THE CULTURAL ROADMAP FOR CITY GIRLS EVERYWHERE

THE CULTURAL ROADMAP FOR CITY GIRLS EVERYWHERE

Line Up For House Party: NYC’s Newest Sapphic Sensation

January 31, 2025

Caroline Hetzel and Emma DiMarco soak the party in champagne. Photo Courtesy of House Party.

Founders of House Party, Caroline Hetzel and Emma DiMarco, gave GO an inside look at the lesbian rager.

Through the open door of an unassuming, basement-level Greenwich Village pub, groups of inebriated lesbians were transported from the streets of 6th Avenue to a sparkling sea of sapphics. 

Two small lesbians stood guard to check IDs. A girl in a thin, white, wife-pleaser tank stamped “Gay” onto the backs of hands, inking skin like a right of passage into Narnia. Pushing through the crowd, feeling the cool softness of leather jackets and the rough rub of denim, there was not a single man in sight—besides the warm bartender, who was too busy slinging strong drinks to notice any of the WLW action. The bar stretched back, farther than can be seen from the front door, and every inch was covered by a swaying mass of dykes.

Two partygoers who aren’t afraid of a little PDA. Photo Courtesy of House Party.
Two partygoers who aren’t afraid of a little PDA. Photo Courtesy of House Party.

Boy, you got my heartbeat runnin’ away

Beatin’ like a drum and it’s comin’ your way

Music floated through the air, fluttering on the tips of beanies and false eyelashes. Past the bar and the winding bathroom line of tipsy girls leaning against the wall and whispering seduction in each other’s ears, the space opened into a wide dancefloor. Every elevated surface, no matter how unstable, was decorated with a girl or two tastefully shaking ass. 

Can’t you hear that 

Boom, badoom, boom, boom, badoom, boom, bass?

Yael Yonah, the party’s resident DJ, had her hands glued to her board, headphones askew on top of her trucker hat. A heavy crowd surrounded the booth with their hands raised, some fist-bumping, some sloshing their vodka sodas onto the floor, as the music vibrated the floorboards. 

Two figures slid powerfully through the pounding music, parting the packed dance floor with radiating energy. Girls flocked to their sides as they offered up a tray of mystery shots in tiny red solo cups and stacks of stickers reading “God I love being a dyke” and “Kiss me I’m a top.” 

The white-hot flash of a digital camera reflected off a disco ball hanging from the ceiling and shined a spotlight on them, the centerpieces of the dance floor: Caroline Hetzel and Emma DiMarco, the founding lesbians of House Party. 

Caroline Hetzel and Emma DiMarco pose for the camera. Photo Courtesy of House Party.
Caroline Hetzel and Emma DiMarco pose for the camera. Photo Courtesy of House Party.

“I was told, ‘Lesbians don’t have fun. They just get wifed up and then want to lay in bed and do nothing.’ And I was like, ‘Is that really what you think being a lesbian means?’” Emma recounted to me, causing our table to erupt in laughs. 

It was a few days after their party on January 16, which they advertised as an opportunity to quit your dry January and screw your New Year’s resolutions. I sat down with Caroline and Emma to discuss their brainchild, House Party, the latest lesbian craze to grace the city of New York. 

It began, as most things do in this day and age, with a TikTok video. 

Emma, the owner of Brooklyn-based vintage and apparel shop Kissing Cowboys/Kissing Cowgirls, and her girlfriend Caroline, who has experience in event planning, were itching to create something for the lesbian community.  

“We wanted it to be completely [for] queer women and nonbinary people,” Emma said. 

“There are so many spaces in New York specifically for queer men, and they still show up at places that are specifically for queer women,” Caroline chimed in. “And it’s fine, but you have so many spaces and we have like, four. And the ones we do have are tiny.”

“I wanted to do something…but I didn’t know what that would look like,” Emma said. 

In October, Emma took the question to her loyal TikTok following of over 193k: “I want to start a queer club or something with my girlfriend…but I don’t know what or where…What’s the vibe?”

More than 200 users replied with their suggestions, hopes, and wildest dreams for a new sapphic play place in NYC. 

“I want to feel like I’m 18 again at a house party,” one user named Juliette commented. Caroline and Emma saw their vision take off before their eyes. 

“For me, and kind of you as well,” Caroline said, gesturing to Emma, “we weren’t closeted, but like, I wasn’t out in college. I was in a sorority, and it was so fun. But, imagine doing that in a queer setting and recreating those vibes for queer people… That’s where the House Party vibes came from.” 

House Party is lesbians reclaiming the “frat party” aesthetic. Imagine sticky floors, plastic cups, and downright debauchery with the added twist of inclusion, safety, and much tastier drinks (no jungle juice here, sorry). 

Tongues come out to play at House Party. Photo Courtesy of House Party.
Tongues come out to play at House Party. Photo Courtesy of House Party.

The first House Party was held on October 17, just a few days after Emma’s TikTok video proved their suspicions correct: lesbians in New York were itching for a new party to run to. 

“We’ve been really lucky so far to have Emma’s online presence,” Caroline said. “I don’t think House Party would have turned out the way it did without it.” 

Emma’s studio space in Brooklyn, which she rented to hold pop-ups and events for her vintage clothing brand, proved to be a great early home for House Party. 

The first party was “an experiment,” said Emma. It was advertised as a pre-game for another lesbian party happening the same night. Emma and Caroline needed to make sure House Party was a safe, doable, and affordable project to take on. 

“We had about 40 to 50 people show up,” Caroline said. 

“It was really fun because it felt underground,” Emma added. “Yes, it was a bit of a chore…and a lot of responsibility…but it was just really fun.”

The feedback after the inaugural House Party was simple, “we want more.” So, the couple delivered. 

One week later, a Studio-54-inspired party drew an even bigger crowd to Emma’s studio, complete with an open bar and DJ. The $40 ticket did not stop the party from quickly selling out. This lesbo-palooza continued to take over the studio on November 15, 21, and December 5. 

“We would just make trips to Costco and get, like, 24 handles of Tequila and Vodka,” Emma said. “I would walk around with shots and hand them out to people.”

Even the nipples are decorated with stickers, advertising single status and offering a kiss. Photo Courtesy of House Party.
Even the nipples are decorated with stickers, advertising single status and offering a kiss. Photo Courtesy of House Party.

Although the vibes were high and the liquor was flowing, Caroline and Emma began to notice an issue. 

“We would have 100 plus people on the waitlist every single week,” said Caroline. Despite selling between 150 and 175 tickets for each event, demand was too high. Capacity was based on an educated guess. There were no known regulations or rules, and with that came more responsibility for the party’s owners. 

“The cleanup was insane,” Caroline laughed. “Especially this one time our friend brought confetti cannons and the floor was wet, so everything just stuck to the floor.”

“We had the party on a Friday night,” Emma interjected. “And the next morning I had a vintage event [in the studio space]. We had a very small window to clean up all the confetti. We were down on our knees, sweating through our clothes, literally trying to scratch confetti off the floor.”

It wasn’t just the time-consuming set-up and grueling cleanup throwing a wrench in the party’s sustainability. Emma was moving out of the space, so they needed to make a change, fast. 

With Emma’s branding and social media expertise and Caroline’s past experiences with event coordinating, the transition from a studio to a bar was smooth. The only question was, “What bar do we choose?”

“We actually reached out to a bunch of queer bars,” Caroline said. But they didn’t hear back from many, and the ones who did respond just didn’t have the capacity House Party required.  “Basically the queer bars are tiny, so if we were to do it at, say, Cubbyhole, we would only be able to fit a fraction of the people.”

“Because we’re just starting out, we don’t have the capacity to do a $10,000 buy-in at bars,” Emma threw in. 

That’s when Pubkey, a dive bar off Washington Place and 6th Avenue, came in. 

“Pubkey has been able to meet us in the middle,” Caroline continued. “…And it’s a great space. It kind of emulates a house.”

She’s right. The space is gorgeous, with high arched ceilings, string lights, and two bar spaces. It’s also large enough to allow 300 ticket sales for each event, which almost always sell out immediately. House Party found its new home on December 12 and has thrown four events there since. 

The parties at Pubkey have proven to occupy a different space in queer NYC nightlife than long-standing lesbian bars. Yes, the girls are drunk and the nips are freed, which could be said for many nights at Henrietta Hudson or Cubbyhole. But the ability to recreate the authentic feeling of being in someone’s home, the nostalgic twinge of your old friend’s basement or your first frat party, combined with seeing your own lesbian identity reflected back at you in the hundreds of like-minded attendees, is unmatched. 

Smiles all around at Pubkey. Photo Courtesy of House Party.
Smiles all around at Pubkey. Photo Courtesy of House Party.

“We have so many people who have met because of House Party and are now friends. We have stickers that say, ‘I met my wife at House Party,’ and people will come up and say, ‘I met my girlfriend at House Party’,” Emma beamed. 

“I think it’s really awesome that people feel comfortable making new friends [here],” Caroline agreed. “And being able to say ‘I have a whole friend group now that I met at House Party’.”


Boom, badoom, boom, boom, badoom, boom, bass

Yeah that’s that super bass

The buzz of voices drifted through Pubkey. “Hi, nice to meet you.” “I love your shirt.” “I think I’ve seen you on Instagram before.” “Do you know Jen?” “What’s your name?” “Let’s grab another drink.” 

House Party has a heartbeat of its own. The kind of pounding you can feel before you walk through the door. The thump-thump-thump of combat boots hitting the ground, the boom-boom-boom of the rattling bass, and the clink-clink-clink of thick glasses full of cider hitting the bar. 

When you leave House Party and look back at Pubkey, it will once again look like an unassuming pub. But, you’ll know you just stepped out of queer Narnia. And you’ll want to return as soon as possible. 


Giving the camera a little love. Photo Courtesy of House Party.

The future of House Party is still unknown. Caroline and Emma are taking steps towards expanding the business, starting by recently obtaining an official LLC. 

The entrepreneurs have a few ideas up their sleeves: more merch (the girls love the stickers), and more events outside of bars (Emma floated the possibility of a “gay summer camp”). But, with expansion comes a larger cost, which Caroline and Emma bear the brunt of alone. 

“We have no money,” joked Caroline. “That’s why we have to sell tickets to pay the DJ, the staff, the bar. We want to keep the tickets as affordable as possible, but we’re looking at doing, like, queer bowling at The Gutter, and that’s like $50 a head.”

As they continue to navigate what’s ahead for House Party and explore new avenues to nurture the sapphic fun into a successful business, it’s clear they’ve keg-tapped into something special. 

You can follow House Party @housepartyyyyyyyyy on Instagram

Calendar of Events

M Mon

T Tue

W Wed

T Thu

F Fri

S Sat

S Sun

4 events,

8 events,

7 events,

Recurring

Femme House

10 events,

7 events,

THIQUE

7 events,

YUMMY! at The Bush

8 events,

-

Queer Brown Babes

5 events,

5 events,