Connie Fleming: A New York Icon Picks the City's Best Bits
Connie Fleming speaks about New York through anecdotes that only a seasoned New Yorker can truly understand. For example, she tells me her favorite moment after being away from the city for a long time is: “The cab ride into New York and the first ‘fuck you’ I hear, it warms my heart. It makes me feel at home.”
Best recognized by her moniker Connie Girl, Fleming knows the city as well as any true New Yorker. She moved to the Big Apple from Jamaica at age five, in the early '70s: “It looked like the movies I saw of big cities. It was a culture shock, seeing the concrete that covered everything,” she says. In the years since she’s seen the city undergo massive changes.
“New York changes constantly. I've gone away on vacation for two weeks and a whole block is totally different," she says. “The East Village creative energy has now moved to Brooklyn, Bushwick, and Williamsburg. The energy centers change when gentrification hits.”
While the city has continued to expand around her, so has Fleming’s legendary status. She started gaining notoriety in the ‘80s as part of Boy Bar Beauties, a revered drag group in the downtown New York club scene, and later as a doorperson for the city’s most hard-to-enter parties (she calls herself “the door bitch from hell”). Then she started modeling – and became a muse to Vivienne Westwood and Thierry Mugler – all of which led to her being labeled fashion’s transsexual "It" girl by The New York Times. (If you need more proof, check out Beyoncé paying tribute to her.) In short, Connie Fleming is a fashion icon, a Black trans icon, and an icon of New York’s party scene.
Today, Fleming has added a few more feathers to her bow: she’s an accomplished illustrator and artist, works as a model coach, and can be found on the door at Le Bain (yes, you have to make it past her before entering the rooftop bar’s famous Met Gala afterparty). She’s had a late night working on an art project when I call her and, despite it being an early morning on her day off, she’s more than happy to spill the tea on the best and worst places in New York.
What’s your favorite late-night restaurant in New York?
Connie Fleming: The food trucks around the Meatpacking District, there’s a Nathan’s food truck there. And there's an evil, awful, rotten ice cream truck where you can get a good soft cone or a Bomb Pop which is horrifying but I do love it.
A good Nathan's hot dog with crinkle fries and a Mister Softee ice cream truck; vile and awful it may be, but I love it.
What’s the first place you go when you’ve had a long time away from New York?
A museum, whether it's MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, or the Whitney Museum of American Art, is my grounding spot.
Where is New York’s best party?
Le Bain is always a great bet if you can get past me on the door. Then there’s PHD, Little Sister, 3 Dollar Bill, Avant Gardner, and Battle Hymn. I think it’s best to look online to see where your niche is and what's on the menu for that week, that’s a great bet.
What's something in New York that you can’t find in any other city?
A deli that’s open at 4 a.m. where you can get everything: a chopped cheese, an egg on a roll, a can of beer, an ice cream… they're not always open 24-hours since the [COVID-19] pandemic but there are little corners where you can still find a good New York bodega open at four in the morning.
What’s the best place to go shopping in New York?
LTRAINVINTAGE, the one in Williamsburg is better than the one in Manhattan now. There’s also Housing Works, they do a lot of great vintage. But you can just walk around and look for a deal, I’ve found so much really cool stuff in odd lots. It's all about putting on your sneakers and rolling around [the city].
What's the most overrated place in New York?
Any bottle service nightclub.
