Posted on 08/23/2014 6:32:17 PM PDT by Steelfish
Gay Bathhouses Across US Face An Uncertain Future As the number of bathhouses declines, some are adding new amenities and advertising online to keep their doors open
Saturday 23 August 2014 11.09 EDT
In their heyday in the late 1970s, there were nearly 200 bathhouses in the US. Today, there are fewer than 70 nationwide. Gay bathhouses that once remained in the shadows to stay in business are now seeking attention to keep their doors open.
Some are doing aggressive online advertising and community outreach. Others tout upscale amenities like plush towels and marble baths. A bathhouse in Ohio has even added hotel rooms and a nightclub.
Gone are the days when bathhouses drew crowds just by offering a discreet place for gay men to meet, share saunas and, often, have sex.
“The acceptance of gay men has changed the whole world. It’s taken away the need to sneak into back-alley places,” said Dennis Holding, 75, who owns a Miami-based bathhouse.
In the heyday of bathhouses, in the late 1970s, there were nearly 200 gay bathhouses in cities across the US; by 1990, the total had dropped to approximately 90, according to Damron, the publisher of an annual gay travel guide. In the last decade bathhouses, including ones in San Diego, Syracuse, Seattle and San Antonio, have shut down and the total nationwide is less than 70. Most patrons are older.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Including Rahm and Barry’s hangout in Chicago, Man Country?
Looks like they’re going in the hole at some bath houses.
I guess they can hookup online now
These things should be have been banned nationally 30+ years ago as a public health hazard
This is bad news?
Don’t tell me they missed out on stimulus money!
“The acceptance of gay men has changed the whole world”
For the worse... and also, it hasn’t changed the majority of the world because the majority of the world rejects this crap.
Just like everyone else, only they are attracted to the same sex. Isn’t that the trope? I go to the heterosexual bathhouse all the time. I hear people cruise the rest stops and department store restrooms for anonymous heterosexual sex all the time. Just like everyone else. Nothing weird here.
Looks like we’ll be seeing a government buy out of bath houses soon. Followed by a Cash for Chunkers Program.
Obama has his gay bathhouse in the White House, for when he isn’t out playing golf.
“Most patrons are older.”
That just means they’re gay whorehouses...
The Cub Scouts are giving them “stiff” competition since the recent “policy changes”...
I guess they can hookup online now
These things should be have been banned nationally 30+ years ago as a public health hazard
Too bad, all that money down the rat hole. My heart bleeds.
“Gay Bathhouses Across US Face An Uncertain Future”
Doesn’t that imply that “bathhouse” is common and for everyone, and isn’t a homosexual term?
That was the general objective all along, no?
I wonder if a sweet young thing who contracts AIDS from another sweetheart he just met at a bath house 5 minutes earlier (that’s the usual scenario,isn’t it?) can sue said bath house for millions?
Maybe they could become Asian bathhouses where people.... bathe....
How will we survive without gay bathouses. < shudder>
“It’s taken away the need to sneak into back-alley places.”
Now, they boldly go in the back door.
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