Five years later, Mostbeautifullest has changed Pittsburgh’s nightlife for the better

When estimating how many people are involved with The most beautifulPittsburgh queer and black women-led events collective, creative director Sarah Honey Young says it really depends on the day.

“MoB is more of a friendship or social club than a team at this point,” says Honey, who also works as a professional photographer and artist. “There are MoB ‘members’ who are in other bands and aren’t DJs at all; they’re drag queens, event photographers, etc. The only consistency is that everyone on Mostbeautifullest is a black woman or QTBIPOC.”

Some of these participants, as well as the Huns (who DJs with a capital HUNY), can be seen this weekend during MoB’s fifth anniversary Demon Time event. Taking place on Saturday, October 29 at Cobra in Bloomfield, the party reflects the group’s longtime love of Halloween, showcasing both local and national acts.

“We’re geeks who fly our geek flags every day,” Honey says, adding that “Halloween is the one time of the year when everyone joins us.” The celebration, according to Honey, “is essential to black and brown LGBTQ+ culture, and each ball has its own theme.”

First created in 2017 under a pseudonym The darkness is spreadingHooney says MoB has since expanded its mission to create “openly welcoming spaces for intersectional Blackness” and elevate talent in the city’s entertainment scene that Hooney believes has been overlooked.

“When I first moved to Pittsburgh, I didn’t like most of my clubbing experiences—the expectation to be desirable to men, or the fact that men dominated almost every set list and curated all the atmospheres,” Honey says.

As MoB’s events, namely the monthly Cherry Bomb DJ night at Spirit in Lawrenceville, grew in popularity, Hooney says she was able to better focus on creating lineups that included black women and genderqueer non-black women, which she “hadn’t seen in this city in general’ and still rarely happens outside of MoB events.

“As a black queer woman, I also didn’t see DJs who were all black and queer DJs, so that became a big focus when I started DJing myself and had access to venues that gave us the opportunity to jam bigger parties,” she said. says.

She calls it Cherry Bomb”Spirit’s first indoor party since the pandemic,” and says its success has allowed her to bring in out-of-town talent that she previously couldn’t afford. In addition to Cherry Bomb, MoB also created Doll House, a drag showcase for all-black trans performers, and Maybeland, a dance party. The group has also been featured at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Trace Brewing and other venues.

In addition to her own efforts, Honey also credits girlFx, a residency and event series at the former Ace Hotel in East Liberty, for laying a great foundation for “women and non-binary people in Pittsburgh nightlife before MoB even existed “.
Overall, Honey says she’s seeing more diversity in Pittsburgh’s club scene now, in terms of the number of acts booked and the popularity of other regular events like Jellyfish, a geek-oriented dance party at Oakland’s P Town, and Slappers N Bangers, where fans can hear a variety of hip-hop, R&B and trap.

“Both parties are fun as hell and led by queer people I call friends, but I want the black queer equivalent,” says Haney. “This cannot happen without constant support. Consistency is the key word.”

She believes consistency can be a challenge in Pittsburgh, where black LGBTQ+ people are “such a minority.”

“Sometimes I wonder if The MoB vision is needed by other black queers in this city,” says Hooney, adding, “Not if it’s needed — it’s needed — but it is needed.” Go crazy about sharing and spreading the word and attending, especially if you see us attracting edgy black LGBTQ+ talent. Show all these places that the black LGBTQ+ community should be happy with. Show us that you want it.”

Five years on, Hooney believes MoB has proven that “partying can be hard and successful with black girls running the decks,” but there are “a lot more opportunities that we’re not looking at or waiting for, because nightlife in general is still very dominant men”.

“We have residencies, which I’m incredibly grateful for, but there’s still nowhere in this town to go, every weekend, to a club or a rave with other QTBIPOCs,” she says. “I am still loudly challenging and demanding space. Eventually, someone in power will listen.”

For now, though, she just wants everyone to have a fun and sexy time at Cobra, where partygoers will hear music from national acts from Houston, New York, Philadelphia, Columbus and Detroit, as well as Pittsburgh natives like ROJO.

“On Halloween, the theme is ‘Halloween’ and everyone is coming!” says Huni. “We’re all about fun and non-pretentiousness, and it’s a lot harder to have a crappy night or act too cool to get laid when you’re dressed like a sleazy bag of popcorn or something. And personally, I’m a Scorpio Moon and dark and twisted, so this is the most wonderful time of the year for me. It’s magical.”