The queens return to Ocean Drive as their Palace struggles to stay open

A drag queen in a hot pink ruffled gown and black stiletto heels strutted through the Palace Bar on Ocean Drive on Friday afternoon. A young man came running from the back of the bar with a face shield in one hand and a bucket full of dollar bills in the other.

He slipped the shield onto the queen’s face and she continued her performance, lip syncing “thank u, next” by Ariana Grande, gleaning cheers and tips from a thin crowd across about 13 tables.

This is the new normal at Palace, which restarted its drag show performances about two weeks ago. Weekend brunch now involves lip syncing behind bedazzled face shields, throwing tips in a bucket instead of stuffing bills into the queens’ clothes, and smaller crowds than what turned out before COVID-19.

For Palace owner Thomas Donall, he said he just wants to do what he can to keep the Ocean Drive staple afloat, but with a monthly overhead of about $80,000 and limited hours it’s been difficult.

Palace is one of hundreds of bars and restaurants in Miami-Dade that suffered from COVID-19 restrictions that are eager to bring people in. As a bar and nightclub, with a large portion of business coming from nightlife, Palace is among the groups of businesses around the county that were hardest hit by the pandemic. The new midnight curfew that went into effect Monday could help bring in revenue.

“I finally got to do the show,” Donall said. “We’re finally getting back into business again, we just need to get the time to 12 or later so that we can make enough to survive.”

A long run on Ocean Drive

Palace has been a meeting place for South Florida’s LGBTQ community for decades, and as the pioneer of the drag brunch trend in South Beach, it’s become a staple on Ocean Drive and home to some of the region’s most beloved drag queens.

Donall said the most difficult part of the pandemic has been the uncertainty — not knowing if the business will stay open. Being closed for months during the spring was damaging, and once Palace reopened he faced a new hurdle: curfews.

The 8 p.m. curfew instituted in mid-July for Miami Beach’s Entertainment District hit Palace the hardest since it reopened.

“Eight o’clock on Ocean Drive just killed us for a month and a half,” Donall said. “Nobody comes out until 8, so you can’t make any money.”

Donall said the 11 p.m. curfew that Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez instituted last month helped business a lot, but he’s still only getting a few hours of business in before last call. He said moving the curfew back to midnight will help significantly.

Gimenez announced Friday afternoon, the county was considering a midnight curfew after city commissioners in Miami voted Thursday to stop enforcing the county curfew before midnight. Gimenez said the county would monitor testing results and hospitalizations over the weekend. On Monday Gimenez’s office posted the final order that shifted the countywide curfew to midnight.

This isn’t the first time the high-ticket price of Ocean Drive has threatened the future of the Palace and its queens. In 2017, the bar closed its original location on the corner of 12th Street and Ocean Drive due to rising rent. He shut the doors just after July Fourth, promising patrons the Palace and the queens would be coming back to a new location. In November, it reopened in its 10th Street and Ocean Drive location.

Owner’s toughest fight

Still, Donall said fighting to stay open during the coronavirus has been the hardest thing he’s experienced in his 30 years as a nightclub owner.

“It’s been a complete roller coaster, emotionally, physically and mentally,” Donall said. “This has been the worst time in my entire life of all the stuff I’ve ever done.”

Starting the drag shows back up has been a huge help to the business, Donall said. The queens perform 6:30 to 10:30 every night of the week along with brunch performances at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Early Friday afternoon, drag queens danced their way through the bar at the brunch performance. A bachelorette party and a few beach-goers in big sunglasses sipped mimosas and hollered as the queens kicked and spun.

In between performances, one of the Palace’s longest reigning queen’s, Tiffany Fantasia, emceed the brunch. She cracked jokes with the guests and did her best to keep some distance.

Still pouring sweat from the show Fantasia talked about the difficulties of doing drag during the pandemic.

Before the in-person shows resumed at the Palace, Fantasia said she and the other queens were performing virtual drag shows where people could send tips through payment apps. Fantasia said she was lucky to have enough savings to make it through the closures, but she’s thrilled to be back performing at the Palace.

The hardest transition, she said, has been adapting to the new protocol. She’s tested different masks to find the one that works best to emcee the show and perform. Another obstacle for drag is that all tips have to go into a bucket instead of the queens taking them from customers.

“You’re used to making that connection with the customer by grabbing the tip. You’re giving them a smile and wink as you grab the tip, and you’re not allowed to do that anymore. And so you have to guess, are they enjoying the show or not?” Fantasia said. “It’s harder to make that connection.”

Her biggest obstacle in returning to drag performance?

Keeping up with the physical rigor of performing five days a week again after being home for so long, Fantasia said, as she blotted the sweat off her face careful not to smudge the makeup.

This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 6:00 AM.