This Saturday, the city’s inaugural Drag Laureate Pickle will host Drag Story Hour. The event, presented by the City of West Hollywood in partnership with the West Hollywood Library, offers story time readings by drag performers for children of all ages. Admission is free, and no RSVPs are required. Additional details are available at https://go.weho.org/dragstoryhour.
Drag Story Hour began in San Francisco in 2015, created by Michelle Tea and RADAR Productions. The West Hollywood series, launched in 2017 with funding from the city’s Arts Division, is produced by Drag Arts Lab and Pickle. The program marks its place as a recurring cultural event at the West Hollywood branch of the LA County Public Library.
Pickle is at the end of a two-year term as Drag Laureate from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2025. A Los Angeles native with a BA in Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College, Pickle has performed professionally in drag for eight years. Known for live singing and hosting, she integrates education and community engagement into her work. As the leader of the LA Chapter of Drag Story Hour, she has collaborated with institutions like the Academy Museum, LACMA, the Aquarium of the Pacific, and the Music Center, among others. Her television appearances include The Weakest Link, Dodgeball Thunderdome, and Sistas.
In her role as Drag Laureate, Pickle acts as an ambassador for West Hollywood’s drag culture, attending events including WeHo Pride and West Hollywood Day. A public installation ceremony for Pickle took place on July 16, 2023, at West Hollywood Park, coinciding with International Drag Day.
The Drag Laureate program aims to elevate drag as an art form, foster partnerships with local businesses and organizations, and celebrate West Hollywood’s cultural history. Pickle’s initiatives include exploring new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality, to expand drag’s creative possibilities. The city also plans an annual event to promote drag history and engage the community.
In a related development, San Francisco named D’Arcy Drollinger as its inaugural Drag Laureate in 2023. The two cities are expected to collaborate, sharing strategies to strengthen their respective programs.
Drag Story Hour will take place June 14, 2025, from 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM, in the West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard.
I propose that we defund the libraries that promote this form of child abuse.
More like libraries are being defunded because reactionary dogma is so easily invalidated by Science❗
It’s child abuse and the country has had enough.
Hope he kept his pickle in the jar.
Milton Berle did dog all the time – and hilariously so… what’s the difference?
There are videos of MILTON BERLE IN DRAG with Bob Hope made well before many of the posters in the comment section were ever born. Note that the whole world did NOT come to a crashing end ❗ ?
Reality ✅ The arguments against drag time story hour are relying heavily on straw man fallacies, it’s NOT a drag show, it’s a story book reading done by someone who happens to be a drag queen and, the kids attending the event will be brought there by their parents. Recall efforts in the 1980s to enact discriminatory laws against LGBTQ+ teachers in California❓ Opposition to Drag Story Hour is based on the same fallacies❗
Please stop this nonsense. This is one of the issues that is turning the country Red. Outside of a small community…..no one supports this.
Yes, just digging that pit deeper and deeper and then wondering why there is a crater.
People like you are exactly why we need to teach tolerance like these drag story hours.
lol
Drag has always been a form of adult entertainment. Leave kids alone. If you want to get them excited about reading, bring in an author.
You do realize that there are LGBTQ+ authors ❓
yes, but they’re not usually in drag…..
There is NO harm done if they are in drag, just a lesson in tolerance.