Bathhouses disappearing 🙁

[meetme]

Steamworks, Chicago, Berkeley, Toronto. Who runs it? It is the only possibility for the future. Every other place across the country was busy in the 1970s and then milked like a cash cow and allowed to disintegrate over time. Every health crisis has taken a toll, AIDS, Covid, Monkey Pox, and gay owners, don’t reinvest or pass businesses onto another generation. New York City has only one left and it offers very little.  Surely banks don’t endorse development. Gay money, it must exist, but it won’t come out of the closet. Steamworks Chicago was lavishly refurbished in 2004, maybe they have some answers on how to save these gay institutions.

[ellentonboy]

Tampa Men's Club pricing is through the roof.  You pay for a pass to enter, plus either a locker or a room, which is similar to "the old days".

But these prices?  Well here we go:

A one day pass is $16, 3 months is $49, and 6 months is $69.

Then, on a weekend starting at 4 pm on Friday, the rate for a locker is $32, a "deluxe room" is $44, a premium room is $70 and the Premium 2.0 Room (whatever that is????) is $130.  

So for someone who decides to go for the first time, just to get a feel for the place, the lowest cost with day pass and a locker is $48.  That's a day pass only, remember that part.

Their  web site is very glossy.  I cannot confirm just how nice their "rooms" are.  But one thing I have heard is that the parking lot seems empty, even on weekends and holidays.  Now if anyone has spent time there, I sure would love some feedback regarding the facility.

These prices seem very high to me.  One other thing to mention is that this facility has a bit of a "stranglehold" on the bathhouse market in Tampa. If you pull up their site, they proudly announce they are "Tampa's Only Gay Bathhouse". With the Rainbow Cabaret now a thing of the past, I am not sure how many of those guys have gone over to this location.

Again, any comments are greatly appreciated.

[topblkmale]

 

The type of men I like - working class blue-collar family men -  cannot afford to pay $40 bucks for a 4 hour locker on their way home from work.

 

[cuckie]

6 hours ago, meetme said:

Steamworks, Chicago, Berkeley, Toronto. Who runs it? It is the only possibility for the future. Every other place across the country was busy in the 1970s and then milked like a cash cow and allowed to disintegrate over time. Every health crisis has taken a toll, AIDS, Covid, Monkey Pox, and gay owners, don’t reinvest or pass businesses onto another generation. New York City has only one left and it offers very little.  Surely banks don’t endorse development. Gay money, it must exist, but it won’t come out of the closet. Steamworks Chicago was lavishly refurbished in 2004, maybe they have some answers on how to save these gay institutions.

A couple Steamworks have dropped off the website as well.

[topblkmale]

Sadly Steamworks San Juan closed many years ago - which I had heard was notorious. 
 

[LoadMyHoleSF]

Surprisingly, there is talk in San Francisco of reopening bathhouses. They closed in the 80s due to the AIDS pandemic. Oddly enough, the license jurisdiction became the purview of the police department, which for years never allow them to reopen. Surprise surprise. The law was recently revoked. The local papers have reported the possibility of two bath houses opening. The cost is projected to be in the million so we’ll see what happens. Fingers crossed! I’m hoping that San Francisco can be a Mecca for gay people once again, especially with everything happened in the United States.