The Penn Post Baths in a hotel basement (the Penn Post Hotel, 304 West 31st Street) was a popular gay location in the 1920s despite a seedy condition and the lack of private rooms. His 1918 homoerotic self-portrait set in a Turkish bath is likely to have been inspired by it. American precisionist painter Charles Demuth used the Lafayette Baths as his favorite haunt.
Also popular in the 1910s were the Produce Exchange Baths and the Lafayette Baths (403–405 Lafayette Street, which from 1916 was managed by Ira & George Gershwin). It was damaged by fire on May 25, 1977, when nine men died and several others were seriously injured. In New York City, the Everard (nicknamed the Everhard) was converted from a church to a bathhouse in 1888 and was patronized by gay men before the 1920s and by the 1930s had a reputation as the "classiest, safest, and best known of the baths".
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26 men were arrested, and 12 brought to trial on sodomy charges seven men received sentences ranging from four to 20 years in prison. 1903 New York In the United States on February 21, 1903, New York police conducted the first recorded raid on a gay bathhouse, the Ariston Hotel Baths. Six men aged 14 to 22 were prosecuted for an "offence against public decency" and the manager and two employees for "facilitating pederasty". 1876 Paris In France the first recorded police raid on a Parisian bathhouse was in 1876 in the Bains de Gymnase on the Rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière. 1492 Granada After the conquest of the Muslim city Granada in 1492, Queen Isabel the Catholic closed the public baths to suppress the homosexual activity they facilitated. In the short period from April 1492 to February 1494, it convicted 44 men for homosexual relations not involving violence or aggravating circumstances. The Eight of Watch (the city's leading criminal court) issued several decrees associated with sodomy, and on April 11, 1492, it warned the managers of bathhouses to keep out "suspect boys" on penalty of a fine. The places used for homosexual acts were taverns, baths, and casini (sheds or houses used for illicit sex and gambling). Early records 1492 Florence In Florence, Italy, in 1492 there was a purge against the "vice of sodomy". Some bathhouse owners tried to prevent sex among patrons while others, mindful of profits or prepared to risk prosecution, overlooked discreet homosexual activity. Men began frequenting cruising areas such as bathhouses, public parks, alleys, train and bus stations, adult theaters, public lavatories ( cottages or tearooms), and gym changing rooms where they could meet other men for sex. In the West, gay men have been using bathhouses for sex since at least the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when homosexual acts were illegal in most Western countries and men who were caught engaging in homosexual acts were often arrested and publicly humiliated. A tradition of public baths dates back to the 6th century BCE, and there are many ancient records of homosexual activity in Greece. Records of men meeting for sex with other men in bathhouses date back to the 15th century. ĭomenico Cresti, Bathers at San Niccolò, 1600 Many gay bathhouses, for legal reasons, explicitly prohibit or discourage prostitution and ban known prostitutes. Sexual activity, if it occurs, is not provided by staff of the establishment, but is between customers with no money exchanged. Unlike brothels, customers pay only for the use of the facilities. In some countries, bathhouses are "membership only" (for legal reasons) though membership is generally open to any adult who seeks it, usually after paying a small fee.
Most have a steam room (or wet sauna), dry sauna, showers, lockers, and small private rooms. Some, such as Hawks PDX, offer so-called "bisexual" nights, where anyone is welcome regardless of gender.īathhouses vary considerably in size and amenities-from small establishments with 10 or 20 rooms and a handful of lockers to multi-story saunas with a variety of room styles or sizes and several steam baths, hot tubs, and sometimes swimming pools. īathhouses offering similar services for women are rare, but some men's bathhouses occasionally have a " lesbian" or "women only" night. In general, a gay bath is used for having sexual activity rather than only bathing. In gay slang, a bathhouse may be called just "the baths", "the sauna", or "the tubs". A gay bathhouse, also known as a gay sauna or a gay steambath (uncommonly known as a gay spa), is a commercial space for gay, bisexual, and other men to have sex with men.