Papi Juice

Brooklyn's QTPOC standard — since 2013

Papi Juice was founded in 2013 by Adam Rhodes, Oscar Nñ, Cesar M. R. and Mohammed Fayaz in Brooklyn, with an explicit mission: build the party for queer and trans people of color that they'd never quite found in the New York gay nightlife they'd inherited. Twelve years later, Papi Juice is the reference point for QTPOC parties in the United States, has produced sold-out events across the country and internationally, and has shaped a generation of American queer nightlife more broadly than the "Brooklyn party" description suggests. The visuals — Mohammed Fayaz's illustrated flyers are collectors' items — became the template for a whole aesthetic of contemporary queer party design; the booking policy elevated QTPOC DJs into mainstream American recognition; and the crowd remains one of the most consistently joyful, well-dressed and rigorously curated at any American party.

What Papi Juice sounds like

Reggaeton, dembow, perreo, Afro-house, ballroom, Jersey club, Baltimore club, hip-hop, and R&B mixed with taste and sequencing by residents who treat American club music's Black-and-brown roots as the whole point. This is not tribal-house circuit territory and not Berlin-techno territory — Papi Juice's musical DNA is unmistakably American and unmistakably Black-and-Latino. If your last big gay party was tribal-house, Papi Juice will feel like the room's finally speaking the language you actually listen to when you're alone in the car.

The Elsewhere era

Papi Juice's flagship home has been Elsewhere in Bushwick since Elsewhere opened in 2017 — the multi-room queer-friendly Brooklyn venue that also hosts New York's Horse Meat Disco residency (see the Horse Meat Disco brand page). Elsewhere is the most consistently well-programmed queer-adjacent venue in New York, and Papi Juice's biggest dates use its capacity in full — the main hall for the primary floor, the loft for the secondary program, the roof (weather permitting) for the sunrise moment. Recurring Papi Juice dates land at Elsewhere multiple times a year; the special editions (Pride Month, anniversary parties, the annual Ball) sell out weeks ahead.

The visual identity — actually part of the party

Mohammed Fayaz's illustrated flyers are worth studying before you buy the ticket. The graphic-novel-style artwork depicting the party's actual community — real bodies, real faces, real neighborhoods — reframed what a queer party's marketing could look like in a way that had ripple effects across the entire American scene. The flyers are archived on Papi Juice's website and Instagram; several have been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum. The point: the party takes its own visual language seriously, and expects the crowd to as well. Dress accordingly.

The crowd — genuinely QTPOC-centered

This is where Papi Juice differs structurally from most parties on this page: white gay men are guests here, not the assumed core. The crowd runs heavily Black, Latino/Latinx, Asian and South Asian, with a strong lesbian and non-binary presence, and the room's cultural gravity assumes that centering. This is not a "diverse" crowd in the euphemistic sense — it's a party organized around a specific community, and the vibe reflects it. Allies are welcome; consumers are not.

"The first Papi Juice I did at Elsewhere in 2018 was the first time I understood what a New York queer party could be when it wasn't organized around a whiteness I'd been told to see as neutral. The music was mine, the crowd was mine, the flyer had my cousin's face on it. It has changed the whole way I plan queer travel."
— Yasmin, 34, Brooklyn

Practical

• Tickets via the Papi Juice website and Resident Advisor. Regular events $25-40, marquee editions higher. Sell out.
• Elsewhere is in Bushwick — take the L train to Jefferson St. The neighborhood at 3am is safe and lively; the walk back to the subway or Uber is short.
• Dress up. The crowd delivers; if you show up in cargo shorts and a tank top from your hotel, you'll feel it.
• Sundays are pilgrim territory. Some of the best Papi Juice dates fall on Sunday nights, following the American tradition of Sunday gay parties (see: HMD, T at Provincetown, Sundays at Boystown). Fly out Monday if you can.

Papi Juice on tour

The collective's biggest events beyond Elsewhere include annual Ball editions, occasional West Coast tours (LA is the natural sister city), and international appearances at Latin American and European queer festivals. When Papi Juice appears at a European party (São Paulo Pride, Berlin CSD week, occasional European festival billings), that's the crossover moment worth flying for.

Where it sits

The New York flag on the American queer-party map, and the answer to any traveler asking "where's the QTPOC party?" in a country where too many gay clubs still treat the question awkwardly. Do a Brooklyn weekend, do a Papi Juice Saturday plus an Elsewhere queer Sunday, and you've mapped the modern American queer scene at its best.

Part of the Gayout Party Brands guide. Event data updates automatically from official announcements.