“Who dances all the way to work every morning?” Jacquelyn Piazza asks GO. Her answer? “I do!” Despite the fact that her work — owning and operating two of Cherry Grove’s premiere entertainment venues, Cherry’s and The Sand Castle — is fairly stressful, especially following the COVID pandemic, she loves what she does. She has for a long time, too. “I started working in bars and clubs when I was a teenager,” she says. “I fell in love with the industry and worked my ass off while everyone around me was goofing off and partying.” After working through bars and clubs in Long Island and Manhattan, including the Cubbyhole, she found her way to Cherry Grove, purchasing Cherry’s on the Bay when it came onto the market. She transformed it into a premiere LGBTQ+ destination venue and then opened The Sand Castle as a dining establishment. The most rewarding part of her work is sort of difficult to pinpoint, given that she has so many. However, one of the highlights is “being able to provide members of the LGBTQ+ community with opportunities, particularly the drag performers,” she tells GO. “I love drag, and being able to give these performers a place to be themselves and do what they do is incredibly gratifying.” If one of them tells her they’re earning enough to stop waiting tables, or if she sees one on TV, “I’m filled with a sense of pride and happiness that no paycheck could ever match.” —RK
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