San Francis tells gay bathho, "Wele back!" :: Bay Area Reporter

Contents:

• GAY BATHHOE EROS TO OPEN S NEW TENRLO LOTN FOR PRI WEEKEND
• GALLERY: SAN FRANCIS GAY BATHHOE HISTORY, IN FLIERS [NSFW]
• A PEEK UNR THE TOWEL: INSI THE 500-YEAR HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
• SAN FRANCIS TELLS GAY BATHHO, "WELE BACK!"
• GAY SEX VENU RETURN
• LAST GAY BATHHOE S.F. AGRE TO CLOSE ITS DOORS
• GAY BATHHOE RTRICTNS LIFTED AS SF SEX CLUB CLOS
• HISTORIC GAY BATHHOE NOW TRANSFORMED TO PUPPY PARADISE

GAY BATHHOE EROS TO OPEN S NEW TENRLO LOTN FOR PRI WEEKEND

When the 30-year-old bathhoe and sna Eros left ’s old home on Market Street near the Castro December 2021, the cy's only remag gay sex club said they had a new home led up. The Crisis lead to a prott by gay men who, a time when the AIDS vis was still not pletely unrstood, objected to the crackdown as a form of persecutn. That same doctor, Donald Abrams, who ultimately supported the closure of the bath ho but who is gay himself, said, "I saw both sis of the issue.

The gay muny had achieved a lot of liberatn and a lot of promence San Francis over the seventi and on to the early eighti, and I thought that closg the bathho would really be a polil setback.

The Rch Street Baths, we thought we'd take a look back on some of the fliers om the plac, which were a primary sexual outlet for the cy's gay muny long before Grdr was even a possibily. [Hat tips to Out History and Gay Tubs (NSFW)].

GALLERY: SAN FRANCIS GAY BATHHOE HISTORY, IN FLIERS [NSFW]

To unrstand the eply felt antagonism around bathhoe closur, ’s helpful to unrstand the role the baths played the liv of gay men. In the early 1980s, as AIDS began to cimate the gay muny of San Francis, a battle broke out over the role that gay bathho might play the spread of HIV.

On the other si stood the gay bathhoe proprietors, San Francis AIDS Foundatn, the San Francis Human Rights Commissn, a handful of polis, the gay prs, and most — but certaly not all — of the gay muny. To unrstand the eply felt antagonism to closg the baths, ’s helpful to unrstand gay history and the role the baths played the liv of gay men the world over.

But the post-Stonewall 1970s, gay life me kickg and screamg out of the closet.

A PEEK UNR THE TOWEL: INSI THE 500-YEAR HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO

Gay magaz proliferated; gay bs thrived; gay artists and micians began achievg mastream succs. Acrdgly, as gay men stopped nyg their sexual urg, the bathho thrived.

SAN FRANCIS TELLS GAY BATHHO, "WELE BACK!"

No wonr then that when the Cy wanted to close the bathho, was seen by many as an anti-gay, anti-sex — an attempt to drive all back to the closet.

GAY SEX VENU RETURN

Gay civil liberti, of AIDS hysteria vs. A heterosexual judge wh no gay advisory mtee termed what was an acceptable venue for men who have sex wh men. “Ltlejohn’s ballot proposal galvanized the gay muny opposn, ” renowned activist Cleve Jon told me.

We all reasonably feared an anti-gay vote, a slippery slope that uld lead to who-knows-where?

LAST GAY BATHHOE S.F. AGRE TO CLOSE ITS DOORS

Now HIV is, at least, ntrollable, allowg more gayns. Maybe they’ve learned to tst that gay men at the baths have enough rmatn, and self-teem, to take re of themselv whout Dianne Feste peerg over their shoulrs. I thk, though, that we n at least celebrate the fact that a time-honored staple of gay culture will be given new life this fair cy.

An extraordary, glimpse to the pre-AIDS gay sexual culture, "The Fairoaks Baths" is an exhib of Polaroids taken by Frank Melleno durg the sprg and summer of 1978 at the Fairoaks Hotel, a San Francis bathhoe. There is no other llectn of photographs that so clearly visualiz this perd bathhoe imag and more will be on display at the Llie-Lohman Prce Street Project Space (tails below) and also clud are imag om the Fairoaks Pri Para float om that same Fairoaks Baths:Photographs by Frank MellenoPolaroids om a San Francis bathhoe 1978Llie-Lohman Mm of Gay and Lbian Art (Prce Street Project Space)127-B Prce StreetNew York, NY 10012July 12-13, Openg receptn July 11, 6-8 p.

The gay revolutn was full flower -- sexy, charged wh self, admtg no shadows. He'd been a member of the '70s gay mune that went on to purchase and nvert a fad but wonrfully tact Victorian apartment buildg on the edge of a black ghetto to a gay bathhoe. It lerally stood alone, at the tersectn of Oak and Steer streets, perched on a hill overlookg the lower Hay Valley district; an urban patch not yet gentrified by the cy's swellg ti of gay Boomers and some distance om the neighborhoods they typilly Fairoaks' existence was short-lived -- 1977 to 1979 -- but fondly relled by s patrons for a number of thgs.

GAY BATHHOE RTRICTNS LIFTED AS SF SEX CLUB CLOS

For one, was a racially clive place for gay men to have sex, unlike some of the cy's hot spots that were ls welg of people of lor. Members of the groups were enuraged by the offer of a ee locker to spend the eveng and this helped foster a more faiar and timate atmosphere than was mon other gay bathho of the era. Many of those men, like a great number of Fairoaks patrons, are no longer alive -- taken by the plague of AIDS that would cimate the cy's gay populatn jt another few a strg of black pearls, San Francis's bathho adorned the cy wh a touch of louche glamour before they were officially closed October 1984.

Wh a historian's eye and gay activist's zeal, he ptured the agile, fun, and always fantastic life the Fairoaks Hotel. Freeman regnized the historil importance, rtored the imag and created the Fairoaks than a pictorial rerd of a bygone scene -- or even of passg strangers wh sticky feet -- the photographs open a door to a secret gay world of sexual enunter and sweet nocence the lik of which will never be seen aga. At the Fairoaks he worked as a DJ, and receptnist, and was a proud member of the Fairoaks "fay crew" om s ArmsTwo guys towels talkg near the snack bar the mon area of the Pri #1The Fairoaks float at the 1978 Gay Pri Para San Francis was a flatbed tck rated wh furnure om the Fairoaks lounge.

The hood ornament is wearg a Fairoaks T-shirt and straddlg a prott sign about the Briggs iative, which would have banned gay and "gay-sympathetic" teachers om classrooms California, and did not Pri #8Taken om the ont of the Fairoaks float for the 1978 Gay Pri Para, lookg ahead at the para and by-stanrs. He was a personal rrponnt wh Ana Bryant, disagreeg wh her ias on homosexualy. It was a ld Febary morng, 118 years ago this month, when New York Cy police nducted their first rerd raid on a gay bathhoe.

HISTORIC GAY BATHHOE NOW TRANSFORMED TO PUPPY PARADISE

This marked the first rerd time that police raid a gay bathhoe Ameri, but certaly wasn’t the last. The tradn of gay male bathg spac dat back to the 15th century — and more genr-ntral bathg is rerd as early as 6 BC. In the late 1400s, police Florence, Italy, monored homosexual activy and “spect boys” at bathho.

As stutns, bathho gaed populary the last century, part due to growg gay populatns lackg plac where they uld publicly gather.