San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Telethon seeks to throw drag club a lifeline
Oasis nightclub owner D’Arcy Drollinger has tried to put a sunny spin on how the pandemic has impacted his business. In the past year, he’s created new ways of bringing drag performances to his customer base, including starting both a drag food delivery and livestreaming service.
But with finances dire after the club has been closed since December, it’s starting to look grim.
“It’s easy with all the stuff we’re doing to make it look like we’re winning this,” Drollinger says. “In a lot of ways we are, with what we’re doing for the community, but it’s not realistic to run a venue of this size and be closed. I thought rather than let things totally fall apart, I would ask for help.”
For the wellknown South of Market club and alternative performance venue to survive the next few months, Drollinger is trying to raise $100,000 via a telethon to be aired on the club’s streaming service, Oasis TV, and the crowdfunding site GiveButter.com on Saturday.
From noon to midnight, fans can watch their favorite San Francisco queens, including former Oasis coowner Heklina, Peaches Christ, Juanita More, Fauxnique, Glamamore, Sister Roma, Snax and Honey Mahogany as well as outoftown friends of the club like Justin Vivian Bond, Ben De La Creme, Alaska and Rock M. Sakura (who moved to Los Angeles after her stint on season 12 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”) Links to donate will be available on both streams, but in a nod to the oldschool telethons that inspired Drollinger, there will also be an onair phone bank staffed with drag performers to take your calls and donations.
The 6yearold nightclub, cabaret and drag venue opened its roof and a new parklet for business last summer when outdoor dining was first allowed, and then it closed again in December. Drollinger also created the Meals on Heels service where queens bring customers dinner and give a lipsync performance. “Meals on Heels” has been on winter hiatus and will start again in March.
This year, Drollinger also premiered Oasis TV, a streaming service that presents the best of the club’s performances as well as original content with a subscription or singleviewing purchase. But even with all these efforts, Drollinger says that the club is in a desperate financial situation that could force it to close permanently.
“The harsh reality is our rent is $20,000 a month, and there’s another $8,000 to $10,000 in other costs we have to meet, so we’re looking at about $30,000 a month just to exist,” Drollinger says. Through Paycheck Protection Program money and low Small Business Administration loans during the pandemic’s early months, Drollinger was able to mostly shore up the financial losses.
The club also raised $48,000 with an Indiegogo campaign last spring. But when the money ran out, Drollinger had to deplete his savings to keep the business afloat. And while he says the Oasis landlord forgave half the club’s rent last year, that’s no longer possible. Oasis currently owes two months of back rent.
“It’s getting harder each month,” Drollinger says. “Oasis feels like a different situation than a neighborhood bar in the Castro with more foot traffic and less overhead. I lose more money opening in limited capacity than being closed, but even being closed isn’t sustainable without help.”
Drollinger says that the $100,000 will buy Oasis more time until additional funds from the city become available. His ultimate hope is that the club will be able to fully reopen by summer.
“We’re hitting a critical moment where it’s becoming unsustainable,” Drollinger says. This week, it was announced that queer bar Virgil’s Sea Room in the Mission would close permanently because of the pandemic, and Drollinger does not want to see the same fate befall another LGBTQ nightspot with deep ties to the community.
“I’ve worked so hard to maintain this,” Drollinger says. “I don’t want to lose it.”
Save the Oasis Telethon: Noon-midnight Saturday. Free; donations encouraged. Watch at watch.sfoasis.com or givebutter.com/saveoasis. To donate by phone, call 415-742-1044.