Exclusive Interview with Queer Artist: San Cha
Be inspired by the power of the queer community
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I am overjoyed that my FIRST ARTICLE as a reporter for The Daily Trojan came out this last week! I covered a new monthly event called Irresistible Resistance at Distrito Catorce, a pop-up kitchen in Boyle Heights. This neighborhood is just east of downtown Los Angeles and has been hit hard by ICE raids. I am proud to be the person to cover an event that is so necessary to keep our communities going.
It was the first time I have covered a live event in about 2 years so I was certainly nervous. Not only that—being trans and putting myself out there—talking to people, getting interviews and quotes, I need to have bravery.
And, I did!
I got interviews with four people including the artist and singer, San Cha! She was the headliner and I just sat down in the booth next to her when the chance arose. It was one of those precocious things a reporter needs to do to get the scoop.
And, I have to say that I was enamored by her! She gives us both, classic beauty and queer subversion. She had this “femme” tattoo just above her right breast. She is the embodiment of queer-cute-powerful-woman that we need onstage representing us.
Not only is she queer, she bridges the gap. She makes music that is for US and for THEM. She makes music that both her family and her friends can go see. That is not easy and I think it should be celebrated. She should be celebrated for putting herself out there in the pale-pink bravery that she embodies.
She advocates for both the queer and immigrant communities!
Please note that the following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. It was a really noisy restaurant!
Born on a Drag Stage w/ San Cha
Summer Dylan:
How did you feel in your first performance of the night?
San Cha:
It felt good. I’ve been preparing all day, so I felt good.
Summer Dylan:
What does it mean to have an event here, at Distrito Catorce?
San Cha:
I think it’s really important to have it here in Boyle Heights. It’s been really affected. In this way, Boyle Heights reminds me of my parents, my whole family.
Summer Dylan :
Did you grow up here?
San Cha:
No, I grew up in San Jose. But when I arrived to LA, Boyle Heights become a big cultural hub for me. A lot of people from this area from East LA, took me in and I started singing a lot.
Summer Dylan:
Were you singing before you came here or?
San Cha:
Yeah. I was in the Bay Area and I basically became San Cha in the drag scene.
So I have a drag mother. Her name is Persia. She is actually from South Central, but lives in San Francisco still.
And yeah, basically that’s my second birth, you know?
I was born as San Cha on a drag stage in warehouses and dive bars, backyard shows, house parties, stuff like that.
And, then I left the Bay Area in 2014 to go to Mexico and I said I would never come back. But I came back in a year and landed in LA.
Summer Dylan:
Why’d you come back?
San Cha:
I wanted to release music and I was on a farm with my aunt with no internet and I really knew that I needed people to do that and I couldn’t just release it with my family.
Summer Dylan:
So I want to talk about the queer community for a second and what that means to you. You said you were born on a stage, as San Cha. Can you say more about that?
San Cha:
I come from the drag scene in the Bay Area with a bunch of queers. The queer community kind of made the country smaller, you know? We all just kind of knew each other. We were all in this Underground kind of scene, making things that didn’t belong on main stages.
Summer Dylan:
How do you mix the queer scene and the more traditional ranchera?
San Cha:
It’s hard. And in LA it’s like people live with their parents till their 30s. When I got here I was meeting queers, who were like the aliens of their family, but they were taking me to their family’s house and dinner or for big parties.
By that time, I was already singing Rancheras so that kind of united us. Singing these familiar songs that are nostalgic for queers and also might have this kind of painful past.
Summer Dylan:
When’s the first time you heard a Ranchera?
San Cha:
Oh, I mean my whole life. Yeah, I grew up with them, but I really didn’t start singing ranchera or mariachi music until I left for Mexico.
I used to sing electronic music at the club. And, I was screaming and I was rolling around on the ground with big wigs; we were all in drag.
And, when I moved to Mexico [to live] with my aunt, I arrived with no eyebrows. I had purple hair. All I had was basic clothes and they were all torn and tattered and see through and I had big platforms.
And she was like, “Girl, you’re busted. Whatever little music you were making out there obviously didn’t work out for you. “And she was like, “You should start singing rancheras.”
And I took all my recording equipment. So I was like, “ok I’ll record some songs for you but just so you know I don’t do this kind of music and I can’t even sing this way”, but as soon as I recorded the songs they started trading them around.
They were so happy. And I was like, “Oh, I guess I can do this.”
The interview continued for a little while longer but it was a noisy bar so I’ll leave it there.
San Cha is quite an inspiration for us all in finding our range. She shows that we don’t have to be one dimensional and defined by just one scene. We can find the cross-over, the strange, but also the beauty in normalcy. Whatever that means!
BIG Thank you to Edward “Ed” Patuto, the producer of the event, EP Extended Play and Distrito Catorce, as they were really gracious and put on a great show!
PS - Chef Jonathan Perez prepped and made food in the kitchen all night long. I wasn’t able to get an interview with him but please check out his food!
! He represented the immigrant community in Boyle Heights with pride! - Jan 31st, 2026I love interviews like this so I’ll bring you more in the future!
My dog, Berty, is sick so it’s been a little bit stressful. Please excuse how hard it has been for me to get posts out. I THINK Fridays are a good day for these so I’ll keep trying to push them out weekly for y’all!
I currently have a 99% in my first class in grad school so I AM keeping up with the most important thing right now.
AND, I PROMISE to get out a fundraising website for my chess event in the Women’s Open and National Open in Vegas in June. Money is real tight right now so if you can help with that, I would be grateful!
There are quite a few Substackers that pledged after my left article so thank you all very much!
Dear reader, if you finished reading this, you certainly like my work :-). So why not upgrade your subscription to paid? All of the funding is going into my chess training in order to become a National Master. I don’t know how long it will take but I will balance my life so I can become the first trans National Master in the United States, EVER. I am currently the only openly trans candidate master (US Chess title) so I have a good shot!
Best,
Summer Dylan
PS - We sometimes call Berty “the Chicken man” for good reason!
