Muralist Josh Katz has done a big new mural of the late, great Heklina, just in time for Pride Week, on the Market Street-facing side of the former Cafe Flore, at Noe Street, which remains under renovations.
The mural was just completed on Monday, and artist Josh Katz hasn't even added it to his Instagram yet, so maybe there are some finishing touches to add still. You may recognize Katz's work from the grand Sylvester mural he painted on the Folsom Street side of Oasis two years ago.
It depicts comedy queen, drag hostess, club owner, impresario, and longtime devotee of Bjork and Siouxsie Sioux, Heklina, who passed away unexpectedly in early April.
As Hoodline reported in March, Flore will be reborn as Fisch & Flore sometime this summer, under new ownership.
The local community is still awaiting word from the medical examiner in London on Heklina's possible cause of death.
She was found, as reportedly earlier, by her longtime friend and collaborator Peaches Christ, in a flat they were sharing while on tour in London, collapsed one morning. And she had reportedly been perfectly fine the night before.
Normally, Heklina would have been in town for this past weekend's monthly party Daytime Realness at El Rio, which she co-founded over a decade ago. And she likely would have stuck around to host another Pride party or two, perhaps at the club she co-founded, Oasis.
Fans can watch Heklina in her final on-screen performance on the Hulu drag/food competition-show sendup Drag Me to Dinner, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, in an episode she and Peaches shot last year.
Also, Heklina's 50th birthday roast at the Castro Theatre, which happened in 2017, was turned into a film, and the film was just screened over this past weekend at a "birthday memorial" event in Palm Springs. You all can still find it on Revry, the LGBTQ streaming service, as part of their "Drag Roast" series.
Previously: Heklina Memorial Features Hours of Laughs, and a Few Tears, for a Beloved Queen and Mother
Top photo courtesy of Peaches Christ
