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Meet Pickle, West Hollywood’s New Drag Laureate: ‘Being True To What Makes You Happy Is The Most Punk Thing You Can Do’
Pickle's new role comes with a $12,500 honorarium each year, paid for by the city.
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Patrick McPheron
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Courtesy of Pickle
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Dressing up has always been one of Pickle’s favorite things to do.
One of her earliest times was as a young boy. She’d play dress up with her sister with a little bit of gender-bending. Pickle would often be the princess and her sister would be the prince. Pickle remembers pretending to be “Judge Joedy,” an innocent take on the hard-hitting TV icon Judge Judy, with a head scarf and gown.
“[My sister] was a little controlling, so she would always kind of feed me lines and I would just have to repeat them,” Pickle said. “I would like hand out these judgments.”
This was an early step down Pickle’s path of creativity, art and humor. In the almost nine years since she’s been a professional drag queen, Pickle’s racked up accolades. She runs the Los Angeles chapter of Drag Story Hour. The 30-year-old’s been recognized by the L.A. city council, and now, she’s the second-ever Drag Laureate in the U.S, repping West Hollywood.
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Pickle as Judge Joedy.
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Family photo courtesy of Pickle
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The 30-year-old Pickle today, who tries to stay true to her young curious roots.
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Caitlin Hernández
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LAist
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What shaped Pickle’s drag career
I caught up with Pickle at her childhood home near Arlington Heights to learn more about her career.
She counts her official dive into drag as a student at Hamilton High. Pickle starred in a play called A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, where she played a character that got into drag.
“He has a whole song about where they're convincing him that he's beautiful,” Pickle said. “Putting on the wig and the lipstick and the dress, something was kind of awakened where I was like, ‘Oh, this works.’”
Then at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, Pickle started dabbling in drag away from theater. She organized small drag shows at school, right around the time RuPaul’s Drag Race was gaining popularity. Since then, she’s shaped her artistry around humor, education and interaction with people who attend her performances.
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Pickle, at her fathers' home, wearing her handmade dress.
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Caitlin Hernández
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LAist
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Pickle describes her style as a “Barbie-ish” one that’s inspired by '70s glam. Her big blonde wig is a staple, and her handmade, brightly colored outfits — which she sews herself — indulge in frill and femininity. Undoubtedly influenced by her theater roots, Pickle is a singing drag queen who performs with an 11-piece band. And breaking that fourth-wall is her favorite.
“I'm very goofy,” she said. “I think I really know how to use drag to highlight my mistakes and my vulnerabilities in a way that endears me to the audience.”
Now, Pickle says she works mostly with children through Drag Story Hour at libraries. After one of her story hour sessions, a parent sent their child’s scribbled note of how they want to be a drag queen when they grow up.
How Pickle will shape the Drag Laureate role
Pickle plans to compliment her dress with lavendar jewels.
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Caitlin Hernández
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LAist
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Pickle says the hardest part about creating an outfit isn't the sewing — it's the designing that's a challenge.
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Caitlin Hernández
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LAist
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In her new gig as Drag Laureate, Pickle is going to be busy.
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For the next two years, she’ll make appearances at dozens of events, create an annual event on drag history, and work to elevate drag in the city. She wants to create more “glue” in the community by breaking barriers to performing in West Hollywood. For example, she says transportation can be a block.
“At the end of the day, you can give a performer with limited access an opportunity, but if they can't comfortably get there, then you're not really facilitating their growth,” she said.
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Pickle will host quarterly meetings with the local drag community, a requirement she had added to her Drag Laureate agreement. She hopes this will be an avenue where any performer can get on the same page of what’s happening in drag and come up with a list of concerns for her to bring back to the city.
In Pickle’s eyes, her term is about establishing legitimacy in a world that still marginalizes drag, and to show that the Drag Laureate position is worth vying for. Pickle was selected from 13 applicants, but she’s aiming for a lot more in the next round.
For her debut event on Sunday, July 16, at West Hollywood park, Pickle is sewing and designing her own dress. For colors, she’s picked a blue tone with lavender touches, a nod to historically LGBTQ-coded colors. But, she’s not trying to overthink this.
“Sometimes, doing something really simple and authentic is so much more cutting edge than people realize,” Pickle said. “Being true to what makes you happy is the most punk thing you can do.”
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Pickle’s term ends in June 2025.
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