RED WAS EVERYWHERE! It’s the Red Dress Party in Pictures at Gold Coast Bar

We can’t end the week without showing our readers the mayhem that was the 22nd Annual Red Dress Party at Gold Coast Bar in West Hollywood last weekend, on Sunday, July 15. WEHO TIMES photographers Mike Pingel and Paulo Murillo tag-teamed the gold coast bar to capture the crazy shenanigans inside the bar and at the bar’s parking lot party.

Red was everywhere. Men (and some women) in various forms of slutty red dress (and some campy dowdy numbers as well) were spotted walking down Santa Monica Boulevard heading to the Gold Coast. Costumes varied from men in mumu dresses, red lace see-through body stockings, feather boas, giant hats, red super heroes and then you had the not-so-brave guys in red shorts red tanks.

At 22 years, the Red Dress Party mainly gets its draw from word of mouth. There was no cover, but a donation was highly recommended to the charity of the year. This year’s event event benefited The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

DJ Chubjim will spun at the tent all day. DJ Hazmat will spun inside the bar from 11am-3pm. DJ Jeff will had people dancing in their seats from 3pm-8pm. And DJ Draven took over from 8pm-2am.

The Red Dress Party debuted on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and La Jolla Avenue in 1997. It was created by Gold Coast bartenders, Mark Ferguson and Yves-Claude. Both men were HIV+ during a time when being HIV+ was like a death sentence. The twosome made a pact with each other that whoever passed away first, the other would go to their funeral wearing a red dress. Mark was known for dressing up in drag and visiting some of the HIV/AIDS wards at hospitals. He was also often seen in full drag and hanging out behind the Gold Coast bar. It was his way of making the most out of life and making people laugh.

Sadly, Mark was the first one to pass. Yves-Claude could not attend his memorial because he was out of town. When Yves-Claude returned, Bob Hasting, the owner of the bar came up with the idea to create an event and invite everyone to wear a red dress in celebration of Mark’s life. Yves-Claude would lose his battle to complications of AIDS a few years later, but he was able to see the impact the Red Dress party had on the West Hollywood community. The entire bar was a sea of red feathers, rhinestones, glitter, wigs, and exaggerated lips.