Bathhouse Blog

December 4, 2011

Condos are springing up in urban centers all over the world. With all that new construction, something has got to go. Usually that has been are historic buildings or businesses with long history.

Case in point Montreal’s historic Le 456 Sauna has closed its doors after 33 years to make way for a new condo. But this story has a happy ending. The sauna has been invited by the condo’s owners to open a new sauna inside the brand new condo!

The new owners came to this decision because ‘it has a cultural value, serves a niche market and is part of the heritage of that building’

On the sauna’s website they have a countdown of how many days, hours & minutes until the grand opening of this new sauna.

For more on this story go to Montreal’s historic Le 456 Sauna closes after 33 years and Montreal’s Le 456 Sauna closes after 33 years

November 20, 2011

Article from the Winnipeg Free Press that is profiling the Aquarius Bathhouse. The big news is that this bathhouse is going co-ed 24/7. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday will be totally co-ed. Men only nights will be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Aquarius Bathhouse
Photo courtesy of Winnipeg Free Press

To read more click to Good, clean fun

October 31, 2011

Fab Magazine has provided an update on two stories that have been published here at Bathhouse Blog.

Gay Bathhouse Turned Rooming House Goes Bust and Gay Bathhouse Becomes Straight Swingers’ Club.

Club Aqualounge

Click to What happens to old bathhouses when they die? to read an update on these two stories.

UPDATE Additional pictures and story on Oasis Aqualounge at What goes on in there?: Oasis Aqualounge.

September 28, 2011

What happens when a gay bathhouse goes bust? What to do with all of those empty rooms? Why not turn it into a rooming house! That is exactly what happened with the now defunct St. Marcs Bathhouse in Toronto. Once one of the busiest bathhouses in the city, this establishment suddenly went belly up.

Not one to miss an opportunity, a Korean family moved in with their three kids and turned the whole place into one dormitory/rooming house named Marina Centre.

Eviction forces closing of ESL dorm

Now it seems the good times have gone south. All the residences and the Korean family have received eviction notices. The city of Toronto has who issued notices on 25 violations and says that an illegal rooming house is being run, without the proper licensees.

For more on this story go to Eviction forces closing of ESL dorm complete with pictures of this rooming house.

August 7, 2011

Toronto’s Gay BiWeekly, xtra Toronto, had recently published an article about a Bathhouse Shrink. Along with the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT), Marco Posadas runs a program, called Towel Talk. It’s purpose is to “target men who have fallen through the cracks of the mental health system.” It’s other goal is to raise awareness and reduce HIV and STI transmissions.

Towel Talk

Now you would think this program and Marco Posadas would be praised by the gay community. But just the opposite. Once the article appeared in xtra Toronto, several readers posted comments rather negative about the program. Some even call it ‘self-serving’ of Marco Posadas, questioning his credentials as a therapist/counselor.

Judge for yourself by reading the article and comments of Bathhouse shrink faces honour and prejudice in home country.

February 05, 2011

Today is the 30th anniversary of Toronto’s bathhouse riots. This demonstration mobilized so many in the gay community to band together and protest and fight for gay rights onto the Toronto streets.

Because of the movement, Pride Toronto was born which will celebrate it’s 30th Anniversary this summer.

There are a couple of great articles written to commemorate this anniversary.

xtra Magazine has a wonderful piece written, as well as an archive of pictures and articles 30 years ago about the Bathhouse Raid entitled Looking back on 30 years of gay liberation.

Alan Sears has written an article for the New Socialist entitled 30 Years On: The Toronto Bathhouse Raids and Sexual and Gender Liberation.

Finally The Toronto Star interviewed Peter Bochove, who runs Spa Excess on Carlton St., for an article entitled Thirty years after the bathhouse raids.

January 20, 2011

AIDS Community Care Montreal has introduced a new program. ATOM-c is an incentive & peer based strategy to promote HIV & STI testing among guys who have sex with other guys. They recently produced a new 90 second spot to promote a new campaign aimed at men having sex with men. Their mission is to gather ‘recruiters’, who in turn will encourage their friends to get regular HIV and STI testing.

So a bunch of hot hunks, local porn stars and strip-club dancers were recruited to ‘act’ in this video, which was filmed at a Montreal bathhouse. Click the video below and judge for yourself if you like the video or you dislike it.

November 15, 2010

Edmonton actor and playwright Nick Green has written a new play entitled Undercovered, about the 1981 Pisces bathhouse raid in Edmonton. It has a reading tonight in public for the first time at Catalyst Theatre, and will be part of this year’s Exposure Festival for queer arts and culture in Edmonton, running November 12 thru the 21 of this year.

Undercovered documents the journey of several members of the Edmonton Police Force during the investigations into the Pisces Spa leading up to the infamous raid which took place on May 30th, 1981, an event that shook its way into Edmonton’s queer history. The further they dig, the more questions arise, probing into morality, privacy, and the subjectivity of the law. Are things really black and white? And how does the law function in the grey area?

Using actual police notes and internal correspondence The play is from the perspective of two cops who went undercover in Pisces, and created characters whose actions and words are ripped from the documents.

Photograph by: Bill McKeown, Edmonton Journal file photo, edmontonjournal.com

“Just as we walked out the door, a man whom I knew (a former jail guard) came out of a door from my left. Hoping he wouldn’t recognize me, I ignored him and continued to the Jacuzzi. When (my partner) and I were seated in the hot pool, I told him the person … knew I was a policeman.”

— Undercover officer notes, Pisces Health Spa — April 30, 1981

For more read The Night They Raided The Pisces Club by Ben Gelinas

November 9, 2010

According to St. Marc’s Spa Official Twitter Page, they hope to re-open at a new location in the summer of 2011. In addition, the management of St. Marc’s Spa have released this official news release.

St. Marc Spa Closes Monday, November 15th

It is with regret that after 20 years of proudly serving our community, St. Marc’s Spa announce its closure at 543 Yonge St. Faced with the option of renewing our lease in December of this year, the owners have decided to move the business to a new location. Our longtime employees and staff are well aware of the challenges that we have faced in these aging premises. We have made every attempt to resolve these issues with the building owners, but they have shown little interest in fixing these long-standing problems. We have come to the realization that all of the hard work of the managers, employees and owners will not solve these issues on their own, and so we have decided to close this location and look for new space.

The Spa will continue to operate for one more week and will close for good at this location on November 15, 2010. We will continue to accommodate our guests until Sunday November 14 at 4am.

On Saturday, November 13, all past and current guests of St. Marc’s Spa are invited to a free party in our GRASP Erotica Bar. Clothing is required in this separate bar space. This event will be hosted by Amanda Roberts and Daytona and will start at 10 and continue until 3 AM. Enjoy 1990s drink prices while you watch a show and reminisce with friends.

Then on Sunday, November 14th, between the hours of 4PM and 8PM, St. Marc’s Spa will host one of the most amazing sales and auctions ever. Almost everything is for sale, including Old TVs, lockers, sound system, autographed porn star posters, lube, sex toys, decorations, furniture, lighting, shelving, office equipment, fridges, art work, framed prints and much much more.

But St. Marc’s Spa will rise once again. The hunt is on for our new home and by the summer of 2011 we hope to have a bigger, and more modern space to welcome our guests back.

Till we meet again,

St. Marc’s Spa

November 4, 2010

The thing you can count on in life is that things never stay the same. Change happens whether you like it or not. Bathhouses in Toronto are dropping like flies. At one point you needed two hands to count the number of bathhouses in the city. Now you only need one. With the closing of The Barracks, Spa on the Maitland and Club Toronto, St. Marc’s Spa claimed the dubious distinction of being Toronto’s longest-running bathhouse.

That is actually not true, as Oak Leaf Steambaths holds that record, and no one will ever come close to shatter their reign. But St. Marc’s Spa liked to bill itself that way.

Now it apparently is the end of an era. St. Marc’s Spa will be shutting its doors November 15, 2010 at 6PM. There seems to be some conflicting reports as to if this closure is permanent or they are just moving to a new location. While management claims they are looking for new space, insiders on various message boards claim the shutdown is for good. The owner Kier MacRae tells xtra magazine rather cryptically “When we move we hope to have many of the same staff come work for us, many have been with us for a long time.” There is also no projected reopening date yet.

Whatever the story St. Marc’s Spa closing its door is surprising since they underwent extensive renovations and re-branding this past year, even adding a separate bar, GRASP Erotica Bar, to its facilities.

The most interesting aspect of St. Marc’s Spa was its intricate floor plan. Just a maze and maze of corridors, hallways and rooms. All on one floor, with no need to walk up and down stairs. Steamworks has a similar floor plan, but St. Marc’s Spa< was the first. It will be hard for them to find another place like the one they have now. Closing day is set for November 15, 2010, so for those who want to experience St. Marc’s Spa at that one location one more time, you better hurry! .