Though Trannyshack won't be called Trannyshack as of 2015, that doesn't mean the iconic drag event is just going to curl up and die. In fact, proposed changes to San Francisco's zoning laws means that the event — whatever you call it — might have a permanent home in SoMa even before the name change becomes official.
It was May of this year when Trannyshack founder and host Heklina announced that due to concerns regarding the possibly-offensive nature of the event's name to the transgender community, the events' name would officially change.
"To be clear, Trannyshack will continue through 2014 and the rebrand will launch in 2015," Heklina told SFist in May, saying "But, if I (when I’ve been sleeping, eating, breathing, and living Trannyshack for 18+ years) can adjust to the idea of a rebrand, I think most people can."
According to Heklina, she'll actually be focus-grouping this rebrand over, and is already batting around other names like "Drag Shack," and even "The Shack."
As SFist earlier reported, Heklina and several partners have been in negotiations to purchase the former Caliente Club, also once known as The Oasis, at the northwest corner of 11th and Folsom. On Monday the team prevailed in an initial hearing with a Board of Supervisors committee over a pesky new zoning rule that's been holding them up.
The space is very near the Kissling Alley Residential Enclave District, hence the need for a change to the law to enable Trannyshack to open, as the BAR reported in June.
"It is a ridiculous zoning thing no body wanted. Not even the residents wanted it or asked for it," Heklina told the BAR.
At Monday's Board of Supervisors Land Use & Economic Development Committee meeting an amendment to the Planning Code was endorsed, the Chron reports. Essentially, it says that a nightlife operation like Heklina's can operate within 200 feet of a residential property so long as it had been a nightlife use within the past five years.
This was Trannyshacks last hurdle before the amendment goes before the full Board of Supervisors, where the SoMa Leadership Council's Jim Meko says its approval is a "sure thing."
After all, Meko said, "No one votes against fun."
Previously: Exclusive: SFist Talks With Heklina About The Rebranding Of Trannyshack
Zoning Rule Holds Up New SoMa Nightclub From Heklina, Of Trannyshack Fame
