Bathhouses, a staple in gay communities worldwide, have been glaringly absent from San Francisco since 1984.
I made a modern friend recently. He just moved here from Unused York. Having tried to visit the Eagle but finding it closed, he texted me one evening. “Does SF close down at like, 11pm? I’m used to NYC where we don’t even originate going out until then.”
Oh honey. “We’re not enjoy you East Coasters lol. Though I wish we were sometimes. The dearth of late-nite options here is staggering.”
“Wtf? This is a city, isn’t it?”
I’m tired of confronting the fact that, for organism a high-profile gay destination, San Francisco is surprisingly prudish.
It’s understandable that my friend was let down by SF’s inherent sleepiness. If only there were a twenty-four-hour destination for him and other male lover men to meet and make friends. A bathhouse, also known as a sauna, traditionally steps in for our kind at this point. At one time, San Franciso hosted over sixty gay bathhouses. But now the town is bath-less, and has been since 1984, so my buddy walked house and put away his leather gear.
Navigating SF for the gay transplant is an article for a differe
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San Francisco supervisors long to expedite queer bathhouse revival
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SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES: A rainbow flag raises above Castro, the gay and woman loving woman neighborhood in San Francisco (Photo credit should read HECTOR MATA/AFP via Getty Images)
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SAN FRANCISCO - Gay bathhouses in San Francisco could see a revival under new legislation spearheaded by District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman.
Mandelman, whose district includes the Castro neighborhood, is looking to repeal a section of the police code that puts the burden on the police department for permitting new gay bathhouses.
The ordinance would also repeal outdated and unnecessary regulations that require the bathhouses to maintain a daily register of patrons and "confusing language regarding the permissibility of locked rooms," according to the supervisor's statement.
Mandelman introduced the legislation targeting SFPD's Article 26 on Tuesday. It's because of this article, he says, that SFPD has been unable to issue permits to potential bathhouse operators who acquire spent months trying to open their businesses.
San Francisco and the broader Bay Area acquire one of the utmost concentrations of LGBTQIA+ folks in the world. We have explicit legislation creating a favorable business environment (Supervisor Mandelman, bless 🙏). If there was ever a time to revive our city’s once burgeoning bathhouse culture–it’s now.
Castro Baths is hustling to start our doors in second for Pride 2025 and you’re invited!
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Last summer, we visited bathhouses around the world: Tokyo, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Istanbul, Unused York, Los Angeles, London, and more. (If Lorraine at the IRS is reading this - this was an absolutelynecessary business expense!)
Repeatedly, we were asked: “I’m going to San Francisco next month - which bathhouses should I visit?” Sheepishly, a tad embarrassed - we explained that there isn’t really a gay bathhouse scene in San Francisco. “Your best bet is probably in Berkeley.”
While there are a handful of local traditional bathhouses we frequent (shoutout to the newest addition: Alchemy Springs) - gay bathhouse culture in San Francisco never recovered after the AIDS crisis.
Closing the baths in 1984 was like shutting off the internet today. Our lines of commu