Largest Queer Venue In Brooklyn Holds Grand Opening In W'burg

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — A new bar touted as the largest queer performance venue in Brooklyn will host its grand opening this weekend, complete with celebrity drag queens.

3 Dollar Bill, which has set up shop at 360 Meserole Street, has been open for several months but will officially celebrate moving into the neighborhood with a weekend of shows.

The bar is owned by Brenda Breathnach, an Irish bartender who began working at a bar in the Bronx and then took over Pheonix, a gay dive bar in the East Village, according to a feature with the New York Times.

3 Dollar Bill's 10,000-square-foot space is in the 1860s-era building that most recently housed the Otto Huber Brewery. Breathnach told the Times that the club is meant to be a performance venue, bar and LGBTQ community space.

"We are very proud and excited to open our doors and welcome the community into a space that represents our commitment to inclusion and the celebration of queer identity," the club says its website. "We are a space for joy...We look forward to providing this unique outlet that will allow everyone to express themselves as their fullest, most genuine, selves."

On Friday, the club will host "GODMOTHER" at 10 p.m., a show that won the 2018 Glam Award for Best Club Party. Ru Paul Drag Race winner Sasha Velour will perform along with special guests Kandy and DJ Joey Labeija, according to the event posting.

At 8 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday, 3 Dollar bill will host a show by Ireland gender illusionist Panti Bliss called "High Heels in Low Places." The show is a response to a controversy known as "Pantigate," where Panti Bliss accused newspaper journalists of homophobia, according to the event posting.

"High Heels in Low Places is not about Pantigate, it is more about life after Pantigate, along with other brushes with infamy that Pantihas had in a life well lived," the post reads. "It’s a comedy."