Gay bathhouses in los angeles ca
Hollywood Spa opened in and, before the advent of HIV and AIDS, was a major destination for gay men who had few other places to meet one another. It had private rooms, a DJ, a steam room and jacuzzi, an “adult video” lounge, a gym and a cafe. The spa boasted on its website that it hosted over , visitors a year.
"At the upscale Hollywood Spa on Ivar Route, towel-wrapped patrons can look each other over while active out on gym equipment or sipping freshly squeezed orange juice from the cafe. Vintage Hollywood posters cover the walls, strobe lights flicker, and DJs spin the latest club music." (L.A. Times, 27 Oct, )
The spa was ordered to seal in , as part of an enforcement of stringent regulations restricting sexual activity at lgbtq+ bathhouses. “I don’t plan to close,” said Scott D.R. Goulet, owner of Hollywood Spa, Ivar Ave. “We adjudicated this issue two years ago. We won it then. The county was wrong,” he said. Co-owner and spa manager John Ferry told the LA Times: “We’re going to fight this thing. As far as we’re concerned, w
Los Angeles Gay Saunas
The Los Angeles Athletic Club
This atmospheric hotel, situated inside the city's oldest private club near Downtown LA's homosexual scene, whispers tales of film stars from Hollywood's golden years. Club rooms and a distinguished block characterise this institution that is over a century 's the facilities of the members-only athletic club that shine (entry is complimentary for hotel guests). Take the plunge into a heated lap pool, while indoor courts await for racquetball, squash and more. At group fitness classes such as yoga, kickboxing, pilates, and Zumba, you'll be working up a sweat with an enviably fit s with roman shades keep out the dazzling LA sunlight if you want to sleep in. Wi-Fi is free, but otherwise, rooms are purposely low walnut wood panelling and checkerboard tiled floors, Famous Players restaurant is open for breakfast daily and lunch daily except Sunday. An American-style breakfast buffet, with hot and cold dishes like hash browns, scrambled eggs and fruit, is complimentary for hotel guests.
GAY L.A.: The Last Los Angeles Bathhouse
Before the AIDS epidemic, bathhouses acted as a community center. But with way more sex.
“To the left of me,” wrote David Colker for the Los Angeles Times in a article, “four men were having sex. Only two of them were actually looking at each other.”
So begins most bathhouse stories of the time. At the Compound, one of the Valley’s oldest establishments, porn would screen on the walls while patrons got it on in public (or private) rooms below. But not for long. Even in , the gay bathhouse’s days were numbered.
“A decade ago,” Colker writes, “Los Angeles boasted slick, high-tech bathhouses famous throughout the homosexual world. But as the specter of AIDS darkened the mids, the baths came under conflagration as places where unsafe, multi-partner sex spread the disease.”
The Compound wasn’t the only spa coming under attack. It seemed that the more sexually open the bathhouse was, the more it would be targeted by rule enforcement and political officials.
“The Corral Club…” according to the L.A. Times “had a community ‘orgy room’ with a small stage
Barfly West ' B. P.; Bob Damron ' (P) (Referral necessary) (YC) (Some W, SM) *; Bob Damron ' (P) (YC-only) *
"Became the most legendary of Los Angeles' bathhouses. Though located on an inconspicuous street corner, on the inside of the there was an elaborate maze, much shadowy paint, and rooms massive and small. According to legend, closeted actors entered through a secret door that led to an unlit, anonymous orgy room. The also attracted an endless stream of blonde surfer types who migrated, erotically charged, from the disco down the road. One customer of the reminisces about being 'fortunate enough to go there,' and recalls how he was always amazed by the beautiful men.' Another remembers 'walking through the large orgy room that was packed so secure with bodies you couldn't move.' Because the basis floor backed onto a deli, customers could direct food through a miniature window, precluding any require to leave." (Gay L.A.)
Extremely discriminatory, many stories of rejection due to age and weight.
Sheldon Andelson, millionaire attorney