Rachel 'Harlow' Finocchio

32 Bank Street

You are now at the former location of Harlow's, a popular bar and nightclub active during the 1970s. The owner named the nightclub after the local trans celebrity Rachel Harlow, who operated the bar and hosted the never-ending partying at the location, becoming a 'night-life personality.' The bar was the definition of a popular nightclub of the 1970s, complete with a sprawling upstairs disco, complete with gilded mirrors and rotating disco ball.

Born Richard Finocchio in 1948, she was raised in South Philadelphia near Tasker and Broad Street and was bullied in school for 'being too pretty' but found solace by getting involved in Philly's gay subculture. Soon after, still identifying as a gay man at the time, she entered drag contests under the stage name Harlow, a name inspired by the early movie star Jean Harlow. Quickly, Harlow started winning many drag contests, most notably the annual Miss Philadelphia contest and the Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant held in New York in 1967.

Since local NYC laws prohibited cross-dressing, Flawless Sabrina, the event organizer, met with city officials and proposed donating to an unspecified charity. In return, the town would pass a variance allowing the contest to take place. The experiences of the drag queens organizing and participating in the event in New York were filmed, ultimately becoming “The Queen,” a successful 1968 documentary film. The film follows the queens as they prepare for the event all the way up to the crowning of the winner. The judge's panel included big names like Larry Rivers and Andy Warhol, among others. In the end, Harlow was crowned queen. With the film's success at the Cannes International Film Festival, Harlow gained an even greater celebrity status. David Bowie even cited her as an influence when creating his alien androgynous alter ego, Ziggy Stardust.

The nightclub opened in 1970, and two years later, Harlow completed gender-affirming surgery. She legally changed her name to Rachel Finocchio but continued to be known to everyone as Harlow. In 1975, Harlow met Olympic medal winner John B. Kelly Jr., brother of famous film star Grace Kelly, when he visited her nightclub. That same year, they began a widely publicized relationship. The public reported that they seemed truly in love, and supposedly, Kelly planned to marry her. Unfortunately, the relationship did not last. When Kelly ran to be the Democratic candidate for mayor, his mother, on top of endorsing his opponent, threatened to disinherit him, so he ended their relationship. Regardless, he would end up not inheriting. Dying of a heart attack in 1985, he was outlived by his mother.

Eventually, Harlow left the nightlife and avoided publicity. She said, 'I was burned out. I was tired of being on all the time. I began to dread meeting new people, having to talk about my life. Even now, the only way I can talk about my life is to think of it as just a story. It's as if it all happened to somebody else, and I'm just telling about it.' As of 2024, she still resides in Philadelphia and hopes to write an autobiography.

Citations

Adamson, April. 'It's Harlow! - City's Best-Known Transsexual Recalls Her Rise from S. Philly to a Life of Glitz and Glamor.' Philadelphia Daily News, November 16, 1998.

Giardina, Henry. ''The Queen' Reveals a World of Desperate Trans Glamour.' INTO, August 4, 2021. https://www.intomore.com/entertainment/film/queen-reveals-world-desperate-trans-glamour/.

Grimes, William. ''The Queen' on the Runway Again.' The New York Times, March 27, 1993. https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/27/movies/the-queen-on-the-runway-again.html.

Philly History Facts. 'Harlow! There's so Much to Say about Rachel 'Harlow'...' Instagram, March 26, 2019. https://www.instagram.com/p/BvdxliFDzyO/?hl=en&img_index=6.

Skiba, Bob. 'Philadelphia LGBT Mapping Project.' Google: My Maps, n.d. https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1gyv3dfHs3MS82BHisv8oyZA77Ng&ll=39.94867667550744%2C-75.1492302684218&z=19.

'Richard Finocchi the Family Genealogy of Aka Rachel S. Harlow Billebault Italian Transgender Heritage Romance with John Brendan Kelly Jr.. Princess Grace Younger Brother.' Jeannette's Take on Life, May 14, 2018. https://jeannettestakeonlife.blogspot.com/2018/05/richard-finocchi-infamous-aka-rachel-s.html.