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“The younger generation’s main fear is that it’s some dark, seedy place,” said TJ Nibbio, the executive director of the North American Bathhouse Association (Naba).
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Those that remained were stigmatized, and now many younger gay men see them as anachronisms. Bette Midler even launched her career from the stage of the Continental.Īmid the HIV/Aids epidemic in the early 1980s, bathhouses were vilified for enabling promiscuity and helping spread the disease, and many either closed voluntarily or by legal pressure. In-house entertainment was common, from DJs to live performers. Each venue was operated like a speakeasy: a nondescript building often located in the urban fringe. Clubs like New York City’s Continental bathhouse and LA’s 8709 Club saw a steady stream of patrons. Privately run, gay-owned bathhouses proliferated in the 1970s, offering a haven for gay and bisexual men to meet. But the need for public places to wash up declined and by the 1950s and 60s, bathhouses largely had become rendezvous spots for gay men prompting occasional raids because sodomy was still criminalized. Chicago and Manhattan each had about 20 public bathhouses. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, American bathhouses were built in many cities to maintain public hygiene among poor and immigrant communities. “Today, you can go to the supermarket.”īathhouses date to the Roman Empire. “Bathhouses were like dirty bookstores and parks: a venue to meet people,” said Sykes, who still owns the smaller North Hollywood Spa. Owner Peter D Sykes said fewer customers and rising rent put an end to four decades in business. Hollywood Spa – one of the largest bathhouses in Los Angeles, a city regarded as the country’s bathhouse capital – closed in April. In the last decade bathhouses, including ones in San Diego, Syracuse, Seattle and San Antonio, have shut down and the total nationwide is less than 70. In the heyday of bathhouses, in the late 1970s, there were nearly 200 gay bathhouses in cities across the US by 1990, the total had dropped to approximately 90, according to Damron, the publisher of an annual gay travel guide. It’s taken away the need to sneak into back-alley places,” said Dennis Holding, 75, who owns a Miami-based bathhouse. “The acceptance of gay men has changed the whole world. Gone are the days when bathhouses drew crowds just by offering a discreet place for gay men to meet, share saunas and, often, have sex.