The Enduring Reign of El Daña, Drag King of the Central Valley
For Elsie Saldaña, a flawless lip sync is the hallmark of serious artistry in drag.
She would know. Saldaña has been performing in the Central Valley since the 1960s and still occasionally graces the stage as El Daña — the oldest drag king in the country.
On a Saturday night earlier this year, she donned all black except for a rhinestone-studded belt as part of her transformation into the chest-baring crooner Tom Jones. She was about to perform his version of “Kiss” at the Red Lantern bar in Fresno and played the song on repeat in preparation, mouthing every word.
It had to be perfect — after all these years, she’s still one of the few drag kings in the lineup.
“For as old as I am to do this, I feel I have it in me,” she said. “And if I feel that I still have it in me, why should I stop?”
At 79 years old, she admits she can’t move like she used to. Yet she’s always ready for the next performance opportunity. Her rhinestone and sequin outfits are neatly stacked in her closet and Boot Barn boxes keep her Stetson cowboy hats pristine. She practices lip-synching in the car on her way to work as a house cleaner, driving past the few remaining orchards where she picked figs in her youth.
Like many in the Fresno area, Saldaña grew up in a family of Mexican farmworkers. When she’d come home after long hours in the fields, she’d turn on the radio and lip-synch to Frank Sinatra or Vic Damone, pretending her hairbrush was a microphone.
The first time she performed for someone other than her reflection in the mirror was in 1965 at the Red Robin, a gay bar in town. The song was Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba.” Her knees were shaking, but the claps and cheers from the audience made her feel like a star. She was hooked.
