But it wasn’t until Berry threw a house party in November 2018 that Torres began performing live. The pair trace the origin of Haus of Libations back to San Francisco Pride 2018, when they ran around the city together in drag. That outlet came with wigs, heels and one hell of a fabulous wardrobe. “We were equally crazy, equally gay and coming from a similar background. “We were both like, ‘Please, I need friends so bad,’” Berry remembers. “We all live double lives, and we’re all so stupid together,” says Torres, a Santa Cruz local who studied art and art education at Humboldt State, where he originally met Berry.Īfter graduation, both Berry and Torres found themselves back in Santa Cruz, randomly rekindling their friendship in the most artistic way at the now-defunct Palace Art store on Pacific Avenue. The Haus of Libations follows this tradition, as many of the members live under the same roof, and everyone does drag. As the houses grew, they began throwing underground pageants to compete with each other for different prizes in categories like “realness” and “runway.”
Queer, Black and Latino members of the scene would band together into households and teach each other how to make outfits and do their makeup, while providing shelter in an accepting, chosen-family setting that was sometimes a stark contrast from their biological families. “And I’m Captain Hook.”ĭrag houses stem from ballroom drag culture of late-20th-century New York. “But I like to joke that she’s more the Peter Pan to our Lost Boys,” Torres jokes. The two friends founded the drag house Haus of Libations, and Berry quickly took on the role of house mom. “We didn’t have that and didn’t think to travel over the hill to find a drag community to latch onto,” says Torres. Eli Torres and Suki Berry were downright thirsty for a sickening-that’s drag slang for “amazing”-queer arts scene in Santa Cruz last year.