Jackie Beat & Co

THE ROYALS

JACKIE BEAT AND HER COURT

All Hail the Drag Queens of WeHo

photographed by RICARDO NELSON at HAMBURGER MARY’S

LOS ANGELES excels at elevating unlikely pairings into cultural touchstones: Bogart and Bacall, fried chicken and wa es. So it’s hardly surprising that the combo platter at Hamburger Mary’s—superlative burgers and gregarious drag queens—continues to thrive at the corner of Sweetzer and Santa Monica in West Hollywood. Regulars will probably recognize the flame-haired Jackie Beat, seen tucking into a Mary’s speciality (below) while her court expresses appropriate hauteur. In a career spanning 25 years and millions of YouTube views, Jackie has channeled the likes of Gaga, Madonna, and Cher while delivering lacerating parodies of their hits. (“Small children will probably be frightened,” the New York Times characterized one of her live shows.) But what do you expect from a queen who declares herself “the world’s biggest bitch”? —M.W.