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Following World War II, a more robust underground gay culture began to emerge, spurred in part by the companionship that queer soldiers found in the military. Spas, on the other hand, typically only offer private treatment rooms where guests receive individual services, which tend to be isolating.

Although bathhouses usually provide treatments like massage and body scrubs in addition to shared pool and sauna amenities, spas rarely have communal areas.

How to Use the Bathhouse Amenities

 

How to Cold Plunge

1.

During the 1970s, New York had several gay saunas and bathhouses that were explicitly part of the LGBTQ+ scene, with some using similar "Russian & Turkish Baths" branding. Many still struggle with the stigma attached to them by moral crusaders who gunned for them during the worst years of the HIV epidemic. Work yourself up to three minutes or more in the cold plunge.

 

How to Sauna

1.

Get in the cold plunge. Instead, it has transformed, giving rise to alternative venues and vibrant events that capture the essence of New York's gay scene.

East Side Club, the city's lone traditional gay bathhouse survivor. Find everything you need to know before you go on our “What to Expect” page.

 

A Shared experience

Bathhouses are all about communal gathering, with shared pools, saunas and steam rooms where people can socialize and recharge.

And many institutions provided entertainment, drinks and casual social events that catered to queer men who didn’t want to go to a bar. (Today, many cities actually recognize bathhouses as vital tools for addressing HIV by providing health services in a setting where it’s needed most.)

Bathhouses had really taken off around the 1950s in the United States.

PRIVATE MENS MEMBERSHIP CLUB

Everything the discerning male needs to relax and build his body

Rates & Specials

WEIGHT TRAINING

Fully equipped gymnasium.

BATH & SAUNA

Sauna, jacuzzi, steam room, and shower room.

PRIVATE ROOMS

Private rooms for VIP members

A Peek Under the Towel: Inside the 500-Year History of Gay Bathhouses

It was a cold February morning, 118 years ago this month, when New York City police conducted their first recorded raid on a gay bathhouse.

All the way in. Control your breathing. “Intense excitement among 60 persons inside,” read the New York Times coverage. Congratulations! Sweat it out and don’t forget to hydrate.

5. Bring water into the sauna with you.

3. Head straight into the cold plunge or continue on your own journey through the bathhouse.

 

Know Before You Go

Already booked?

There can be some overlap, but there are very different intentionalities, philosophies and intended outcomes between the two.

 

Functionality over Fluff

We think of bathhouses as facilitating transformation, leaving you better off than when you arrived.

Sitting in a sauna can push your limits.

gay bathouse

Bathhouses typically provide efficacious treatments like deep tissue bodywork or exfoliating scrubs. Emotionally commit to one minute (or more) in the cold plunge.

3. Across town, the Penn Post Baths offered a less formal, more exhibitionist space.

Despite surviving 100 years of police harassment, though, the gay bathhouses of New York City couldn’t survive the homophobia of Mayor Ed Koch, who shut most of them down during the HIV epidemic.