Gay bathhouse sf
Castro Baths
San Francisco and the broader Bay Area have one of the highest 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 open our doors in time for Pride and you’re invited!
Our Vision
Last summer, we visited bathhouses around the world: Tokyo, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Istanbul, Fresh 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 homosexual 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 cr
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Way back in February , SF Supervisor Rafael Mandelman introduced legislation that would re-legalize the bathhouses that the metropolis had banned at the start of an earlier pandemic, the AIDS pandemic. And now he's proposing creating a new zoning category for them.
It was Dianne Feinstein was mayor. And AIDS had already begun ravaging the lgbtq+ community in San Francisco. Under political pressure to do so, Feinstein and her administration ordered the closure of the city's bathhouses — which had once numbered in the dozens in and around SoMa and the Tenderloin. These were saunas and sex clubs where often newly liberated gay men would go to expend an evening, or construct a final stop after a night of drinking or dancing — and historians say that SF's pioneering leather culture was dealt a death burst out when the bathhouses closed.
Even at the time, there was no public-health consensus about whether bathhouses needed to be closed, but it had become increasingly clear to city officials that the city's growing HIV epidemic ha
POWERHOUSE BAR San Francisco
For events and hours, visit the Powerhouse facebook page at this link
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Dore Streetway Sunday:
Powerhouse Bar
Folsom St
San Francisco, CA
Visit the Powerhouse facebook page at this link
San Francisco supervisors want to expedite gay bathhouse revival
SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES: A rainbow flag raises above Castro, the gay and lesbian 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 h