(OPINION) When you get to the gates of heaven, down a dark alley under the 10 Freeway and past a bacon-wrapped hot dog cart, there is no judgment. There is just a man who wants to see your ID and look in your purse. After that, all are free to enter.
Inside, a thousand people bop to 2000s Eurodance, a triad of goth dancers in clownface dance onstage, 3-inch rhinestone nails reflect the laser lights, and prosthetics and body makeup can be found on VIPs in the smoking section.
This isn’t the heaven that Lulo Logan — who usually goes just by their first name, “like Cher” — learned about while growing up in a traditional Catholic Mexican family in Temecula. This is Heav3n, the genreless, genderless, dress-code-less paradise Lulo created where everyone is welcome.
Heav3n isn’t just a dance club. It’s a variety show. Between DJ sets there are live music performances, five-minute drag interludes, dance breaks, sword swallowers, burlesque and uncategorizable combinations of all of the above. A ticket to Heav3n starts at $15, with a lineup that boasts 15 performances from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.
It’s a lot to wrangle. Lulo, 31, started the event in December 2014, and it’s happened every month since. It passed through a handful of Los Angeles venues before landing at 1720. The downtown L.A. warehouse space allows attendees over 18, expanding Heav3n to a younger audience than most club events, which set 21 as the age minimum.
Many of Heav3n’s younger attendees are drawn to the Y2K aesthetic and electronic music they’ve otherwise heard only as trending songs on TikTok. In 2020 and ’21, during the COVID-19 stay-at-home, Lulo partnered with streaming service Twitch to bring DJ sets and performances into the living rooms of thousands.
Lulo, who is trans nonbinary, moved to Hollywood at 19 knowing no one. As a teenager they were inspired by the party photography of Mark Hunter, known as the Cobrasnake, and dreamed of moving to L.A. to work in nightlife. They walked up and down Hollywood Boulevard meeting the promoters who ran the neighborhood until they scored a job as a host, bringing cute girls to party for free at bottle-service clubs. (READ MORE)
