At the start of the TUSH Pride 2025 show the multi-hypenate host and creator Betty Wetter read aloud from a book about Seattle’s first gay-owned cabaret. The description of the role the 1940s Pioneer Square cabaret played in the community easily transfers to Betty’s own monthly drag and variety show at the Clock Out Lounge in Beacon Hill: “giving queers the pride and energy to invent protective and affirmative institutions in a hostile society.”
Betty has big visions for TUSH. She told me over email “we are building TUSH into a sustainable arts organization over the next year as well. This will include fundraising for higher artist fees, more free access to our programs, and eventually opening our own community space within the next 10 years.” As Seattle’s arts community has been rocked by rising costs, gentrification and (frankly) more factors than this sentence can account for, reading Betty’s vision paints hope for a future full of those aforementioned “protective and affirmative institutions.” So, with that in mind, Betty shares a slice of Seattle through her own eyes.
Seattle Hidden Gem:
- Collide-o-Scope – Grab a pre-roll and a friend and get yourself to Collide-o-Scope. This found footage fantasy is the perfect Monday night experience. It feels like someone found all of the best corners of the internet and put them into the silliest 2 hours ever.
Dream Day of Eating:
- First, we’re waiting in a ridiculous line for the pancake of the day at Geraldine’s in Columbia City. Text me when our table is ready. If it’s nice out, let’s go get a burger on the Bainbridge ferry (it’s about the experience not the quality). Then we’re whipping out Trivial Pursuit at Bait Shop and sipping on libations served in bathtubs or shark heads or whatever they’ve dreamed up this season.
Favorite Coffee Shop to Read In:
- Squirrel Chops has the best crew in town. Always putting a smile on my face. If I want a cozy spot to read, I am actually gonna get my cold brew to go and sit in the park.
One Seattle Person (Dead or Alive) To Spend a Day With:
- There’s a great book, An Evening at the Garden of Allah, that tells of one of the first gay owned cabarets in the country. I’d love to take the owners out to a drag show today to thank them for carving out that space and show them how far we’ve come.
Favorite Free Thing To Do:
- Seattle’s lakefront beaches are sacred to me. I don’t trust anyone who leaves town between June and September because why would you go through all of that winter and then skip the best part of being here? The only thing that could make it better would be to get rid of those pesky houses and open it all to the people!
Something Seattle Does Best:
- I am biased, but there really is no other drag scene like ours. You wanna see high art? There’s a show for that. You wanna see fierce nonsense? There’s a show for that. Wacky weirdos? That too! Drag has been in Seattle for a century or more and is a key part of what makes this city unique.
Seattle Hero:
- I consider Dina Martina to be the mother of Seattle drag, though she refuses to take the DNA test. Look around the audience she attracts to each show and you won’t see one specific demographic. She brings so many people together for a good laugh. She is a true gift.
Tourist Trap That's Actually Great:
- BUY THE FLOWERS! Every market in town has them and they’re gorgeous. Give them to a friend or treat yourself. Their beauty can brighten your worst days.
Best Pop Culture Depiction of Seattle:
- Battle in Seattle (2007) feels the most realistic, but every time ”Thrift Shop” by Macklemore drifts through the air, I am immediately transported to the Value Village on Capitol Hill and all of the treasures I found there.
