Continental Baths | |
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![]() Early ad for the Continental Baths | |
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Alternative names | Plato's Retreat |
General information | |
Type | Gay bathhouse |
Address | Ansonia Hotel, New York City |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 40°46′48″N73°58′55″W / 40.7801°N 73.982°W |
Opened | 1968 |
Closed | 1976 |
Management | Steve Ostrow |
Other information | |
Facilities | Pool, dance floor, fountains, private rooms, orgy rooms, saunas, games room, restaurant |
The Continental Baths was a gay bathhouse in the basement of The Ansonia Hotel in New York City, which was operated from 1968 to 1976 by Steve Ostrow. It was advertised as reminiscent of "the glory of ancient Rome". [1]
It opened after Ostrow observed the crowds at Everard Baths and he wanted to improve on the Everard atmosphere of being "sleazy, secretive, unkempt, not to mention unfriendly." [2] "Ostrow’s business plan in 1968 was to create a gay fantasia, a palace devoted to hedonism." [3] Ostrow said “from the first night, there were lines around the corner.” Some patrons said they would have 150 sexual encounters in a single visit. Opened a year before the Stonewall riots the bathhouse was raided by the police about 200 times, Ostrow said. [2]
While the baths utilized the Ansonia's lavish Gilded Age décor for a Roman style bath, it is probably best remembered as being an influential offbeat music venue. Ostrow (born September 16, 1932) [4] was a singer for the New York City Opera. He installed a stage designed specifically for a DJ, claimed to be the first of its type in the world. Discs were spun by Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan. [2]
He then began showcasing live acts which were the launching points for Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, Melissa Manchester, Ellen Greene, Labelle, The Manhattan Transfer, Jane Olivor, Melba Moore, Liz Torres, Wayland Flowers, Nell Carter and Peter Allen. The act most associated with the bathhouse was Midler who was accompanied by Manilow on the piano. Midler debuted her song Friends at the bathhouse and later recorded an album entitled Bathhouse Betty . The performances were actually open to the public and not just bath patrons. The gay crowd dwindled because they didn't like the public in the bathhouse and felt they were being gawked at. Ostrow cancelled the live performances in 1974 before closing the baths in 1976. [2]
It re-opened as the straight swingers venue Plato's Retreat in 1977.
The features of this bathhouse included a small disco dance floor, a cabaret lounge with a baby grand piano (both only feet from a narrow "Olympia blue" swimming pool), sauna rooms, bunk beds in public areas, and tiny rooms as one would find in any gay bathhouse. The facility had the capacity to serve nearly 1,000 men, 24 hours a day.[ citation needed ]
One gay guide from the 1970s described the Continental Baths as a place that "revolutionized the bath scene in New York City." [5]
Some features of the Continental Bathhouse included a warning system that tipped off patrons when police arrived. There was a weekly STD clinic, a supply of A200 (a lice-killing shampoo) in the showers, a mouthwash dispenser, and K-Y Jelly in the candy vending machine.
The documentary film Continental by Malcolm Ingram covers the height of the club's popularity through the early 1970s. [6]
An attraction at the club was the entertainment provided by performers such as Barry Manilow [7] and Bette Midler. [7] [8] Due to her performances at the baths, Bette Midler earned the nickname Bathhouse Betty. It was at the Continental, accompanied by house pianist [9] Barry Manilow [7] (who, like the bathhouse patrons, sometimes wore only a white towel) [10] that she created her stage persona the Divine Miss M.
Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still proud of those days [when I got my start singing at the gay bathhouses]. I feel like I was at the forefront of the gay liberation movement, and I hope I did my part to help it move forward. So, I kind of wear the label of 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride. [11]
— Bette Midler, Houston Voice
Despite Midler's constant complaints about "that goddamn waterfall,"[ citation needed ] her poolside performances were so successful that she soon gained national attention, beginning with repeat performances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson .
The Continental Baths lost much of its gay clientele by 1974. The reason for the decline in patronage was, as one gay New Yorker was quoted, "We finally got fed up with those silly-assed, campy shows. All those straight people in our bathhouse made us feel like we were part of the décor and that we were there for their amusement."[ citation needed ]
By the end of 1974, patronage was so low that Steve Ostrow had decided to discontinue the lounge acts. He focused, instead, on resurrecting his business by making the baths coed. He even advertised on WBLS, but to no avail. In the end, Ostrow closed the Continental Baths for good.
The facility was reopened in 1977 as a heterosexual swingers' club called Plato's Retreat. Plato's Retreat relocated to W. 34th St. in 1980 then was shut down by the city of New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic. [12]
In February 1969, the New York City Police raided the Continental Baths. Twenty-two patrons, whom an undercover, towel-clad policeman identified as having offered to have sex with him or actually had sex with him, were arrested. This happened again in December of the same year, when police entered the Continental Baths and arrested three patrons and three employees, charging them with committing lewd and lascivious acts and criminal mischief, respectively. [13]
Group sex is sexual activity involving more than two people. Participants in group sex can be of any sexual orientation or gender. Any form of sexual activity can be adopted to involve more than two participants, but some forms have their own names.
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received numerous accolades, including four Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards and a Kennedy Center Honor, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award.
A gay bathhouse, also known as a gay sauna or a gay steambath, is a public bath targeted towards gay and bisexual men. In gay slang, a bathhouse may be called just "the baths", "the sauna", or "the tubs". Historically, they have been used for sexual activity.
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Plato's Retreat was a heterosexual swingers' club catering to couples. From 1977 until 1985 it operated in two locations in Manhattan, New York City, United States. The first was the former location of the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse that also showcased artists who went on to great success including Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, and Melissa Manchester.
The Divine Miss M is the debut studio album by American singer and actress Bette Midler, released in 1972 on the Atlantic Records label. The title of the album refers to Midler's famous stage persona. The album was co-produced by Barry Manilow, and includes several songs that since have become repertoire standards, such as "Do You Want to Dance?", "Chapel of Love", "Hello In There", "Friends" and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy". It was released on CD for the first time in 1990. A remastered version of the album was released by Atlantic Records/Warner Music in 1995. A remastered deluxe edition was released in October 2016.
Bette Midler is the second studio album by American singer Bette Midler, released in 1973 on the Atlantic Records label. Produced by Arif Mardin and Barry Manilow, Bette Midler includes Midler's interpretations of Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael's "Skylark", Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill's "Surabaya Johnny", Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" and Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" as well as a Phil Spector medley.
Bathhouse Betty is the ninth studio album by the American singer Bette Midler, released in 1998. Bathhouse Betty was Midler's debut album for Warner Bros. Records, after having parted ways with sister label Atlantic Records in 1995 following the moderate commercial success of her later-platinum certified album Bette of Roses. Bathhouse Betty was certified Gold by the RIAA and spawned the Billboard Dance Club chart topper "I'm Beautiful".
Gay Sex in the 70s is a 2005 American documentary film about gay sexual culture in New York City in the 1970s. The film was directed by Joseph Lovett and encompasses the twelve years of sexual freedom bookended by the Stonewall riots of 1969 and the recognition of AIDS in 1981, and features interviews with Larry Kramer, Tom Bianchi, Barton Lidice Beneš, Rodger McFarlane, and many others.
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The Everard Baths or Everard Spa Turkish Bathhouse was a gay bathhouse at 28 West 28th Street in New York City that operated from 1888 to 1986. The venue occupied an adaptively reused church building and was the site of a deadly fire.
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Continental is a 2013 documentary film, directed by Malcolm Ingram, about the history of the Continental Baths, a historic gay bathhouse in New York City. It is also, notably, Ingram's first film since 1999's Tail Lights Fade not to have Kevin Smith as a co-producer. The film was funded with help from Kickstarter.
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Steve Ostrow was an American businessman, LGBT rights activist, and opera performer who was the founder of the well-known New York City gay establishment Continental Baths.
In the last few months there have been several dozen arrests at Continental, on charges ranging from solicitation and sodomy to spitting and piling garbage.[ permanent dead link ]