The Chicago-born  Earlybirds Club, a dance party for middle-aged-ish women,  trans and nonbinary people that starts early (6 p.m.) and ends early (10 p.m.)  “because we all have shit to do in the morning”  is coming to Los Angeles.

 A huge success in its hometown, selling out each of their parties with a capacity of 25 to 250,  the Early Birds will be at the Sardine in San Pedro on Friday, Jan. 10, and at The Virgil in Silver Lake on Saturday, Jan. 11.  

According to founders Susie Lee and Laura Baginski, the club is more than just a dance party. It’s a movement that celebrates midlife, makes joy a priority, creates a community, and supports one another providing safe spaces essential to mental health.  

The events are part of a larger trend that brings out into the open the struggles (and joys) of middle age—from Naomi Watts and Samantha Bee striving to remove the shame of menopause to best-selling novels like All Fours and Nightbitch, offering a playful and joyous examination of being a middle-aged woman.

Lee is a makeup artist, founder of a small batch natural skincare line, ECHO VIE, a writer, and mother who was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in 2020—her 5th cancer diagnosis. Baginski is a former journalist and non-profit marketing director, a mom of two young kids, a huge fan of live music, and being asleep by 11 p.m. 

The pair have been friends since high school, when they were co-editors at the school newspaper,  bonding over their love of new-wave music. The duo attributes the success of  Earlybirds Club to the fact that it speaks to a need women have at this age –  a welcoming space to celebrate female friendships and experience the communal joy of feeling free and uninhibited for a few hours. 

Earlybirds Club also spreads the joy off the dance floor, with  10% of the proceeds of every party being donated to a different local charity that improves women’s lives.

Earlybirds Club

Earlybirds Club Holiday Party (Meagan Shuptar)