A Brief Polil—and Personal—History of Gay Bathho ‹ Lerary Hub

Contents:

• GAY BATHHOE EROS TO OPEN S NEW TENRLO LOTN FOR PRI WEEKEND
• MIDTOWNE SPA LOS ANGEL IS UP FOR SALE MARKG POTENTIAL END TO HISTORIC GAY BATHHOE
• ANOTHER LA GAY BATHHOE GONE WH THE CLOSG OF FLEX
• WH THE WALLS OF GAY BATHHOE LI A WORLD OF THEIR OWN
• GAY BATHHOE MELROSE SPA CLOS QUIETLY AFTER 52 YEARS
• A BRIEF POLIL—AND PERSONAL—HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
• FLEX, THE LA GAY BATHHOE, HAS RE-OPENED
• ONCE THE SHADOWS, GAY BATHHO SEEK ATTENTN
• ‘CLEANED UP’ GAY BATHS FIGHT TO SURVIVE CLOSURE THREATS
• LOS ANGEL GAY MAP
• FLEX LALOS ANGELMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGE + BUDGETBARSDANCE CLUBSSNASMASSAGECISE CLUBSON TODAYCY GUISERVICTOURSGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPFLEX LA
• NORTH HOLLYWOOD SPALOS ANGELMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGE + BUDGETBARSDANCE CLUBSSNASMASSAGECISE CLUBSON TODAYCY GUISERVICTOURSGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPNORTH HOLLYWOOD SPA
• THE BT GAY CISG SPOTS LOS ANGEL
• GAY BATHHOE MELROSE SPA CLOS QUIETLY AFTER 52 YEARS
• GAY BATHHO NEAR ME

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

" (Gay L. Cozy apartments, private rooms and amazg hom: be weled by the gay muny over 200 untri.

Apartments, rooms, hom: be weled by the gay muny.

MIDTOWNE SPA LOS ANGEL IS UP FOR SALE MARKG POTENTIAL END TO HISTORIC GAY BATHHOE

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 Midtowne Spa Los Angel property, home to the historic sex bathhoe terg to gay, bisexual, and men who have sex wh men (MSM) went up for sale earlier this month.

ANOTHER LA GAY BATHHOE GONE WH THE CLOSG OF FLEX

They have adult movie channels, two gay and one Straight/Bisexual and 24 hour secured parkg garage right next door to the club. ”The ctomer also creds Midtowne for promotg a clean (as possible) environment and also providg std ttg and ee unselg, “It’s not jt about STD/AIDS, but the unselors also will talk to people, like gay people jt g out, which is so important for some people who may be reluctant to go to other plac, ” he said. A signed posted last night at the entrance to the parkg lot of the gay bathhoe, which is at 4424 Melrose Ave.

WH THE WALLS OF GAY BATHHOE LI A WORLD OF THEIR OWN

He attributed that part to a cultural change, which he said is havg an impact on gay bathho across the untry. “You don’t have to be the closet as a gay man, ” he said. Others have noted the populary of so-lled “hookup” apps like Grdr and Scff, which gay men e to meet other gay men on their mobile phon for sual sexual enunters.

Bathho or spas terg to gay men have existed the Uned Stat sce at least the 1920s.

In a more homophobic culture, they were one of the few plac where gay men uld meet one another.

GAY BATHHOE MELROSE SPA CLOS QUIETLY AFTER 52 YEARS

Advot for the closure said the bathho were plac gay men met to have unprotected sex wh strangers.

A BRIEF POLIL—AND PERSONAL—HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO

Opponents said the bathho were the perfect venue for tg gay men about the nsequenc of unprotected sex and were an important gatherg place a cy where many were hostile to gay people. Los Angel has at least five other gay bathho.

FLEX, THE LA GAY BATHHOE, HAS RE-OPENED

Romance didn’t much enter to men, their late 20s or early 30s, sat on wi stairs built to one wall of the dimly l, high-ceilged “erotic vio lounge” at the Compound, the bt-known gay bathhoe the San Fernando Valley. One gay man’s eroti is another’s Compound is a survivor. A ago, Los Angel boasted slick, high-tech bathho famo throughout the gay world.

ONCE THE SHADOWS, GAY BATHHO SEEK ATTENTN

But as the specter of AIDS darkened the mid-1980s, the baths me unr fire as plac where unsafe, multi-partner sex spread the the gay muny cried this crackdown as officialdom g acquired immune ficiency syndrome as an exce to hib their liftyl. A new generatn of gay men arrived at a time when bathho were neher chic nor a polil statement. ” I slipped $13 unr the buzzed me through a door bearg a sign: “This club ters to adult gay men..

In “A Night At The Opera, ” people seemed to be havg would a gay man go to a place like this?

‘CLEANED UP’ GAY BATHS FIGHT TO SURVIVE CLOSURE THREATS

But there is more, the walls of a bathhoe li a totally homosexual world unlike anywhere on the outsi.

LOS ANGEL GAY MAP

Even on the streets of gay enclav such as Wt Hollywood, there are billboards showg heterosexual upl, straight love songs on the rad and plenty of remrs rangg om magaze vers to movie posters that to be gay this society is to be the rarely vised TV room downstairs, where “Benny Hill” was showg when I first entered the bathhoe, there were no such fluenc si the Compound.

It may not be an edifyg atmosphere, but ’s at least one where beg gay is not outsi the the way out of the bathhoe, I stopped downstairs the TV lounge where some of the men seen engaged sex upstairs were takg a rt. Melrose Spa, the famo/famo gay bathhoe that stood at 7269 Melrose Ave Los Angel for the past 52 years quietly closed shop late May due to the loss of their lease.

”The bathhoe closed wh ltle fanfare om the lol gays that kept open for so many s and om the lol gay media (until this post that is). When the bs was purchased, me equipped wh beds and len, so was all prepped to bee the gay sex spa we all pretend to not know today. ”So ’s like, goodbye gay sex bathhoe—hello trendy boutique, straight rtrant, bar, or nightclub.

FLEX LALOS ANGELMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGE + BUDGETBARSDANCE CLUBSSNASMASSAGECISE CLUBSON TODAYCY GUISERVICTOURSGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPFLEX LA

And you know Downtown is beg very gay. My first experience at a gay bathhoe took place D.

I met a handsome Black man wh dreadlocks a gay bar lled The Fireplace on the edge of Dupont Circle, and after a few rounds of drks, we left to go have sex only to disver that neher of uld take the actn back to where we lived. The vibe uld be ls aggrsive there than at gay dance clubs like Badlands or Chaos, and the entry fee was ually cheaper than a night of drks at gay bars such as Mr.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD SPALOS ANGELMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGE + BUDGETBARSDANCE CLUBSSNASMASSAGECISE CLUBSON TODAYCY GUISERVICTOURSGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPNORTH HOLLYWOOD SPA

But, lookg back over the past half century, sex has been the fixatn of vol nservativ, who never knew the genue value of gay bathho, sex clubs, or porn theaters.

THE BT GAY CISG SPOTS LOS ANGEL

So, by the late 1970s, you uld roll your ey at the opponents of gay sexual liberatn as you walked to the Roman Holiday Spa Los Angel; or the Nob Hill Theater San Francis; or Man’s Country Chigo; or the Olympic Baths Washgton, D.

; or the Ellwt Stereo Theater Dallas; or the Gay Paree Cema Atlanta; or the Mhaft New York Cy. There were approximately 200 gay bathho and dozens of gay porn theaters operatg the Uned Stat as the seventi drew to a close. Mayors passed laws, cy uncils approved ordanc, and school boards set polici that set back the Gay Rights movement.

And their narrative about gay bathho and other plac acmodatg to queer sex still endur. Here’s how the distorted story go: gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters had no reemg social value and were purely an outgrowth of the immoral, dg-fueled, hedonistic liftyle of queer men, and closg the lewd dwellgs durg the AIDS crisis the 1980s was the pnt cisn. Nohels, gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters did foster muny among their members.

GAY BATHHOE MELROSE SPA CLOS QUIETLY AFTER 52 YEARS

’s ONE, or Boston’s Gay Communy News.

That were hospable to queer ctomers, and specialty talogu like Vagabond, which discretely livered “gay-themed” albums, books, and magaz.

The rmatn the publitns kept queer people rmed, nnected, and, whout a doubt, safe om vlent homophob. Sex clubs, XXX theaters, and bathho also addrsed a pervasive lonels among gay men that was more than sexual.

GAY BATHHO NEAR ME

San Francis’s Nob Hill Theater opened s doors for Gay Rights activists to hold strategy meetgs durg the theater’s off hours on Sunday morngs.

At first, most polil lears seemed que willg to stand back and silently watch the unchecked spread of a adly vis layg waste primarily to the homosexual populatn. Then when spurred to actn, a host of elected officials ed the public health crisis as a pretense to enact measur that had long been on their polil wish list—for stance, closg the gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters, which was amed as a public health measure.