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.

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

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

ANOTHER LA GAY BATHHOE GONE WH THE CLOSG OF FLEX

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.

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

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

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

GAY BATHHOE MELROSE SPA CLOS QUIETLY AFTER 52 YEARS

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.

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 BRIEF POLIL—AND PERSONAL—HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO

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?

FLEX, THE LA GAY BATHHOE, HAS RE-OPENED

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

ONCE THE SHADOWS, GAY BATHHO SEEK ATTENTN

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

‘CLEANED UP’ GAY BATHS FIGHT TO SURVIVE CLOSURE THREATS

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.

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. 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.

LOS ANGEL GAY MAP

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.

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

’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.

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.

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

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.

THE BT GAY CISG SPOTS LOS ANGEL

I’ve raised this topic wh dozens of queer people across generatns, and a staggerg number nsir a matter of mon knowledge that shuttg down the gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters was a necsary and effective policy unr the circumstanc. As public health workers argued at the time 1980s, keepg the gay bathhoe, sex clubs, and porn theaters open would provi them wh plac to te people about HIV and AIDS, to tt people for HIV and AIDS, and to offer people greater accs to medil treatment for HIV and AIDS.

My purpose unrsrg the value of gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters and retracg the polil motivatns for closg so many of them down durg the AIDS crisis this say and my novel, My Government Means to Kill Me, isn’t simply an exercise explorg history. Flex Spa Los AngelFlex Spa, one of LA’s better known gay bathho, reopened Saturday afternoon after beg closed for two and a half months. Bathho where gay men met to have sex have existed the Uned Stat sce at least the 1920s.

Los Angel • Gay bathho that once remaed the shadows to stay bs are now seekg attentn to keep their doors open. Gone are the days when bathho drew crowds jt by offerg a discreet place for gays to meet, share snas and, often, have sex.

GAY BATHHOE MELROSE SPA CLOS QUIETLY AFTER 52 YEARS

"The acceptance of gays has changed the whole world. In the heyday of bathho the late 1970s, there were nearly 200 gay bathho ci across the U.

GAY BATHHO NEAR ME

S., but by 1990, the total had dropped to approximately 90, acrdg to Damron, the publisher of an annual gay travel gui. But the need for public plac to wash up cled and by the 1950s and '60s, bathho largely had bee renzvo spots for gays, promptg ocsnal raids bee sodomy was still crimalized. Privately n, gay-owned bathho proliferated the 1970s, offerg a haven for gay and bisexual men to meet.

Those that remaed were stigmatized, and now many younger gays see them as anachronisms. " The CEO of Oh-based Flex Spas, Todd Saporo, has posned his bathhoe cha as a pillar of the gay muny. He also held events there for this year's Gay Gam, an ternatnal LGBT athletic petn.

Saporo said more progrsive views on homosexualy aren't evenly spread across the untry, unrsrg the need for morn bathho some areas. As they tra their street cloth for towels and settle to bunk beds, steam rooms and each other’s arms, a gay pornographic movie plays silently on a televisn and an empty Jacuzzi burbl near the round walkway known as the tunnel of voic echo along the dimly l gray and black rridors where the private rooms are loted, and the fat aroma of marijuana wafts om one area.