Waikiki nightclub closes after decades of cabaret

Fusion Waikiki closed its doors for the last time this morning after a 28-year run, supplying dance music into the early-morning hours, drag shows and male stripper shows in Waikiki.

Dennis Kong, entertainment manager and head DJ, said news of the closing of the two-story club at the corner of Kuhio and Seaside avenues came suddenly last week after lease negotiations fell apart between the landlord and owner Kamele Maxwell.

Kong said he was devastated to learn Thursday that the club, where he has worked for 23 years, was closing. The club opened for the last time Sunday night and was scheduled to close at 4 a.m. today.

“It’s kind of hard to believe because I’ve been there so long,” he said by phone Sunday. “The people that work there are my family.”

Working at the gay club was “the best time of my life,” added Kong.

Fusion opened in 1989 and became home to the longest-running female impersonation shows in Waikiki, such as the Paperdoll Revue, which ended in March after more than 23 years, and the Gender Bender Lip Gloss Revue, which had been going on for at least 23 years.

The shows were performed by lip-syncing transgender women and men dressed as women.

Fusion also hosted Waikiki’s only male strip show, the Men of Fusion, which also was last held on Saturday.

Kong said it would be too difficult to move the bar, in part, because the business would need another cabaret license, which allowed the establishment to stay open until 4 a.m., for a new location.

Kong said he started as a cashier at the club in 1993, when it was two different clubs: Fusion and Garbos, a lesbian bar.

About a year later, Kong helped Maxwell, the owner, get a job at the club as a cocktail server. Maxwell worked his way up to bartender before purchasing the bar, but continued working as bartender.

Maxwell, who was not available for comment Sunday, was concerned about the roughly 20 employees, including bartenders, door staff and entertainers, Kong said.

Kong said he will retire from being a DJ but continue his work as a producer and is looking for a home for his latest drag show, Divas, that was supposed to debut at Fusion on May 20.

The club, which played urban hip-hop, electronic dance music, house music, breakbeat and other dance varieties, opened for the late-night crowd, usually at about midnight, and kept its doors open until 4 a.m. seven days a week.

On Saturday, it was standing room only for the final drag show and several goodbye performances by entertainers.

The last person to perform on Fusion’s stage was Jackie Japell, who has been performing at Fusion for more than two decades and longer than anyone else, Kong said. She performed in lip sync to Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.”

“It was very emotional,” Kong said. “She is the best lip-syncer in Hawaii.”