Man’s Country, Gay Bathhouse in Chicago, closing

[rpup]

Chicago Tribune - Man's Country, Chicago's oldest gay bathhouse, closing after 44 years

Times are changing it seems... It’s a shame. Closing tomorrow, tonight will be the last night in operation. So goodbye Man’s Country, we’ll miss you!

- once a Chicagoan

[ConversionPiglet]

Truly sad to see the place where I was introduced to Ms. Tina slam and spent four days with a hot AIDS daddy that heard me twisted desires to join him as poz breeder were made in the early 2000's...I have a heavy heart and it will be truly missed by this sick pig.  LOL

 

 

[btm2bbred]

Man's Country had a pretty good run.

Steamworks will never fill the void, though.    It's a generational thing.    If you just wanted raw sex, Man's Country was the place to go.    SW has too many posers.

Online hookups have made bathhouses somewhat passé, too.

[bredbiyou]

On 12/31/2017 at 6:17 PM, btm2bbred said:

Online hookups have made bathhouses somewhat passé, too.

I hope they never disappear completely, but I fear they might. I wish more people saw bathhouse and online hookups as complimentary to one another.

[nicesexyass]

Any other city has a place like Man's Country ? was thinking to go there, never been, too late now , fuck, the pictures i saw where so exciting

[phukhole]

Spent many a night in those hallowed walls.  Had I been in Chcicago over the holiday, I'd have taken a few loads for old times sake!  It will forever be etched in my sexual memory!

[Guest alwaysready]

I am surprised it stayed open as long as it did.

[barecubtop]

On 1/5/2018 at 8:50 PM, bredbiyou said:

I hope they never disappear completely, but I fear they might. I wish more people saw bathhouse and online hookups as complimentary to one another.

I don't think we have to worry about them disappearing anytime soon.  It's true that I see more older guys than younger when I go, but there ARE younger guys.  And the more we talk about bathhouses on here, and how hot they can be, the more "newbies" will want to go check them out and get as hooked as we are.  I think one of the biggest concerns about going might not be the crowd but the STI's that are passed around.  That just goes back to getting people to be responsible about getting tested and treated, though. 

I never got around to going to Man's Country like I wanted to.  It sounded pretty hot and raunchy.  I had heard (on here maybe?) that the owners were getting old and upkeep was getting expensive and no one wanted to take over from them.  I don't think it was a closing due to lack of business.  I don't know for sure, though.

[Guest SWRider61]

Regarding bathhouses in the future --  I think the ad campaign I saw at a bath recently is pure genius:  "We'll host!"

[btm2bbred]

15 hours ago, barecubtop said:

 

I never got around to going to Man's Country like I wanted to.  It sounded pretty hot and raunchy.  I had heard (on here maybe?) that the owners were getting old and upkeep was getting expensive and no one wanted to take over from them.  I don't think it was a closing due to lack of business.  I don't know for sure, though.

Many of the old bathhouses from the 60's and 70's were done in by urban renewal.     Most were built in industrial zones or other somewhat seedy locations where rents were cheap.

As the economy boomed, and developers renewed areas, they just bought up land and bulldozed many of the old sex club areas.    In the late 1990's, SE DC just south of the US Capitol, had a four block square area between L St SE and O St SE that had gay bars, drag shows, baths, glory hole clubs, and other sex trade establishments that  was completely razed so that a new major league baseball stadium could be built.

Whenever I go to a baseball game now, I fantasize that the area near second base is approximately where (56 O Street SE) I had my ass pummeled on many a night at the Club Baths.    Heading toward the shortstop position is where the old "Glorious Health Club" was where I often sucked cock and had the favor returned.

I think the same fate happened to Man's Country.    As the land value of the area increased, the developers made an offer to the aging owners that gave them a better return on their investment.

[FelchingPisser]

My first bathhouse.  I loved Man's Country in the early 1990's.  All the things mentioned above (and in the article) certainly hurt it.  I don't think it ever recovered from the decision to close the Eagle, the leather bar next door, and use the space for more rooms.  As busy as the Eagle's back room was, you had tons of men, still unsatisfied, who went from the Eagle to Man's Country at bar closing time.  I always got to MC early, played and napped so I would be fresh to fuck the men from the Eagle who came streaming through the doors minutes after bar closing time.