the show.

The business’s rebirth also comes at a politically divisive time following a wave of anti-drag legislation, both in Florida and across the country. But at Aquaplex, owner Michael Barrett said everyone is welcome to leave their worries at the door and have a great time.

“If you come to the show, you start to understand that no one in here is here to hurt anybody. It’s a place of love and safety,” Barrett said. ”We’re here to just entertain and let everybody have fun.”

So what did it take to save a South Florida entertainment institution from shuttering for good? A couple of drag queens, of course.

‘Keep the art form alive’

Barrett was ready to retire from the business world, but drag queens dragged him back in.

Originally from Arkansas, Barrett retired from owning several Taco Bell locations about four years ago. He and his husband John Barrett, who loves fishing, ended up buying a home in Key West. The two are huge drag fans and spent much of the COVID-19 lockdown watching episodes of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” he said. Their love of drag inspired them to purchase the original Aquaplex, a Key West drag venue.

“We decided to make that our home,” he said. “We bought the club, started upgrading it, upgrading the shows and getting really involved in the community.”

Last year, he was in his office in Key West when he heard a knock at the door. It was two Aquaplex queens with terrible news from Fort Lauderdale: “Our friends are about to be terminated. Is there anything you can do to help?”

The queens had likely seen Amanda Austin’s post on Facebook on August 3: “Well…the rumors are true! After almost 17 fabulous years, the curtain will fall permanently at Lips - Fort Lauderdale after our brunch show on Sunday, August 11.”

Austin, 52, who at one point worked as the Lips general manager, told the Herald that the previous owners decided to sell because they did not want to continue investing money into the restaurant. But as several deals fell through, Lips’ days were numbered. “If we’re gonna go out with a bang, it was time to tell everybody officially,” Austin said.

As one of the original cast members, LeNore said she was sad to see Lips close, but even more upset to see people lose their jobs.

“My worry was really about my sisters. I do work other jobs, so I had things I could fall back on,” LeNore said. “But my sisters that didn’t have things to fall back on, I was a little worried for them. So I just prayed for them and prayed for all of us.”

Little did she know her prayers were answered.

The Barretts quickly traveled from Key West to Fort Lauderdale to see the restaurant and watch the show. It was love at first lip sync. The couple called the Lips owners and worked out a last-minute deal.

“Drag is an art, and you want to make sure that you keep the art form alive,” Barrett said. “It is stereotyped in a lot of ways, but it’s really an art form. It takes a lot of effort to go and do what they do. We came up here, the performers were fantastic, and I was like, ‘How could we let that happen?’”

The last few months, from almost losing their jobs to suddenly reaching a deal, have been a “scary” whirlwind, LeNore said.

“But I live by my motto. You gotta live every day like it’s your last,” she said. “It’s not what we’re gonna go through, it’s how we’re gonna come out of it.”

‘Elevating drag’

The new ownership has breathed new life into the business, and local drag fans have taken notice. On a recent Thursday night, guests celebrating birthdays and bachelorette parties ate, drank and jumped out of their seats to dance as the queens impersonated pop divas, from Diana Ross to Taylor Swift to Gladys Knight.

“Who’s drinking?” Austin said on stage. “It’s celebrity impersonation night. The more you drink, the more we’ll look like the celebrities.”

She joked, “You all better scream like a white woman at a Taylor Swift concert!” The crowd immediately screamed.

The new owners were quick to invest into the restaurant since the sale, Barrett said. Practically everything from the floor up is new— including the floor.

Old carpet was ripped up, funky wallpaper was taken down. The food and cocktail menus are new. The stage is completely refurbished with a wall-sized LED screen, new sound and light systems and special effects fog machines. The restaurants’ walls are also lined with new LED screens advertising an entire week’s worth of shows and events.

The entertainment lineup also had a makeover. Performing alongside the queens are the Aqua Marines, a troop of male dancers that are “not strippers!” LeNore said. Aquaplex Fort Lauderdale will soon feature The Birdcage Cabaret, a Las Vegas-style show that’s popular at the Key West location. The venue also brought on new talent to its cast, including “Drag Race” star Mhi’ya Iman LePaige, a backflipping lip sync assassin known as the “Queen of Flips.”

And Aquaplex guests can come watch the drag shows without needing to order dinner, which used to be a requirement at Lips. Guests are welcome to sit at the bar or the new Key West Lounge, decorated with a Conch Republic rainbow pride flag.

“It needed a lot of work. Just with the TV screens and stuff, we got close to 100 grand,” Barrett said. “We want to elevate. Our drag is about elevating drag. There’s a lot of production in the shows and effects so you become immersed in it. We want to give you the Vegas experience in South Florida.”

Austin gave the new owners a shout out during the show. “They didn’t want us to close and all lose our jobs, so they came and they bought it,” she said as the crowd cheered. “They’ve made some fabulous renovations.”

And she featured some of the new drinks, like the Key Lime Pie shot. “For $7, you get this shot and this plastic cup we found on Amazon!”

Across the country, Austin told the Herald, many gay bars have been closing down, limiting where the LGBTQ community can come together. That’s why it’s important for Aquaplex to not just stay alive but thrive, she said.

“Right now, more than ever, we need our safe spaces, because the political climate is turning. Back in the day, when we were being arrested for being drag queens and being gay, we had to have our own places,” Austin said. “It’s important to have places like this where people can come and feel comfortable and be themselves.”

Aquaplex Fort Lauderdale

Where: 1421 E Oakland Park Blvd., Fort Lauderdale

Info: Full event schedule and reservations available at fladragshow.com

This story was originally published January 28, 2025 at 8:09 AM.