Tag Archives: New York

The Rockland Palace, New York City Gangs

Harlem’s Hidden Gay History: The Rockland Palace Drag Balls

The Hamilton Lodge was a black gay social group that held extravagant drag balls in Harlem, New York, in the 1930s. Prohibition put an end to the Hamilton Lodge drag formals at the Rockland Palace on West 155th Street. New York’s drag balls were given national exposure by the 1990 documentary “Paris is Burning.” Harlem’s gay scene was well known …

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