Legendary Bingo Celebrates 25 Years of Drag Queen Bingo

Legendary Bingo, Los Angeles’ most popular and longest running weekly charity event celebrated their landmark 25 year anniversary in the month of April 2023. The event, which has been hosted at Hamburger Mary’s WeHo for the last 20 years, celebrated their anniversary with various events benefiting charities.

On Monday, April 10, 2023, it was a private affair with Project Angel Food staff and volunteers. It was a gathering of Angels at Hamburger Mary’s with nearly 100 Project Angel Food volunteers in attendance who were honored for their commitment and outstanding work.

Project Angel Food CEO Richard Ayoub presented Jeffery Bowman, the creator, producer and co-host of Legendary Bingo, with an award acknowledging 25 Years and thanking Bowman for his support of Project Angel Food and other charities throughout the years.

Celebrity ball callers, including Jai Rodriguez, Lauren Tom, Mary-Margaret Humes, Gregory Zarian, Lawrence Zarian, Melissa Peterman, Peter Porte and Tai Babilonia. A special thank you to Jeffery “Bingo Boy” Bowman for 25 years of Legendary Bingo and Borgia Bloom.

On Tuesday, April 11, 2023, the celebration continued at 8288 Santa Monica Blvd, with Seth Rogan and his wife Lauren raising money for a charity called HFC (formerly “Hilarity For Charity”) to help families dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease. The event sold out.

On Wednesday April 12, 2023, it was back to basics with a regular night of Legendary Bingo at a normal price with Bingo Boy Bowman and Borgia Bloom hosting. This was their final 25th Anniversary event, which benefited AIDS Healthcare which was the very first charity the did for Legendary Bingo 25 years ago. Bowman also celebrated his birthday that night, which was actually on the 10th.

An added bonus that made turning 25 years more special, was having Mayor of West Hollywood, Sepi Shyne present Bowman with a City Proclamation declaring April 12th as “Legendary Bingo Day” in West Hollywood.

“It was amazing to celebrate 25 years of Legendary Bingo with all of the celebrities and guests. I have the best job in the world,” said Bowman. “I get to stand on stage and make people laugh, give them prizes and raise money for amazing charities. When we began 25 years ago, I never would have imagined that this would be my ‘long term job’, but it is, and I am forever grateful.”

In its 25 years, Legendary Bingo has raised more than 9 million dollars for local, national and international charities and welcomed “Celebrity Guest Ballcallers” from the world of film and television including Emma Stone, Jean Smart, Jennifer Coolidge, Sean Hayes, Allison Janney, Courtney Cox and many more.

In April of 1998, Legendary Boingo served up its first set of balls at Stonewall Gourmet Coffee in West Hollywood as a fundraising event for AIDS Project Los Angeles. A few months later, the event began to benefit a different charity each week and became a “standing room only” sensation.

Now, 25 years after the very first ball rolled out of the cage, Legendary Bingo has become a staple of the Los Angeles community and beyond, with weekly charity events, virtual events, private parties and corporate events. Legendary Bingo has been featured on local and national news channels as well as 20+ reality shows including “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” “Millionaire Matchmaker,” “The Shahs Of Sunset,” “My Life on The D-List” and “LA Ink.”

Charities that have benefited from Legendary Bingo include Project Angel Food, Best Friends Animal Rescue, AIDS Healthcare, Bienestar, Children’s Hospital L.A., The Leukemia/Lymphoma Society, Inclusion Matters, The Gay Men’s Chorus, The Los Angeles LGBT Center and more.

Legendary Bingo’s Virtual Events are attended by guests from around the nation and around the world. Corporate clients include Netflix, Mattel, Disney, Apple, The Trevor Project and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

In 2008, 2013 and 2018, in honor of Legendary Bingo’s tenth, fifteenth and twentieth anniversaries, the City Of West Hollywood proclaimed a “Legendary Bingo Day” for the entire city.

Jeffery Bowman began fundraising in the 1980’s, producing some of the very first AIDS benefits in the Los Angeles area. These events featured such icons as Angelyne, Patty Duke, Julie Brown, Pia Zadora and 50’s sex kitten Mamie Van Doren.

Bowman created Legendary Bingo in 1998 as a way of producing a weekly event that would allow charities to raise money in a format that was fun and inexpensive to attend, therefore allowing a younger demographic to experience the joy of fundraising.

25 years later Bingo Boy Inc. works with local, national and international charities and produces more than 300 events a year for charities, corporate events, universities, private parties and country clubs.

During the past 30 years and in addition to “Legendary Bingo,” Bowman has been involved with producing events for several charities including AIDS Project Los Angeles, The Wellness Community, The Hollyrod Foundation (with actress Holly Robinson Peete), L.A. Shanti, The Alfred Mann Foundation as well as teaching job workshops for the homeless through The Chrysalis Center in Los Angeles.

In 2008 non-profit organization Being Alive presented Jeffery with “The Spirit of Hope” award for his many years of fundraising for HIV/AIDS.

Jeffery is also the recipient of “The Community Service Award” presented by AIDS Service Center, “The Impact Award” presented by Pet Matchmaker.com, “The Rainbow Award” presented by The City of West Hollywood and “The Local Hero Award” presented by AIDS Healthcare.

He has also been awarded proclamations from the California Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, the Mayor of Los Angeles and the Governor of California.

In 2016 Bowman created and launched the board game “Drag Queen Bingo: The Home Game” which pits players against each other vying for the title of “Miss Bingo Queen Of The Universe.”