• The Va Va Voom Room at Fez Under Time Cafe

  380 Lafayette Street, 212-533-2680; VAVAVOOMROOM.COM

  With the help of a black bob, a drawn-on mole, and an eyepatch, Katherine Valentine transforms herself each Saturday night into Miss Astrid, a stern Germanic hostess who invites you to “bleibe, reste, stay” for a night of well-choreographed debauchery at “your den of iniquity for vaudeville and burlesque” at Fez. Creative sexpots like Amber Ray share the stage with sultry singers such as Molly the Dolly and old-school vaudevillians like Mr. Spoons. Here the girls are beautiful, life is beautiful, even the orchestra is beautiful—with the possible exception of Ukelele Louie.

From the 2003 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine