Club Kids

The Club Kids were a group of young New York City club personalities mostly led by Michael Alig and James St. James in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The group was notable for their elaborate and outrageous costumes and rampant drug use – in particular, ecstasy, ketamine, cocaine and heroin. In 1988, writer Michael Musto wrote about the Club Kids' "Cult of crazy fashion and petulance": "They . . . are terminally superficial, have dubious aesthetic values, and are master manipulators, exploiters, and, thank God, partiers." The group, which at various moments included James St. James, Jenny Talia (Jenny Dembrow), Amanda Lepore, Waltpaper (Walt Cassidy), the It Twins, Richie Rich, Keoki, Desi Monster (Desi Santiago), Larry Tee, Lahoma van Zant (Jon Witherspoon), Astro Erle, Tobell von Cartier, Sophia Lamar, RuPaul, Gitsie, Susanne Bartsch and Kenny Kenny became both local celebrities and national sensations.