Posts Tagged ‘New York’

Stormé DeLarverie News

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

Our friends in New York keep us up on what’s happening in Chelsea, and especially what’s happening with the Stonewall veteran and our friend Stormé.

Best known for her role in the 1969 Stonewall Riots, Stormé worked as a male impersonator and performed with the Jewel Box Revue at the Apollo Theater and many other legendary venues.

Nan still has the framed photo of Stormé in her heyday, which Stormé gave her many years ago, on her dresser.

A Toast to Stormé DeLarverie” offered some good news about Stormé—she has been moved to a different nursing home in Brooklyn, CABS Nursing Home, where a friend of hers lives. It’s “a much nicer facility,” Ed Hamilton writes in this Chelsea Hotel blog posting. Good!

There was a benefit for Stormé that took place the Sunday before Thanksgiving at Henrietta Hudson’s in the West Village. We remember when Stormé was Henrietta Hudson’s bouncer, but more than that, she became our friend when Christi and Nan lived in Chelsea on 20th Street.

Our friend Kate wrote an e-mail update about the afternoon at Henrietta’s:

The benefit was a huge success! The place was totally jammed and jumping and spilling onto the street. Stormé was there, overlooking the crowd, on a slightly elevated platform, in her wheelchair, receiving well-wishers. I was finally able to get up to her and we had a brief conversation, although it was hard to hear her over the din.  There were balloons floating about and lots of elbow-to-elbow dancing to quite loud music. A good time was had by all and it was a wonderful tribute to Stormé.”

Thanks, Kate!