Mexican Summer & Anthology

For one day at the end of each summer between 1994 and 2000, Ralph Hopkins and the community transformed Riis Beach (aka the People’s Beach), New York City’s oldest public gay beach, into a vibrant and otherworldly fashion event. Ralph worked alongside friends, designers, and models from the storied queer sanctuary to create joyful spectacles and iconic looks in the sun and sands of the Rockaway Peninsula. Now, on September 22, 2024—on the occasion of Ralph's Red Hot at Riis Beach party, the revival of Ralph’s Beach Parties to the People’s Beach, co-organized by Ralph with Gili Rappaport (green flash projects) and Halo Kaya Perez-Gallardo (Lil’ Deb’s Oasis)—Anthology is thrilled to present They Call Me the Mayor at Riis Beach: Ralph’s Beach Parties 1994–2000. Featuring more than 100 photographs alongside reflections by Ralph and his collaborator Gili Rappaport, They Call Me the Mayor at Riis Beach is a celebration of the historic parties as well as a unique document of artistry, inclusivity, and wondrous beachfront fashions on Ralph’s signature glittering mylar runway.

Ralph Hopkins (he/him) is a 76-year-old native New Yorker residing in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Known as “the Mayor at Riis Beach,” he threw participatory beach parties there in the 1990s involving fashion shows, DJs, and food, and has been a consistent presence at Riis for the past six decades. He is also a former chef, and in the 1970s, became the recipient of five gold medals—and one bronze—at the Madison Square Garden Harvest Moon Ball for the Lindy Hop and Jitterbug. He is also a US Army veteran. They Call Me the Mayor at Riis Beach is his first book.

Gili Rappaport (they/them) is a New York-born artist, educator, and naturalist. They earned a BA in American Social-Political Movements from Washington University in St. Louis in 2010, and an MFA in Contemporary Art Practice: Art & Social Practice at the Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design at Portland State University (’24). In 2021, they founded their press green flash projects, devoted to celebrating queer artistry in natural settings. Notable publications by Rappaport include I See What You See (KSMoCA), The Outside Institute Field Guide To The Northeast Volumes I—III, and Danielle’s Kidnapping. King School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA) and PSU Special Collections and University Archives hold their work in public collections. Their collaborations with Ralph Hopkins since 2021 garnered recognition in The New York Times and Reuters, and were shown in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Currently, Gili collaborates on site-responsive projects, and researches the bonds between making art and stewarding the land.
   

Trade Paperback
8.5 inches x 11.25 inches
104 pages, 107 Images
ISBN: 978-1-944860-69-1