NYC July 2021: West Side Club permanently closed? East Side Club only "bathhouse" left now in NYC?

Come on New York, you should have a decent, respectable bathhouse!

OP FWIU you're not missing much...

Few if anyone has good things to say about either West Side or East Side clubs.

Starting with Koch, then though Dinkins onto to Rudy G, gay sauna/baths or whatever you want to call that scene was decimated. It was with best of intentions (HIV/AIDS prevention) at first, but soon just became excuses to shut places down that certain local residents didn't want around.

This was before rise of internet and apps that have done a number on gay bars, clubs, etc.... Most guys looking for action hit Grinder or similar, idea of heading out to baths is just not on their radar.

You could try some private parties. The larger ones are really exclusive tho, and it’s mostly hookers I hear. I’m too fat to ever be a part of that world.

Many owners of bars, restaurants, clubs or whatever having more than one location closed one or more, leaving just one to remain open, or reopen.

Lock down over past year killed many NYC businesses. Some managed to hang on by various means, others closed and aren't coming back.

King Cuomo kept clubs, bars, restaurants and such places in NYC under stricter lock down than other venues, with some only just being allowed to reopen partially just several weeks ago. Even in before covid many NYC businesses in hospitality, restaurant, nightlife.. were barely making money or breaking even.

I SO miss these places. There’s nothing like seeing EXACTLY who you’re getting before you commit to anything.

Not to mention privacy and home safety issues.

Crisco oil party, room 419, bring Joey, don't bring Chuck.

What a shithole city.

I can’t imagine either the WSC or ESC survived the pandemic.

WSC and ESC are owned by same person or persons. A decision likely was made to cut loses and just keep one place while letting the other go or at least for now.

Laundries, dry cleaners, restaurants, nail/waxing places, bars, etc... you name it; there are situations where owner had several before covid hit. One year or so later maybe just one location remains open or is reopening. Many simply cut their loses and left, giving the space back to landlord.

While city is back compared to this time last year, things for many sectors of city's economy are far from where they were before covid. It just doesn't make sense yet in many cases to open up a place when you aren't sure of demand.

Keep in mind even though King Cuomo has lifted covid emergency disaster declaration businesses like gyms and salons can only do 100% capacity if they can keep customers six feet apart.

WSC and ESC are owned by same person or persons. A decision likely was made to cut loses and just keep one place while letting the other go or at least for now.

Correct. The one closed because they leased the building and the owner wouldn't renew, the other one they owned the building.

Alternative venue - try the Fair Theater in Queens. The same action goes on there and its way cheaper.

New York City RE listings show 27 W 20th St, 2nd Floor available as of September 2021. So guess that's that for WSC.

Thanks for heads up R11

Wow, in R12's pic it looks like they were able to clean all the cum off the walls. 25 years worth.

There are a lot of private sex parties in the city if you want that environment, though I get that's not a venue you can just show up to.

There is Paddles. Late nights on Friday and Saturday you do get a lot of guys leaving the bars and showing up for sex. There is also still the Cock which survived covid and still is a place you can cruise for sex. I've actually never been to East Side club, I imagine the best crowd would be like Paddles late Friday and Saturday when guys have left the bars and want sex.

I would never buy a home that’s had a layer of permacum removed. They can never get it all.

Isn't Paddles for straights, R14?

Sometimes r16. But they also have male only events. Their late Friday and Saturday "events" are guys only.

I know they have reopened but not sure their post covid schedule.

The Cock is only open Thursday/Friday/Saturday now.

I've never been to The Cock. Glad to hear it's managed to hang on. Maybe one day I'll go and see what I've been missing.

WSC and ESC were on their last legs even before the pandemic. They were disgusting, rarely updated spaces, eclipsed by every other bathhouse in the US and the world. Not only were they decrepit, the admissions attendants were extraordinarily nasty to customers.

WSC was quickly becoming a place for the elderly, which ESC has already been for decades. Maybe with WSC closing, the ESC will nab that business, but they aren't close geographically. I doubt many people from the west side of the city will travel to the far east side just to play with closeted octogenarians.

I knew WSC wouldn't last long as its space must be worth so much more money than a dying bathhouse could ever bring.

Just remember to wear your N95 mask.

East Side Club was the bigger one so made sense that's the one they picked. But the bathhouse scene really didn't survive in New York. Other cities have better bathhouse presence.

[quote] just to play with closeted octogenarians.

To a 96 year old those are young twinks.

I guess in New York you'd have to travel to Troy for a bathhouse experience. Of course, their website lists it as still being closed.

R23, and the Troy BH is tiny in comparison. Don't Providence and Philly have good BHs?

Cock being a small dive bar seems more easily able to manoeuvre around NYC's nuaiance abatement and other laws and or tactics that were used to pretty much wipe out gay bathhouses, bookstores or anyplace else with backrooms, etc...

Someone could invest huge sums required to make a wonderful BH, but again how much of a steady demand is there nowadays to make the place pay. Keeping in mind all those laws and regulations are still on books. One or more persistent complaints from busybodies (gay or straight) about men going "he he-he, bo-bo-bo, ha-ha-ha, and place will be shut at least temporarily. Enough of those "violations" and place will be closed permanently.

[quote] about men going "he he-he, bo-bo-bo, ha-ha-ha,

WTF?!? Are those supposed to be sex sounds? Lol, R26! You need to work on that.

R26

It was an inside joke that obviously went over your mush filled head.

Now sit down and be quiet when grown folks are talking....

I’m still confused as to how ESC and WSC escaped the mass bathhouse closures of the AIDS era

WSC opened in 1995, so wasn't around when Koch and subsequent mayoral administrations cracked down on bathhouses.

Also owners of both west and east side clubs knew going in what would and could get them shut down. If two or more men what to have a "Crisco Party in Room 419" (with or without Chuck) that is different than the open bazaar of sex that was bathhouses of old.

In both locations IIRC same sort of things go on in saunas and elsewhere you find at many gyms in Manhattan. That could get an owner into hot water, but again the Cock seems to have navigated those waters rather successfully.

If you like a good read, the politics, policies and how things rolled out.

R29, I had no idea the WSC was opened that recently!

I recall a short news clip years ago about the WSC on NY1 which toured the place and kept calling it a place for men to relax and hang out. I guess now, it must of been of a newly opened WSC

For the record Ed Koch was a nasty piece of closeted gay work. Obviously since he wasn't getting the time of day (unless it was paid for), no one else could have any fun either.

WSC and ESC were really just jumped up "gyms" and "saunas" that provided cover for other purposes. If you want to work out there were and are far better options than either.

Many of the gay bath houses were just that; old "Turkish" or "Russian" baths from back in days when apartment living didn't always include en suite bathing facilities. Those old tenements or other such housing found all over Europe as well gave rise to bath houses for both sexes. You could bathe, swim, work out, have a massage... Invariably when men get together, well you know the rest....

Bathhouses served a great purpose—allowing gay men (many closeted) to have sex in a safe place. They allowed gay men to move sex out of parks and other secluded places—fraus don’t want their children potentially exposed to that, of course.

They likely did spread HIV and such, but later became good places to educate and test for STIs and HIV,

Closing them just pushed gays back to dangerous public places. I doubt HIV stalled even for a bit when they closed

No one goes to bath houses anymore. The bars are barely Abel to stay open. Gay life is dying at an ever faster pace. Welcome to the mainstream. Yawn.

NYC has not been a bathhouse town for a few generations.

Nice bathhouses can be fun—a variety of men just sampling one another.

ESC and WSC have always been so dark and dismal. Years ago, they would be hopping on weekends, but (I assume because of NYC’s laws) no public sex was allowed— everything had to be done in closed rooms. No slings, Nasty, rude workers.

When I moved to NYC in the early 90s, there were a few bathhouses. East Side Club, the one on Maiden Lane (which desperately tried to pretend that if you went, you'd meet hot banker boys, their ad said something about meeting your stockbroker there), Mount Morris baths and there was one in Queens which I've forgotten the name of.

I haven’t been to WSC in a decade. In the naughts, meth allowed NYC bathhouses a resurgence with methheads having sex an entire weekend. As meth went more underground, and apps gained popularity, WSC went into quick decline.

Young gays today never even consider going to a bathhouse

R38, wow! I completely forgot about the Maiden Lane bathhouse. I went there twice. It was pretty sad

If I remember correctly, Maiden Lane made you put down a towel deposit (I think it was $1) which you got back when you returned the towel, as if anyone would want to steal their nasty towels. But they didn't run on a membership basis like ESC did.

So used to going to NYC bathhouses, when I went to Steamworks in Chicago, I was literally amazed at how big and clean it was, how huge the hot tub was, how hot the Midwestern guys were, and how friendly they were.

I had a FB who moved to NYC from Chicago. He was so disappointed by NYC’s bathhouses, that he would actually travel back to Chicago to visit Steamworks (but telling his family he was there to see them)

San Diego still has one bathhouse. It's a decent place. And it made it through the pandemic. I hope it remains open, although the hours have been cut back just a bit. I don't do Grindr, which is a waste of time, and I don't want surprises or anyone showing up at my front door or vice versa.

I agree with you 100% R6. I don't see them coming back, sadly. They were so much fun, but still, K-Mart and the West Side Club closing simultaneously. NYC is always changing!

Gay baths, bookstores (with or without backrooms), and more are slowly going way of Dodo; an entire culture being consigned to archives of history.

Things hang on here and there, but each generation post 2000's or so it becomes less and less. By time those in just out of nursery now reach young adult or even older teen years am quite sure gay culture will be something totally alien to most posting on DL today.

In a sense gays are mainstreaming themselves out of an unique existence IMHO.

At least in NYC by time HIV/AIDS epidemic was somewhat under control, technology had arrived which would begin to change gay scene forever.

That WSC was able to thrive opening in 1995 was almost a bit too little and late. Guys were already making their way over to AOL and other online chats, and that ship had largely sailed by 2000's.

[quote]The bars are barely able to stay open. Gay life is dying at an ever faster pace.

It's being replaced by LGBTQIA+ life!

Rejoice, or be CANCELED!

But, but, but it was Ronald Reagan who was responsible for all those AIDS deaths.

Years ago there were a LOT of FAT , OLD men at ESC but in the last four years there is significant number of HOT guys at ESC, guys that would be considered HOT even in WEHO. I was there two Saturdays ago, unfortunately these so called HOT guys do have attitude.

I hope everyone who fornicates in a bath house setting is on PrEP. Those places are breeding grounds for all types of STDs, and could eventually give rise to super-AIDS.

To be an inside joke, R27, it has to be funny and everyone has to get it.

16 years ago in NYC you had East Side Club, West Side Club, Wall Street Sauna and Mount Morris Baths ( VERY old and in Harlem) and there was one in Queens. The only one left is East Side Club.

[quote] I haven’t been to WSC in a decade

Me either, and I used to go semi-regularly. Sometimes it was packed, other times it was pitiful, and I could never predict which time would be which. I had some fun, but those times were few and far between, and I have to admit: the experience was even emptier than your usual pick-up. I gradually stopped going and don’t miss it.

[quote] I don't do Grindr, which is a waste of time, and I don't want surprises or anyone showing up at my front door or vice versa.

Indeed. I need a bit of an ‘audition:’ can he kiss? How does he feel? I hat does he smell like? I’m s he setting off my ‘psycho-sense?’ Can’t get all that off Grindr. It was a rough fifteen months on lockdown here in NYC, but ‘auditions’ have reopened.

R53- If you went on a Saturday night it should have almost always been busy. I first went to WSC back in 2000/2001 and the place was SO busy on a Saturday night that I would often have to wait in the entrance hall for a room to become available.

What year did East Side club open? around 1977?

Can someone explain the cost structure of going to the ESC? It's $91! if you go on a weekend?

Their web page rates:

Membership fee to enter = $15

Locker - $23

Changing Room = $25

Room - $28

Total = $91

[quote] But, but, but it was Ronald Reagan who was responsible for all those AIDS deaths.

Completely ignoring AIDS and then working hard to block all funding for it bears responsibility

R28

Thus Yelp review of ESC give you an idea of how place remains open..

"he city that never sleeps is really asleep when it comes to sexual opportunities for gay men. There are two bathouses, owned by the same major contributor to local politicans in Manhattan, and they're both pretty tired and over regulated. They're both relatively clean and not too dark, but each has a plethora of studs racing around with T-shirts stating that they're monitors and they exist to proclaim only one utterance, "NO" and boy do they utter it? No nudidty is allowed which seems absurd to this reviewer, but it must make sense to someone on the NYC morality force because when I towel slips, a warning is issued and men are asked to leave. No physical touching is allowed, in fact it's grounds for being kicked out. There's a small, always empty sauna and steam room as well as a small television room where the 'MONITORS' gather and compare notes while watching rap and hip hop on some over loud station. Men are men and they're all there for the purpose of having sex, and NYC seems to be saying here is a place to have it, but since you're queers, we're going to regulate your experience like we do with prisoners of war. "

In short staff patrols the place to ensure ESC remains within the law.

R55 ESC has been open for fifty years, 1977 sounds about right.

R56, No that's seems like a $15 temporary membership to enter and then choose one: locker, small changing room, or room.

I always assumed, with absolutely no evidence, these remaining "clubs" were money laundering sites.

Otherwise how the hell did they stay open for decades!?

R55- It opened in 1975.

R60, I've thought the same. How could the ESC, with its huge space in Manhattan stay alive with such few patrons?

R62- Someone earlier in this thread said that they own the building.

Some area residents have been trying to get ESC shut or force a move for years now.

Every time something happens in that place people are all "shocked" that a "gay bath house" is on same block as two schools, etc.....

R64, "What about the children??!!"

Why does every article about gay men having sex have to mention kids??

If owner of ESC also owns building, then there's your answer as to how it can remain open (if not) always doing great business.

Rent is easily most major expense of any business. If same owner of an enterprise also owns building, there you are .....

Don't forget LIPS (a drag show/bar/restaurant) occupies ground floor space, and seems to do a decent business. That should bring in money for owner of building as well.

R66- There's a STRAIGHT swingers club in the basement of the building. You know the saying - Birds Of A Feather Stick Together.

Pure filth, if you ask me. I'm not one to judge, but you reap what you sow.

I have gone, occasionally, to the ESC for approximately 20 years. Never more than once a month and sometimes not going for six months at a time. I probably hadn't been for 4 or six months before lockdown. Even 20 or 15 years ago it had a varied clientele. Many younger Mexican/Central American guys that I found cute. The last 5 years or so not so much.

One sociological observation is that in this latter period it was always the same guys. I would go once a month or once every two months and exactly the same guys. Also more television watching and conversing in the halls. It had become for some middle aged or older guys a real club. It's where they hung out, their primary social outlet. Like some guys go to the bar every night or get involved with organizations (Gay Men's Chorus or gay AA meetings). I think there was the added attraction that they might get sex every now and then. East Side Club is reopened. You need proof of vaccination to get in. I wonder if those guys are back.

I have thought of giving it the odd visit.

R69- I guess I'll see you there on Saturday.

R70, is my sociological observation correct?

[quote] No one goes to bath houses anymore. The bars are barely Abel to stay open.

Cain’s killing spree continues.

On another note, well gossip.....

Rock Hudson frequently visited Jermyn Street baths while visiting London in 1950's. This after being turfed out of the Savoy Baths in 1952 for importuning.

What could be more manly than a nice Turkish bath?

Mount Morris baths survived until 2003, which in of itself was a miracle.

It was the only gay bath house in NYC that allowed men of color (and those who loved them/liked BBC), but being so far away from gay areas of Chelsea, West Village and other areas below Harlem Mount Morris baths were seemingly not on city's radar.

The place complied with all the new city DOH regulations put in place after HIV/AIDS epidemic began, then simply carried on.

Mount Morris baths began as a place to cater to then (late 1800's) Harlem's large Jewish population. The Turkish baths and steam rooms served same original function for those living in cold water flats in Harlem or UWS as they did in Europe.

I read somewhere that at one time say ca. 1977 there were TEN gay bathhouses in NYC!

This was before my time... Anyone heard of "Man's Country?"

[quote] I read somewhere that at one time say ca. 1977 there were TEN gay bathhouses in NYC!

That’s probably true. There was the Everard. Then there was the one in the East Village which I’ve forgotten the name of. There was a funny incident there, the place was raided by the police one night. The police ordered the front door to be locked, but nobody knew where the key was because it was a 24/7 place and they had no need to lock the door.

In addition to the bathhouses, there were also sex clubs, both established and underground. Early 90s, there used to be one on West Side Highway. It was like an after hours sex club, those who didn’t hook up at the bars went over there at closing time. You paid an admission and inside it was just an old warehouse where guys would have sex. No beds, no lockers, I’m not even sure there was a bathroom. Just a couple of large rooms with guys having sex. This place probably sprung up as protection when guys were being arrested for having sex on the piers.

Since COVID, Phoenix has been police-enforcing nudity restrictions in "public" areas at bath house The Chute. Bath houses are pretty popular I hear. There needs to be an alternative to apps, which have become somehow broken. I hope sociologists and other social scientists get to the bottom of what has made the apps so awful so somebody might do something to improve them. In recent months I've had some near-misses on the apps that were beyond bad.

By my count reckon about fifteen,

The Continental Baths

The Saint

St. Marks

The Club Baths

THE BIG APPLE

MAN'S COUNTRY

THE EVERARD

The Barracks

Continental Baths

Mt.Morris Baths

The Wall Street Sauna

The Christopher Street Baths

The Keller Baths

Northern Men's Sauna (Queens)

R81- You forgot to mention East Side Club which in the 1970's was called East Side Sauna.

The Everard showers stunk of piss the few times I went there in my 20s. That would have been around 1979.

[quote] One sociological observation is that in this latter period it was always the same guys. I would go once a month or once every two months and exactly the same guys.

It's not a particularly cogent observation because those same guys were there exactly when you were there. So when you went, it was the same group (and you were one of that group), but they just may have had the same schedule as you. You don't know if they were also there when you weren't there.

I recall having a similar conversation with a guy at a BH. He wouldn't mingle with a certain group because "They are always here; they're sluts!" Um, you see them when you are here, which puts you in their category.

East Side Club was jumping during the late 70s / early 80s.... please share your stories

There was a bath house close to Lincoln Center in the late 90s. What was it called?

Went to the WSC years ago. it was the saddest excuse for a bathhouse I've ever seen. This is one area in which any other city in the country with a gay bathhouse has a better one than NYC.

R87- That's still better than San Francisco which hasn't had ANY bathhouses since around 1985.

[quote]The Christopher Street Baths

I haven't heard of this one. Where was it located? I imagine Christopher & West Side Highway?

I worked across the street from the East Side Club. I used receive messages on the "dating apps" like, "I'm in room 206." It took me the longest time to realize they were in the bathhouse.

I went there once, not to cruise, but with a guy I knew and we wanted some lunch time fun and it was cheap and convenient. What a dump.

I also went to the West Side Club twice, again not to cruise, but each time with someone because of the cheap price. It was a little better, but I guess that's no longer an option.

[quote]I went there once, not to cruise, but with a guy I knew and we wanted some lunch time fun and it was cheap and convenient. What a dump.

So I take it they didn't appreciate your Bette Davis imitation at ESC?

R90- You mean cheaper than going to a motel ?

These places, along with the meat rack trucks, etc., were a prime breeding ground for HIV. Why wouldn't any of you have stopped engaging in this dangerous behavior once it was established that HIV was transmitted sexually? And please don't tell me that condoms were being used regularly at these places. Seriously, is it a death wish? Do you have so little regard for your life and the lives of others? Do you hate your families and friends so much that you'd be content to watch them watch you die from a hideous disease in the prime of your life? Are you that addicted to the thrill of sex and/or the validation of your masculinity that you get from through sexual contact with other men, that you can't help yourself? And please spare me the excuse that being out and proud means having sex whenever and with whomever as a fuck you to straight society. I'm a gay man. Label me internally homophobic or self-loathing, I don't care. This pathological behavior is so prevalent in gay culture, especially urban gay culture. It speaks volumes, sadly.

R93, that is the truth. I remember the outrage from gay men when they were told that if they wanted to fuck, the top should always wear a condom. I knew/know men what SWORE they could never get an erection if they wore a rubber. And the bottoms who would insist that they didn't enjoy the feel of a guy's cock up their ass if the meat was wrapped.

I was dumbfounded by such statements and yes, I've been that slutty guy who spent time in bathhouses and cruisy beaches and rest areas.

You sure went a lot to those bathhouses "not to cruise", R90.

R95- I go to bathhouses NOT to cruise but to BE cruised.

On the plus side, the Crew Club in DC is reopening soon under new ownership and new name.

R84, not an intelligent comment. You don't read closely. I went once a month at most, often skipping months. My attendance therefore was random. I should not be seeing the same guys every time unless they were coming very frequently.

You are are not that bright.

Continental Baths...

On the plus side, the Crew Club in DC is reopening soon under new ownership and new name.

—Anonymous OP here...

That's good to know!

I've been eagerly awaiting the reopening of Hawks bathhouse in Portland, Oregon. They closed their original location last year (not sure if it was a lease issue more than Covid; their social media claimed last year they'd reopen in spring of 2021 in a nice and brand new undisclosed place.) But they haven't had any update in months, so maybe it won't happen. I visited both Hawks and Steam on different nights on my trip out there from Boston in 2012. Steam is open but has cut their hours and requires proof of vacinnation.

Both Seattle baths seem to have reopened, as has Steamworks Chicago (but now closed a couple days each week for now).

Rochester, NY, has a bath which seems open part-time now. I want to do a weekend drive from Boston to check out Ithaca, NY, and its colleges one weekend, so maybe i can divert to Rochester a few hours away.

And I want to go to Colorado for my first visit, and Denver's remaining bath has reopened with limited hours: I want to try Club Buddies in Colorado Springs also. I'm getting too old, too fast, so want to enjoy these places NOW!

Still waiting for River Street Club to reopen in Troy, NY, near Albany. It is small but decent. Even had a leftover buffet from earlier in the day on the patio on the night I visited.

I'll have to check out MegaPlex again in Providence, RI, not far from me in Boston. Hmmm...but I guess I'm in no rush, even though I haven't been with anyone in any way since February 2020.

I wonder if the DickDock cruise spot after hours in Provincetown, MA, on Cape Cod still has action. Went several times in summer 2012...less than two hours' drive from Boston. Haven't been back, so I'm due -- even though nine years of aging! But it's dark there, so maybe I haven't aged?

...

On hot summer nights, nothing like being in a towel on a bathhouse rooftop! I enjoyed one in NYC in 1980 or so, with the lower Mabattan skyline as my backdrop. Anyone remember the name.... maybe around Union Square? I can't recall if people were having sex up there or just walking around. Steam in Portland, Oregon, has a roofdeck. It was late September 2012, so just a few guys at times up there but they quickly went downstairs, so I saw no sex on the roof. The hot spell they just had may have been fun on that rooftop!

R100- Oh my goodness. I have news for you-

YOU'RE A WHORE DARLIN

R89

Christopher Street baths was a small spot located in the basement of an apartment building on Christopher Street, just off Seventh Avenue South.

Am I correct remembering that in the 80s... new ownership reopened a bathhouse in the Ansonia ...where the former Continental Baths have been? Remained open very briefly...never caught on?

[quote] hy wouldn't any of you have stopped engaging in this dangerous behavior once it was established that HIV was transmitted sexually? And please don't tell me that condoms were being used regularly at these places.

Actually, when I was a regular in the late 90's and early naughts, everyone was being safe. I noticed this changed after that as meth took over at the same time as condom fatigue and Treas Island Media videos came out

Gay men are self-destructive. Is there something inherently fucked up about them, or does the damage come from society telling them they're no good? It's hard to make the latter argument, because, although homosexuality is widely accepted in western culture these days, gay men are still playing Russian roulette with their lives and their health.

Isn’t NYSC pretty much a bathhouse? The one on 36 and Madison sure is.

[quote] [R95]- I go to bathhouses NOT to cruise but to BE cruised.

Oh, Mary! Smell [italic]you![/italic]

[quote] I'm a gay man. Label me internally homophobic or self-loathing, I don't care. This pathological behavior is so prevalent in gay culture, especially urban gay culture. It speaks volumes, sadly.

[bold]MARY

[quote] Gay men are self-destructive. Is there something inherently fucked up about them, or does the damage come from society telling them they're no good? It's hard to make the latter argument, because, although homosexuality is widely accepted in western culture these days, gay men are still playing Russian roulette with their lives and their health.

Actually biology is very very hard to challenge. If your body is demanding that your have the most pleasurable and most frequent sex possible, that is a difficult message to counteract.

It's like telling us to go on a diet. Sure, some can do it, but it takes so much mental energy to block natural urges.

[quote] Isn’t NYSC pretty much a bathhouse? The one on 36 and Madison sure is.

True. And the one on 36th and Madison sure is actually one of the tamer ones.

Yes, a lot of gays in NY do cruising at the saunas of their gym. They are generally going to see hotter guys there than they would at a bathhouse anyway.

Gym cruising always has an element of danger and getting caught. The nice thing about BHs is the film of fear is gone--for a much more comfortable environment where everyone is there for the same thing

[quote] Gym cruising always has an element of danger and getting caught. The nice thing about BHs is the film of fear is gone

Actually, that "element of danger" is part of the appeal to many.

The problem with grindr is when someone comes over and they don't look like their profile or you're just not into them. What do you do then?

At a bathhouse you see someone in person first and you just say no thanks and move on to the next possible person.

The problem with grindr is people are flaky! Lots of people are on their primarily to message around but then don't want to meet up. You can waste a lot of time and it is not necessarily ideal if all you want is a quick hook up.

[quote] Am I correct remembering that in the 80s... new ownership reopened a bathhouse in the Ansonia ...where the former Continental Baths have been? Remained open very briefly...never caught on?

That is correct. Gay men stopped going to the Continental around 1974. They were tired of all the straights coming into their space for the entertainment. The Continental closed in 1975. In 1977, it was reopened as Plato’s Retreat, a straight swingers club.

R105, my city has 3 heterosexual sex clubs that I know about. More than gay clubs, they cater to fetishistic sex. Why don't you talk about how destructive heterosexual sex clubs are, considering there are more heterosexuals and they have more sex clubs?

And what is depraved or self-destructive about going to a place called a bathhouse to meet people and possibly have sex with them? People do this in other places as well. Gay men don't have many opportunities to meet other gay men. Especially since the apps have become so shitty.

My reply is certainly whataboutist. However, it is justified, because you want to make it seem as if gay men have a lock on behavior you deem perverted, but gays are the extreme minority in any honest discussion of sex behavior.

This is sad because I learned so much about sex and what turns me on and what doesn’t at bathhouses.

It was at WSC that I first fisted guys. First gangbang, first sling, first poppers, first rim, first snowball, first felch, etc —all at bathhouses.

In four hours, you can sample so many different types of men.

Sad that these are dying quickly.

I first saw a guy wearing a leather harness in a bathhouse . I got so hard and I couldn’t explain it.

Now I’ve love guys in leather

When I was younger and a top, I’d go to WSC every month or so for some fun. The first time a guy fucked me (at his apt), I was so intrigued by the feeling that I went straight to the WSC and got fucked by 10 different guys, just to understand what I enjoyed about it.

Let’s just says that, since then, I’m no longer a top.

R119- $6,000 and it's not even LEATHA !

R120- No dear you're no longer a top

But now YOU'RE A WHORE DARLIN.

R122, and I love it!

There was nothing like the EVERARD BATHS.

[quote] Even had a leftover buffet from earlier in the day on the patio on the night I visited.

This is the most disturbing thing posted on this thread.

Agree, R125.

I went to a bathhouse on Saturday and FUCKED UP. This cute guy came into my room. He was a bottom because he was walking around with his towel down a bit showing some ass cleavage. He walked into my room. The music was blaring - he said to me: Do you want to pay?

I said no thanks. I realized a bit later that he had said Do you wanna PLAY not pay, as I said the music there was blasting. I couldn't understand him well and he had an accent. Oh well.

Los Angeles has five I think maybe down from ten at one time.

R128- That's still a LOT. NYC only has ONE bathhouse now.

Back in the 70’s and 80’s, When I was married to a woman, I used to go to all the bathhouses, usually during the day, with all the other married men. I was fearful of catching anything I could transmit to my wife; so I didn’t do anything penetrative.

I went to most of the places discussed here, and also frequented the Ramble in Central Park, which was often crawling with horny men all day long. And also a few gay movie places, like the Adonis or the 55th St. Playhouse, which were excessively cruisy. It seemed Manhattan was filled with men on PermaCruise. You couldn’t walk anywhere without eye contact with some hunky guy.

All that is now long gone. No more baths or theaters. No more Ramble. It’s still there, but all restricted and overgrown, and it has become a not very safe place to walk through. I avoid it. And there’s not even any eye contact, with anyone. Most people are glued to their phones.

In fact, I would say New York is no longer a gay destination. Other cities now have far more appeal and possibility.

Honestly, Who has the time.