It's the end of an era as one of San Francisco's queen bee drag queens says she needs a "break" and is stepping back from her ownership role at the SoMa nightclub she helped found almost five years ago.
Heklina announced today that she's planning to spend more time next year at her home in Palm Springs, and she's ending her weekly drag show Mother — though she says Mother will continue as a "special event brand." Also she says that the ownership structure at Oasis, the home of Mother and multiple other parties, will be changing so that she can, as she says, "move on."
"Being part owner of a business in San Francisco was a dream for me, and I have no regrets. I have done my utmost to be an honest, straightforward businesswoman the past 5 years, but now I feel it’s time for a break," she writes on Facebook. "Oasis has been an all-consuming passion for me, and I need to step away to find out what’s next."
"I truly feel I have done my best to make a mark on SF Nightlife, and Oasis was and is, for me, the crowning jewel of my career so far."
Heklina says that a date for the final Mother hasn't been set, but it will be in the New Year, and she says she'll do her best to be at every one until then — though she'll also be co-starring, as she always does, in the nightly Golden Girls Live holiday show starting in a few weeks.
As many fans know, Mother grew out of Trannyshack, an edgy drag revue that began at The Stud back in 1996 and grew into a San Francisco phenomenon. For reasons of political correctness and sensitivity to the trans community, the party's name became Mother when Oasis opened in 2015.
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