Tell me about the Russian/Turkish baths in the East Village.

Is this a legit non-sexual bathhouse where straight guys go to let off some steam? I remember a guy I dated a few years ago telling me that he would go there with his dad, who'' straight, on occasion for some steam and straight male bonding. Anyone ever been?

http://www.russianturkishbaths.com/enter.html



• I''ve been.

• I heard it''s legit but never been there myself.

• It''s so NOT gay, OP.\ \ Pretty much the opposite of gay.\ \ Pass.

• My grandparents (and their parents) owned the 10th Street Baths from its founding in the 1890s until the early 1980s, so I sort of grew up there and I still visit it for nostalgic reasons every once in a while.\ \ It is a legitimate, non-gay bathhouse with steam and massage and all the services they describe on their website. The current owners are nice folks who have done an amazing job updating the services and keeping the services current; as the neighborhood has changed, so have the Baths.\ \ I personally recommend the Dead Sea Salt Scrub and the Platza Oak Leaf Treatment; both are invigorating and refreshing.\ \ If you''re looking for gay sex, this is definitely NOT the place. But if you''re looking for a great rubdown and a chance to relax, this is it.

  Assimilated Yid

• Otherwise known as "the schvitz" and particularly popular among older Eastern European Jewish men. It''s promoted as a way to open up the pores and restore circulation My dad and grandfather used to go a long time ago.

• their massage therapist once tried to give me a "happy ending"

  and I''m a girl

• Colin Farrell used to haunt the place. Just sayin...

• I''ve been many times. Always on Sunday mornings, when it''s male-only. There are just a lot of knowing glances.\ \ There was a period when things were drifting toward gaiety, but there was a clampdown. Apparently, some of the masseurs were giving happy endings, somebody sang the praises of said masseurs on the web, one of the NYC tabloids found out and reported it, and there were firings.\ \ I actually had one rough looking hairy muscle straight Russian guy massage me there a couple of times. The last time he gave me cock some strokes with his rough hands. It was not particularly arousing except for the transgressive nature.\ \ The next couple of times I went, it was after the purge and that guy no longer seemed to be on staff.

• Are there furtive gays there hoping to connect with other furtive gays?

• It''s furtive at most. If you like that sort of sexual tension with nary a chance to make actual human contact, this place might work for you in that way.\ \ Sometimes there are very zealous employees regularly checking in the saunas and steam rooms and sometimes there are customers who will run out and tattle if somebody so much as gets wood.\ \ If just being around a lot of naked guys is your idea of a good time (and it''s one of mine) then you''ll enjoy it. If you''re hoping for overt sexuality, you''ll be frustrated. \ \ When it''s coed, bathing suits are worn. I was there later one Sunday when it went from all-male to co-ed. Totally different vibe.

• I am a girl... I think I almost got a HAPPY ENDING massage from a HOT muscular russian guy... . BUT OFF COURSE i got scammed because he added $50 bucks tip on my bill......

• Yeah, the fucking Russians do that, they have you down on te table naked and then strongly suggest aroma therapy or "special therapy upstairs". Forget it. It's all a scam. The platza, that happens open in front of everyone, is incredible, probably the best money spent for your body ever The clientel on Sundays which is all male is about 1/3 old Yiddish guys, 1/3 downtown guys, 1/3 gay males looking around furtively. It all seems to work.

• A guy named Vladimir used to worked there giving massages and he'd offer to jerk you off. They fired him during the purge. The men only days - Thursday and Sunday - get packed with gay guys looking to get off on the sexual tension of walking around naked without being able to do anything. However, I've caught guys there wanking a few times. Some weeks the steam room checkers are super-zealous. Other weeks they don't give a shit at all. They have a weird set-up. Two different guys own it - Boris and David. They hate each other so each has their own week where they run it. I still go when I'm hungover to drink a beer, steam and smoke weed on the roof. I've seen everyone from Colin Farrell to Russell Simmons (total fag btw) to Karlie Kloss hanging out there. Oh, and I saw Chris Noth too (got to see him naked as he changed). Overall it's a magnet for models, hardcore yoga folks, and various local freaks. It's funky and kinda smelly but it is OLD New York and therefore really cool.

• Haven't been in years but used to go whenever I was in NY on a Sunday. Had some amzingly great non-sexual times there. Loved the mix of people and the fact that it wasn't all gay but that there was still a fairly large number of varied gay men there. Also loved the soulful Russian masseur who used to give you particular type of massage basically involving washing you and cradling you like a baby. I believe his name was Yuri and it was probably the most intense non-sexual experience I've ever had.

• Haven't been there in a few years. Definitely not a gay bath house vibe but I saw plenty of semi and fully hard dick there. Some jerking off but not much. It really isn't the place for it. I noticed plenty of times guys pairing off and leaving together who were obviously gay and going to have sex. Personally I get off on casual nudity with other men but this isn't the place for overt sexual activity. I find it erotic but I never went there looking for sex and refused participation on the rare times I saw a circle jerk starting or someone grabbed me [which happened a few times] I did however get jerked off by two different hunky russian masseurs. Both put their finger to their mouths to warn me to be very quiet when I came and I obliged. Niether asked for a huge tip. The masseurs who did ask for the huge tip were strictly non-sexual massages. I refused their intense pleading for a 50% tip and they respected that but they were persistent.

• That sounds all very familiar, I've had similar experiences

• I love the borsch

• There's one in Toronto, but I've never been. Think it's the same deal.

• who wants to go to a bath house where there are fish?

  mhb

• Not every day, cunt-face Thursdays and Sundays there are no women

• I'll meet you there tomorrow morning

• So wait, r13, male models go to this place?? Do you get to see them naked??

  This thread is making me horny

• R14 Tell me more about the experience with Yuri

• R22, yeah. There will be at any one time two or three guys who could be underwear models amongst the mikes of fat ugly ones. It keeps it real

• The Platza Oak Leaf Treatment looks awesome, R4. Is it painful?

• gay male, been there a few times sun a.m. It's very interesting, to be honest never saw anyone having sex. Yes the staff "works" the crowd & I really mean not sexually - so just be aware about $$. They do have an outdoor space with lounge chairs. All & all a very interesting experience - lots of unfilled sexual tension; Yes it sounds strange..but life is full of different experiences go 2 KATZ deli after for full older east side exp)

• I used to get finger fucked by Peter at the end of my massage. He got purged though.

• Now that this thread's been bumped, I still want to hear about the Platza treatment.

  r25

• There used to be a masseur there named Caesar, (I think) Hispanic guy. Gave a great massage. Would do extended nipple play (my request) and jerk me off. He was also fired

• A few years ago WNET-13 did a documentary, "Svitz."

• Which is the gayer allowing one, David or Boris?

• It's soooo not gay. And I'm not even exaggerating with all those "o"s.

• Anyone ever been the the old Shiite on kinsman. In Cleveland?

• Love me some hairy Yiddish men.

• If you're real R4, you're gorgeous. Thanks for posting.

• So not gay.

  http://www.lesbains.fr/images/large/visite_saunasec1.jpg

• R4 made me laugh. He/she actually did get it right, though. Shocking as it might be, this is a place to truly enjoy a steam bath and massage without sex. For the hole presentation crowd on this thread -- trust -- I'm a bigger whore than any of you. But this is not the place for that. Sure, you might get some quick time in the steam room with another male and exchange shifty glances but you will not pop a load here. My recommendation is to, for once, enjoy a steam bath for relaxation.

• It was pretty gay today, gayer than I remembered. One of the staff even came into the steamroom while guys were sucking and told them, "ten minutes, then stop, okay?" - in about 15 minutes the sauna went co-ed.

• [quote] He was also fired He's back

• Ryan Gosling has been here. He talked about a Russian Bath House one time while on Jimmy Fallon and it turns out this is the place he was referring to. The story he told about his experience there was VERY funny.

• What was it? Today there was a notable HK whore/porn star there with friends. Can't recall the name but he's got a Roman Numeral "III" on his left shoulder.

• So if this place isn't gay, does anyone know of any saunas in NYC that's kinda gay? Not a bath house, just a semi public place with heat and showers.

  Lefty

• Any updates?

• Yeah, anybody been there lately?

  Alex

• Russians pleading for more money? Say it ain't so, Joe!

• I'll go next week. The sex is fun

• rough crowd but made out with three guys

• It is only gay when DL celebs go.

• So apparently it's sooooo not gay, and also toooootally gay. Thanks, DL, yet again, for the consensus.

• that is the case though, like the USMC it Can be both

• It depends on who shows up that day. Some days it is very DL sexual, other days not at all.

• "There used to be a masseur there named Caesar, (I think) Hispanic guy. Gave a great massage. Would do extended nipple play (my request) and jerk me off." I guarantee you that wasn't Caesar. Caesar is a complete Jesus nut who says "god bless you" at the end of the massage, and always keeps the door open. He has also complained openly about the gay vibe. I think you must be talking about the other latin guy, Gus.

• There is a similiar place in Boston called Dillon's Russian Steam. It's a straight bath house and there are warning signs posted forbidding lewd conduct in the steam room. The irony is most of the guys there,including the married ones, are looking for cock.

• nice to know!

• Caesar will get fired soon. No one will tolerate that kind of homophobic bullshit in a blue state, right?

  New%20York%2C%20Liberal%20Haven%3F

• Paz de la Huerta hangs out at them sometimes and apparently likes to rub her tits in front of the men.

• R56 who the hell is she?

• An ugly, skanky train wreck of an actress R57. A total exhibitionist and druggie. Most likely sexually molested at a young age.

• Another Lyndsey Lohan.

• This is turning into the typical DL thread about gym sex. Some guys think it's an exciting atmosphere and want to act out their fantasies, others just really want to use the facilities for their intended purpose and are annoyed by sex being brought into it, and the management is trying to juggle keeping the customers happy with not being busted for running a whorehouse.

• "Some guys think it's an exciting atmosphere and want to act out their fantasies, others just really want to use the facilities for their intended purpose" yeah, but to be fair the "sex" thing is only really an issue on men only days. i think you'd be hard pressed in general to find a Russian bath ANYWHERE in the world that doesn't have this vibe on their men only days. and don't think for a second that the management at this place doesn't tacitly encourage certain activities. one masseur - Walter - used to openly solicit me for a "man to man massage" right in front of the owner Boris. the guy eventually got fired when that article in The New York Post came out about this stuff.

• indeed, even in Russia you get the vibe in men-only saunas

• Russian bathhouses downtown have been around for more than 100 years and indeed are the russe for gay bathhouses or rather were- even if they have nothing to do with each other. Sometimes I am amazed by the sheer ingnorance of DL. Eastern European Jews brougt bathhouse to NYC during their great immigations at the turn of the 19th/20th Centuries. And, in continental Europe spas (which are the same thing as bathhouses) are ubiguitous and have nothing to do with sex. In fact the sexes mingle often without bathing suits etc. In Europe naked bodies do not conjure the horror of the fordidden crotch, exposed breasts, and abs that are not ripped, and older adults are not shunned as suspected droolers in search of a quick peek at an adonis god (or so imagined by the "adonis"). That is in the gyms of the US where narcistic gay men's imaginations, in some a tendency for self loathing and otherwise purile minds over focus on sex as the reason for everything if people happen to be taking their clothes off. DL really throws up an unintentionally funny mirror of American culture and our tendency toward Puritanic prudism- still rampant.

• Does R63 speak English? What a tortured, functionally illiterate paragraph he weaves...

• I had fun there a few times. Once together with a guy in the mens room in the men's dressing room. The other time in the sauna...a guy, about 19-20, came into the sauna and was hiding his huge hard on under his wadded up towel. He took the towel away and it was this beautiful flag pole between his legs. I took a chance and sucked it and the other guys said the 'minder' was coming, so stopped. So hot...

• that sounds about right

• [quote] there are warning signs posted forbidding lewd conduct in the steam room. Please - that's the oldest wink in the book.

  No%20drugs%2C%20lewd%20conduct%20or%20soliciting...in%20the%20middle%20of%20Time

• R63 is a published author (50 plus publications) in peer reviewed journals and publicly available medical texts, and an editor of three scientific journals.

  R63

• and yet still needs a competent copyeditor

• Do that too. Do you also review the texts of your friends R69? My post is one of the literate posts on this thread despite some typos and liberalities with sentence structure which I suspect you know thus your cranked out and cranky post.

• [quote] My post is one of the literate posts on this thread despite some typos and liberalities with sentence structure which I suspect you know thus your cranked out and cranky post. Wow

  Run%20on%20girl%2C%20and%20fuck%20the%20commas%21

• On Sunday morning I met a guy at the RT baths. His wife was dropping him off. We started talking and undressed together, he had wood, I popped wood looking at hime. When we finally got alone he sucked me off and we carried on for close to two years until his wife got pregnant and they moved to Connecticut. He was the most amazing bottom.

• exactly

• R71, that is a well written sentence in need of no commas. Suggest you get out and read a bit more- outside of Facebook, texts, emails, blogs and DL.

• [quote] Do that too. Do you also review the texts of your friends [R69]? My post is one of the literate posts on this thread despite some typos and liberalities with sentence structure which I suspect you know thus your cranked out and cranky post. Brandon?

• I'm sorry r74, but you are wrong in two accounts. First, you're picking on the wrong poster and, second, you most definitely need a comma AT LEAST before the word "thus" in the quoted run-on sentence.

• naked men should never dissolve into this type of argument.

• [quote]Run on girl, and fuck the commas! Sounds like a new user name to me.

  Run%20on%20girl%2C%20and%20fuck%20the%20commas%21

• It would take hours to dissect R63's rant and turn it into a readable paragraph. And the word is "ubiquitous," by the way.

  Not%20R64%20but%20in%20complete%20agreement

• Went today and there was a lot of grab-ass and hole presentation.

• Dear Lord in Heavensk!

  Concerned Russian Swim Team Mom

• I've seen a man bring his very young son on Sunday mornings. He was very regimental about what and where the kid did or not.