Bathhouses disappearing 🙁

[partying.hard]

@topblkmale … a friend of mine in New York, just mentioned that it had become dismal there as well. He lives close to the UES club.  And the movie theater still is open.  So he said he and some buddies have gone up to Providence several times and it’s not as bad as you would expect!
 

@willslc well it sounds like you hit a grand slam there. I only doubled and came home gono.

[topblkmale]

2 hours ago, partying.hard said:

@topblkmale … a friend of mine in New York, just mentioned that it had become dismal there as well. He lives close to the UES club.  And the movie theater still is open.  So he said he and some buddies have gone up to Providence several times and it’s not as bad as you would expect!
 

@willslc well it sounds like you hit a grand slam there. I only doubled and came home gono.

Covid then monkey pox took its toll on the NYC gay sex scene. Until recently - 2023 - ESC required proof of vaccine for entry and some sex parties required proof of monkey pox vax. Paddles required both plus boosters for entry. I predicted it would close. And it did. The building got sold.

[cockfun69]

14 hours ago, Flared said:

I don't wanna sound too stupid but exactly do you do in a bath house? Is it a place full with steam that horny guys get laid? And why baths in particular? Arent' there "too many bottoms" and "too few tops" to have a balance?

In Europe at least 90% of the facility isn't steam, sauna or gym areas. There are private cubicles and large group rooms (or even whole floors) usually dimly lit. All for action away from the steam. And as guys are already stripped with just towels then they are ready to play 🙂 😎 😛

[Kayne]

Thing about this is we're in such a precarious state that we as gay men may be forced to  rebuild and utilize  the services of bathhouses and such again due to the political/ societal pendulem swinging back the other way and jeopardizing our civil rights and our very ability to exist. 

Our culture was born out of being cast as the "Others" as the undesirables. as the outsiders.  its not ideal, but perhaps we'll restore some of  the individuality  we've lost. 

[hntnhole]

On 9/29/2023 at 7:12 PM, BootmanLA said:

but older than average

Really ...... "more experienced" would have been a smidge better 😇

[BootmanLA]

2 hours ago, hntnhole said:

Really ...... "more experienced" would have been a smidge better 😇

🙂

Actually, I know some very experienced young men who are vastly more experienced than a lot of guys in our age bracket - this is one case, I fear, where the blunt truth of chronological age is the relevant factor more than, um, the mileage.

[SFCumdog]

18 hours ago, topblkmale said:

I kind of gay fairy wish there was some kind of online repository/archive (a forum, Reddit or similar to Wikipedia maybe) for bathhouse history.

 

 

There used to be a great website that covered the history of the ones in San Francisco. Not sure if it is still available though.

[NWUSHorny]

22 hours ago, topblkmale said:

I kind of gay fairy wish there was some kind of online repository/archive (a forum, Reddit or similar to Wikipedia maybe) for bathhouse history.

 

 

You had to be watching TV in the wee hours to see commercials like that.

[ejaculaTe]

On 10/2/2023 at 9:22 PM, topblkmale said:

FLL-Clubhouse II is on its last leg. On my last visit the roof was leaking, showers were inoperable, glory holes removed and the jacuzzi had not been cleaned. The dry sauna was also OOO. There were about seven or eight guys stirring about on a prime time weekend night.

Sounds very much like the gone and much lamented Rainbow Cabaret in Tampa in its last years.

[ejaculaTe]

On 10/2/2023 at 9:22 PM, topblkmale said:

I enjoyed the seediness of Man's Country with the those dimly lit hallways, dark room and those specialty rooms.

After fall quarter exams were done, an upperclassman took me, a freshman at UC, to Man's Country. Kid in candy store feeling. I tried to get there at least once every quarter, and it was always a very refreshing break from the occasionally stifling atmosphere at school. During one blizzard in the winter of '79, that same upperclassman and I went to Man's Country, riding the Clark St. bus. Someone pulled the signal cord just past Lawrence, and the driver stopped the bus at the entrance to Man's Country. Ah, memories....

[downtownswallow]

There were SO Many around in the late 70s and early 80s.  Loved being young, constant boner and In-shape. Those were days to be remembered.  I go back much less these days.  They're all still youth-oriented.  I get it and that's fine.  I just wish the facilities were a bit more welcoming to older patrons. There was something about the randomness and anonymity that made it special.  AIDS really put a hammer on the fun... somewhat like COVID did most recently. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by downtownswallow

[dickluva]

  It seems like the Bathhouses I've visited in '24 and Club Saint Louis I visit regularly are better than they have been in years. I always try to get guys on dating sites to meat me at Club. They are very resistant to paying to get in. They won't even let me pay for them to get in. I am sick of going to really nasty dirty homes. I was at the mansion of 2 doctors and they had a plumbing emergency while I was there, the second floor suddenly flooded due to recent bad renovation, a nightmare. Mechanical problems can happen at a bathhouse too, butt they have the staff to deal with it. 

    I agree FTL Clubhouse II is gross. Club Fort Lauderdale is gorgeous. My favorite is 321 Slammer. I wish I is in FTL right now at InnLeather.(I'll be there 04/11 -04/22) You guys that won't pay are losing out on fun and are not helping the gay community. 

   I saw on Sniffies dudes raved about recent party(03/20/2025) at Steamworks Chicago after the Grabby awards, saying the best party they had ever been to. I would have been there too, but I was in a recent accident. I could not drive 10 hours round trip. I am more willing I think than many of my contemporaries to go where the hot sex is.

  I also realize I watch too much true crime. Police do not seem to care about dead or missing gay men, certainly true in Saint Louis, MO. My lover was murdered at a Starbucks in STL by a enraged teen male. The Judge and the prosecutor let the perp off on suspended sentence. My lawyer told about recent case man had been charged with multiple murders and the Judge dismissed all charges because prosecutors had failed to appear for multiple hearings. I've read about all the dead men found recently in Lady Bird Lake Austin TX. Police keep saying they were not murdered. 11 men "accidentally" drowned with all their clothes on in like 3 years, but no one had drowned there before that. Who goes swimming at night with all there clothes on?

Thanks for reading this.

[norefusal]

it's not just eggs that have gotten crazy expensive. I'd be more prone to go to an ABS or BH if they weren't the price of a good meal out, never mind the cost of the STI treatment after 😜But there's also the lameness of some of those who do go, that often make the trip seem not worth the entry price. Everytime i think to go to either, i remember the last time i paid to get in to what was essentially a dead party, and then i talk myself out of going. 

[Pock86]

@dickluva - so sorry about your partner…The world is a fucked up place, and it’s not getting much better.

@norefusal I’ve had all of the thoughts you’ve said…but each time, my fantasy desire outweighed my wallet.

i look at it this way.  Sometimes when you go to a restaurant - you have the world’s greatest meal!  You could go back to that same restaurant a week later, and have a shitty meal…

but if you’re hungry for that restaurant, the only way to eat is to go!  
 

some of my hottest bathhouse experiences have been on nights when I was debating going or not, and there may have only been 7 or 8 other guys on the club…

[norefusal]

29 minutes ago, Pock86 said:

 

@norefusal I’ve had all of the thoughts you’ve said…but each time, my fantasy desire outweighed my wallet.

i look at it this way.  Sometimes when you go to a restaurant - you have the world’s greatest meal!  You could go back to that same restaurant a week later, and have a shitty meal…

but if you’re hungry for that restaurant, the only way to eat is to go!  
 

some of my hottest bathhouse experiences have been on nights when I was debating going or not, and there may have only been 7 or 8 other guys on the club…

absolutely!

but cruising in general has always been hit or miss. heck, w the apps, now one doesn't even have to leave the house in order to strike out on a fri nite 🤣

but  also the whole world is going this way. personally i think the gay bars would be a bigger loss than the BH but that's just me. i think losing the gay bookstores was huge and yet most people have forgotten them and adjusted. 

the internet gave us unprecedented access to info. but it's also helped isolate us. and that's true for everyone, not just the "gay community."