By day, Ulster town resident Tim Hurley is a polite, well-mannered real estate agent at Coldwell Banker. But sometimes, the night calls … and the city’s most notorious and most beloved bonne vivante, Esther Gin, answers. Kingston Times wanted to know a little more about these two.
Carrie Jones Ross: Tim, where were you born and raised?
Tim Hurley: Rochester, New York.
CJR: Why Kingston?
Tim Hurley: This is the best city I have ever lived in.
CJR: What makes this city so damn special to you?
Tim Hurley: The — I know this sounds cliché, but — the diversity of the people.
CJR: What’s your favorite breakfast spot? Favorite night spot?
Hurley: Hudson Coffee Traders, beating the pants off Kurt Weider.
CJR: What’s it like being a gay professional in this city?
Hurley: Kingston is the kind of city that I never feel like I’m ever thought of as a “gay professional”… I’m just the city’s number-one Realtor.
CJR: Say you’re writing an online profile of yourself just to make friends and connections, how would you describe yourself?
Hurley: I’d have to Google myself on that. Interests include: Rio, my Samba school I parade with each year Vila Isabel (2013 champions), fishing, horse racing and a person who has truly found his dream job in life.
CJR: What’s your dream house — since you’re a realtor and all. Fave neighborhood in Kingston?
Hurley: I live in my dream house. I live on the Hudson River in a house that was once The “Gorldricks” house. My home is on the site of where “Goldricks Bricks” were made. Goldricks Bricks were the same bricks that they used to build the original Yankee Stadium, and I’m a Mets fan. My favorite neighborhood is Uptown, because you can walk to everything and you’re surrounded by history.
And now, Esther Gin
CJR: Where were you born and raised? Give us the back story.
Esther Gin: I was born and raised in the drag capitol of the nation … Rochester, New York. I left after high school and moved to New York City to enroll in the New York Dog Grooming School. After I graduated I worked at “Dee Dee’s Dog-o-Rama,” grooming dogs in the West Village, and living in the Jane West Hotel.
CJR: Why Kingston?
Esther Gin: Kingston is the diverse kind of city where people never judge a gal like me for wearing too much makeup and being so tall.
CJR: What makes this city so damn special to you?
Esther Gin: I recently said this about Kingston in my show: “Kingston is the kind of city where I can start off Uptown to find a tattooed boy who will do anything for $20. Strut down Broadway in Midtown and make that $20 right back. Then take that $20 down to the Rondout and spend it on an overpriced martini at Ship to Shore!”
CJR: Tell us something awful about Tim that he would never want any of our readers to know. Now dig a little deeper, and tell us something even worse.
Esther Gin: Hmm … I have a [very] strong suspicion that Mr. Hurley may be a little “light in his loafers.” Something worse? He doesn’t even know!
CJR: What’s it like being a professional diva in this city?
Esther Gin: Having a full set of teeth in this town really puts a target on your back, but it’s something easy to take care of by buying the haters a cocktail.
CJR: What do you girlfriends say about you behind your back?
Esther Gin: I have heard my nickname is “Old Leather Tits.”
CJR: Name brands — lipstick? Panty hose? Perfume?
Esther Gin: Lipstick? I make my own blend of a deep dollar-store red and some glitter. Pantyhose? It’s a secret, but they are the same hose that Beyoncé and The Lady Bunny (drag icon who started Wigstock and has played a show with me here in Kingston once) wear! Perfume? People ask all the time, but the only “scent” I wear is Old Spice. Julie at the the Edelweiss Soap Company is currently working on a few soaps for me. “Lady Esther’s Beauty Elixirs” coming soon!
CJR: Bubbly or flat?
Esther Gin: I’m proud to say at the age of 47, guys tell me these babies are quite bubbly still!
Join the family! 
