Bathhouses disappearing 🙁

[tallslenderguy]

2 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

 

But the history of human culture, in general, shows things wax and wane, and sometimes never come back after one of those waning periods.

 

 

It wanes a lot in Oregon.  Seems like it's always waning.

[Kayne]

A few people have hit on the reasons Bathhouses are going away but I'll summarize 

Technology  - at no time in our history has making a casual connection been more accessible and convenient. we've all got mini super computers in our pockets now. The ease of connecting is an after thought.

Internet - If the Technis the hardware The internet is the software that makes the hardware run.

Visability /Cultural Acceptance - Visibility and acceptance has pushed our community into conformity. In a Hetronormaltive Society, things such as public sex, crusing, and "Private spaces" to carry on such activities are rare at best, non existent at worse. Straight people don't need to connect that way,  In conforming to their ideals and habits, Such places become unnecessary or cumbersome. 

Disease - HIV, Sars, Monkeypox, Covid, Herpes.  Like it or not, Pathogens flourish in such places. Public Health will always have a stake in such things

Gentrification - Money will always play  a part, and even if Gay bathouses are a wildly profitable concern, it won't be more profitable than high value real estate. 

Generational Shift -  As we move in i to the future, there is very little of the past that survives. A changing culture that  demonizes or villifies the old ways in which we as gays are introduced into our culture, the newer generations can only replace the old ways with the internet and tech. If the stories are not shared and passed down, the stories die with the storytellers

But thats. just one himbo's perspective. 

[Pnp-pig]

1 hour ago, Kayne said:

A few people have hit on the reasons Bathhouses are going away but I'll summarize 

Technology  - at no time in our history has making a casual connection been more accessible and convenient. we've all got mini super computers in our pockets now. The ease of connecting is an after thought.

Internet - If the Technis the hardware The internet is the software that makes the hardware run.

Visability /Cultural Acceptance - Visibility and acceptance has pushed our community into conformity. In a Hetronormaltive Society, things such as public sex, crusing, and "Private spaces" to carry on such activities are rare at best, non existent at worse. Straight people don't need to connect that way,  In conforming to their ideals and habits, Such places become unnecessary or cumbersome. 

Disease - HIV, Sars, Monkeypox, Covid, Herpes.  Like it or not, Pathogens flourish in such places. Public Health will always have a stake in such things

Gentrification - Money will always play  a part, and even if Gay bathouses are a wildly profitable concern, it won't be more profitable than high value real estate. 

Generational Shift -  As we move in i to the future, there is very little of the past that survives. A changing culture that  demonizes or villifies the old ways in which we as gays are introduced into our culture, the newer generations can only replace the old ways with the internet and tech. If the stories are not shared and passed down, the stories die with the storytellers

But thats. just one himbo's perspective. 

AGREED!  Jayne nailed it.
I miss the baths, some of my best sexual experience, including losing my “cherry” occurred in a Denver bathhouses 😢

[Aixactif]

Even places with a strong gay sex culture like Maspalomas lost it’s only bathhouse. Some of the sex clubs are open on Sunday afternoons but it’s not the same vibe. 

[topblkmale]

Could we add inflation to the list? I paid close to $50 bucks to get a locker at Club FLL on a holiday weekend. The younger generation won't pay that when you could get three months of ad-free Grindr for $39.

Grindr did to bathhouses what Netflix did to DVDs.

Which brings me to my point of could bathhouses do a subscription service model to attract new patrons?

[BootmanLA]

1 hour ago, topblkmale said:

Could we add inflation to the list? I paid close to $50 bucks to get a locker at Club FLL on a holiday weekend. The younger generation won't pay that when you could get three months of ad-free Grindr for $39.

Grindr did to bathhouses what Netflix did to DVDs.

Which brings me to my point of could bathhouses do a subscription service model to attract new patrons?

They could, but like almost any other subscription model, it's likely doomed to fail from a financial standpoint.

Subscriptions survive as long as customers perceive they're getting more value from paying a flat, ongoing, lower price that covers typically unlimited use than from paying for actual usage. It works when it's something we can't really effectively do without (like a cell-phone plan with unlimited data and minutes). It falls apart when it's something we can easily opt out of (like meal subscriptions, which just can't seem to turn a profit no matter what they try). You can only get cell service, ultimately, from one of the big providers (even if it's via a smaller provider reselling their network). You can get food almost anywhere (quality varying, of course).

For the average gay who doesn't travel to cities big enough to even have a bathhouse in the first place on a semi-weekly basis, or whatever, there won't be any value in a subscription. Pay the $50 for the holiday trip and be done with it. The handful who do use such facilities on a steady basis will end up paying even less to support an already under-supported business.

[partying.hard]

Until recently, I traveled a lot for business. Some years I flew up to 150,000 miles a year. Some weeks I was in three different cities.

with the advent of the Internet, who needed the bars anymore? And while I still enjoyed going to Bade’s in some cities, I usually had my next trip lined up the day before I arrived in the city. It was almost like DoorDash. As soon as I landed, I sent a text that I was in town. Once I checked into the hotel, I sent my room number. that gave me a chance to shower and set things up. Within an hour or two he was knocking on my hotel room door. 

[hntnhole]

Interesting perspectives re: this issue.  In the end, business is business - we wouldn't invest our time, money in a business unless we were fairly certain of a decent return.  That applies across the board, and it seems that one "industry" is fading in the face of another in the m4m sex marketplace. 

Nothing is surprising about that; it's merely identifying an underserved market, and figuring out how to service it, while charging what the market will bear.  Commerce has been around for millennia, and probably will be until one day when we finally blow ourselves to smithereens, and every market dries up in an eyeblink. 

[PozBearWI]

1 hour ago, BootmanLA said:

They could, but like almost any other subscription model, it's likely doomed to fail from a financial standpoint.

Subscriptions survive as long as customers perceive they're getting more value from paying a flat, ongoing, lower price that covers typically unlimited use than from paying for actual usage. It works when it's something we can't really effectively do without (like a cell-phone plan with unlimited data and minutes). It falls apart when it's something we can easily opt out of (like meal subscriptions, which just can't seem to turn a profit no matter what they try). You can only get cell service, ultimately, from one of the big providers (even if it's via a smaller provider reselling their network). You can get food almost anywhere (quality varying, of course).

For the average gay who doesn't travel to cities big enough to even have a bathhouse in the first place on a semi-weekly basis, or whatever, there won't be any value in a subscription. Pay the $50 for the holiday trip and be done with it. The handful who do use such facilities on a steady basis will end up paying even less to support an already under-supported business.

As is often the case @BootmanLA I am tracking with you on this.  

The local nude mens club I administer does charge dues and a door fee for our events.  Because our members are hosts, we only pay for consumable for the event; and a gratuity to the host for expenses we cant see (utilities, setup/cleanup).  I don't see how I could do this if I rented any sort of space (which has to have HVAC in our climate) and make it work.  I think the host gratuity is our "expense" for the venue.  

In my largely rural state we're reasonably popular with our events well attended, and providing our local equivalent of what a bath house would.  I am one of the hosts and do my best to give some bath house flavor with my dungeon one of the playrooms when I host.  I am unusually aware of local commercial market and how local public safety works; and thus some of the things which might put us out of commission.  Confidentiality is a pivotal value.  

I'm aware there are similar clubs in other states.  In fact we might do well to develop a directory of "local clubs".  We vet our members before bringing them in.  I'm sure that puts off a few; but it let's us make sure we know who is entering (ID verified) private homes we "rent".  We can't run successfully and be "anonymous".  That said; given the few things that make us different from a bath house, it's similar enough and is the closest "next thing" I can think of for fostering tactile human interactions.  

 

[Spunkinmyarse]

Given the choice between a bathhouse and a cruise bar/club, I’ll almost always choose the latter. I’m not sure why, I just prefer the vibe. I often find bathhouses somewhat depressing, and guys generally seem pickier, and less up for play- and certainly less up for group play. All that disappearing into private cubicles… it seems somehow exclusionary. Perhaps in the past that was one of the strengths of bathhouses: they offered a private place to meet and play. Whereas now, guys who want a private encounter just use the apps to meet and then do the deed itself at home- no need for the bathhouse.

On the other hand cruise bars and clubs offer little in the way of privacy and are much more aligned with those who enjoy group play or multiple partners in quick succession. Perhaps that’s why they are surviving and even thriving while bathhouses are not. The apps are generally not going to enable you to fuck or get fucked by 30 guys in the space of a couple of hours, whereas cruise bars and clubs give you that opportunity. Presumably they are also cheaper and easier to run, and therefore a lot more profitable.

It says a lot that somewhere like Maspalomas has dozens of bars and clubs, but not one single bathhouse. Even in Berlin, it’s all about the bars these days.

[NLbear]

4 hours ago, Spunkinmyarse said:

 It says a lot that somewhere like Maspalomas has dozens of bars and clubs, but not one single bathhouse. Even in Berlin, it’s all about the bars these days.

Isn't there a gay sauna in Yumbo? I have never been there though. Read some noises aobut rude staff.

[alwaysready]

first it was soda fountain in drug stores, now bath houses.

[Aixactif]

6 hours ago, NLbear said:

Isn't there a gay sauna in Yumbo? I have never been there though. Read some noises aobut rude staff.

It closed last year. There is one in Las Palmas. 

[Daddyslut4use]

Huge loss in LA when Midtowne Spa closed.  That was my go to place for over a decade. We are now left with Noho Spa, kinda dull, and Flex Spa, kinda druggie, but still sexy.  For those of us still not our or able to host, these are important places to hold onto. 

[bbzh]

On 9/30/2023 at 5:58 PM, topblkmale said:

Could we add inflation to the list? I paid close to $50 bucks to get a locker at Club FLL on a holiday weekend. The younger generation won't pay that when you could get three months of ad-free Grindr for $39.

Grindr did to bathhouses what Netflix did to DVDs.

Which brings me to my point of could bathhouses do a subscription service model to attract new patrons?

I'd like to amplify this point about cost. I can afford to go as often as I want, but I do a sort of cost/benefit analysis in my head every time. The place is often full of mostly bottoms. When I first arrive, there is a frenzy among some guys hoping I'm going to top 😭. If I'm not (more or less) guaranteed the sex I'm after, then why spend the money? I've got a couple of professionals on call for when I don't want to play the fishing game on the apps for hours or don't feel like going out. Luckily, I've also got some reliable fuck buds. I travel to other cities to be the fresh meat as well. Furthermore, the sex cinema here is a better bet than the bathhouse. The married and DL guys don't have much time, they're less picky, I score every time I'm there and it's a fraction of the cost of the bathhouse 🤷‍♂️.