RuPaul talks his wild and crazy ‘80s club kid days

“I’m from San Diego, Calif. I knew that for my star to shine, I would have to move to New York, become an Andy Warhol superstar and then make my way back to Hollywood.I didn’t become an Andy Warhol superstar, but everything else is pretty much how it worked for me. New York, I knew, would get my energy.”



“Because I was sleeping on people’s couches, I kept most of my costumes and my stuff in the basement at the Pyramid . . . The Pyramid was the mecca for [Lady Bunny and me]. There was one time when I was go-go dancing [in 1984], and I came down [the] corkscrew stairs that led from the stage to the basement, and I was sweaty. When I got down there, Madonna was holding court with all of her friends in the basement. I remember they all looked at me like I was some jungle person who had invaded their space, because, you know, I’m dressed in some tribal something or whatever. She was that classic mean girl from high school who would turn her nose up at you. It wasn’t like she was Kylie Minogue, who is obviously kindness and sweetness. That’s not what Madonna was at all — but that’s really part of the appeal with her, honestly.”



“I’d see Andy Warhol at a club called Area. Everyone would be talking, ‘Oh my God, Andy’s here!’ because he was the god of our world. His mentality and his philosophy was what we had based our whole lives on, which is this postmodern, punk, create-your-own celebrity. Anyone could be a celebrity with the right clothes and the right attitude.”



“[There were] illegal after-hours clubs in the East Village, like Save the Robots. The party scene was gay, straight, lesbian, black, white, rich, poor, uptown, downtown. It wasn’t so polarized. You could see the girl on the cover of Vogue and some artist who lives on the street.”



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