Bathhouses: An L.A. Story

In Los Angeles gay men have been meeting for sex in bathhouses for most of the Twentieth Century. One of the city's earliest bathhouses opened prior to 1922. Located on 4th Street in downtown, the "Palace Turkish Baths" originally operated as a straight venue, offering massages and Turkish Baths facilities, but it gradually evolved into a clandestine gay bathhouse. Currently, it operates as KLYT Baths, a venue well-known for its Latino clientele. During the 1940s it was said to have been a favorite haunt of Rock Hudson and some lesser-known film stars of the day. According to the author's great-uncle, Joe Therrien, "the Palace Baths was popular with the gay crowd when I started going there in the 1940s. I had an affair with an actor there. He appeared in those fly-by-night cowboy movies that Hollywood put out in a week's time. When the actor's lover found out about our meetings, we ended our affair at the baths. In those days you always knew who was screwing who because there were few places in Los Angeles where men could meet for sex. When you went to the baths you saw the same faces year after year."

Another Angelino, Ira Hainer, who frequented KLYT throughout the his adult life recalled this tidbit, "I began going there in 1988. I couldn't believe how much action this place had to offer. When I didn't feel like cruising the triple-x movie houses on Main Street, I would go to the baths. In the good old days sex would be everywhere, in the steam room, hot room, hallways, everywhere. Threesomes, foursomes, moresomes were not uncommon, even in the tiny rooms that are provided, which are no bigger than a what was needed to fit a small bed. I have seen some of the hottest Latino men at this place. I used to hear the sad stories of their frigid wives who wouldn't service them when they wanted relief. Their home life wasn't important, though. All that was important is that they wanted to be serviced, and I was glad to do it."

Throughout the 1950s and the 1960s a large assortment of "steam bath" venues operated in Los Angeles. Although not advertised as gay, many of these bathhouses were favorite meeting spots for homosexuals. The list of bathhouses which operated during this period include the Pico Steam Baths ("where you could get a meal and a massage,") Brooks Baths, Ericson's Swedish Baths, the First Street Bathhouse ("now a police station, but once very popular with the gays,") and the Gemini Baths on Fountain Avenue. In the early 1970s many gay entrepreneurs opened their own bathhouses, many of which were private clubs, meaning that yearly memberships were sold by club owners. The list of bathhouses which operated as "openly" gay venues in Los Angeles during this time included such places as the Club Baths of Los Angeles, The Hollywood Spa, the legendary 8709 Bathhouse, Mac's Baths, Hyperion Health Works, The American Continental Baths, The Corral Club, Club Wellington Baths, The Silver Saddle Spa, PT 1202, Glen's Baths ("where you went to meet young Mexicans,") and the Serpent 8 Club.

The 1970s were a sexually progressive decade that produced the very first gay bathhouse chain in America (the Club Baths Chain) that had numerous locations from Honolulu to Miami. Now only a misty memory, the Club Baths set the stage for other gay-owned and operated businesses to spring up across the country, including many bars and bathhouses which, for the first time in history, openly advertised as gay establishments. The largest gay bathhouse chain in America today is the Midtowne Spa Chain, which has locations in California, Texas and Milwaukee. The brains and inspiration behind the Midtowne legacy was an entrepreneur named Marty Benson. In the early 1970s Marty opened the Melrose Spa in Hollywood (formerly Lion Heart Baths) and the multi-level Midtowne Spa on Kohler Street in Los Angeles. Having witnessed decades of harassment by the police and the homophobic public, Marty wanted to provide safe and playful environments for the gay men of Los Angeles to meet for sex. Prior to the 1970s the bathhouses and saunas which "tolerated" gay patronage were mostly owned and operated by heterosexuals who often "frowned upon" or treated gay customers rudely. Marty Benson, however, understood the needs of gays in the emerging era of gay liberation, and he responded by hiring gay bathhouse attendants with the intent that they would treat customers with the respect they deserved. As a result, Marty's bathhouses gained steady patronage and a reputation as a fun place to cruise. One factor that played an important role in the success of the Midtowne Chain was that Marty's policy was to serve customers, no matter what their ethnicity, age or weight. During the 1970s many gay bathhouses in Los Angeles discriminated against chubby or older men. Many Angelinos were turned down entry to the baths because they were overweight, some by only a few pounds.

Ralph M. from Hollywood remembered being told to lift his shirt by a young bathhouse attendant working the front desk at Mac's Baths on Hyperion. When the attendant determined that Ralph was too chubby, he was rudely told that the bathhouse was too full and told to go elsewhere. "I wasn't even very big at the time," Ralph recalled, "I just had a slight belly, yet I was told to get lost, plus they confiscated my membership card on the spot!"

The stories of other men who were denied entry to the baths in the 1970s and early 1980s were similar. Some men were asked to produce three or four pieces of identification, while others were flat-out told that they were too fat or too old to enter. "In those days," said David from Los Angeles, "there was definitely body attitude in the Los Angeles gay bathhouse scene. Men were denied entry to the spas if they didn't look like body builders or were too old (over 35 usually). Several baths turned me down because I looked too old, but I was only 28 at the time. Some young jock behind the counter would say, 'We've got mostly a young crowd here; you wouldn't like it!" Interestingly, Marty Benson saw the plight of chubby and older men, and he responded by placing ads in gay rags that spread the welcoming message, "If you're warm and breathing, you're our kind of people!' As a result, more people flocked to Marty's bathhouses, making the Midtowne Spa Chain one of the most popular gay baths in the country. As the 70s evolved into the 80's and beyond, the Midtowne Spas has survived to witness the demise of other baths, including those that discriminated based on weight, age and looks.