Difference between revisions of "Locker Room Baths"
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− | The City of Minneapolis did not get | + | The City of Minneapolis did not get the joke. Minneapolis Police, under the auspice of a “Vice Squad,” frequently raided the Locker Room Baths and arrested the employees, the owners, or the clientele. |
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− | The advent of HIV/AIDS in 1980 led to “Anti-AIDS” ordinances that, in turn, led to further and frequent raids that became progressively more | + | The advent of HIV/AIDS in 1980 led to “Anti-AIDS” ordinances that, in turn, led to further and frequent raids that became progressively more aggressive.<small>(1)</small> Eventually, with a dwindling customer base and inhospitable business conditions, the Locker Room Baths closed in 1988. Its location, within the now-trendy Warehouse District, is presently home to Club Karma. |
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+ | (1) Ritter, John. "New Ordinance may Close Bathhouse." [[Equal Time]] issue 152, 2/3/1988. Page 7. | ||
This page is still under construction. -SVC | This page is still under construction. -SVC | ||
Part of [[Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: 100 Queer Places in Minnesota History, (1860-1969), (1969-2010)]] | Part of [[Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: 100 Queer Places in Minnesota History, (1860-1969), (1969-2010)]] |
Revision as of 15:26, 18 March 2010
315 1st Avenue North, Minneapolis
Locker Room Ad, 1980. courtesy of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection. |
The Locker Room was a a place of anonymous sex and cross-cultural encounters, where men could enter, pay a small price for a locker to store street clothes, and wander in a state of undress searching for available sex partners.
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As time progressed, ageing bathhouses came under new ownership and discarded all pretense of non-sexual services. Instead, and amid a 1970s culture of unabashed sexuality, the bathhouses advertised their services in queer publications.
The Locker Room began as an offshoot of Sutton’s Place, a gay bar located at 1st Ave N. and 7th St. (where the Target Center now stands). The bathhouse and bar eventually separated ways, and the bathhouse moved to a run-down warehouse.
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Locker Room Ad, 1977. Courtesy of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection. |
The City of Minneapolis did not get the joke. Minneapolis Police, under the auspice of a “Vice Squad,” frequently raided the Locker Room Baths and arrested the employees, the owners, or the clientele.
Locker Room matchbook, Courtesy of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection. |
These raids were so common that the Locker Room’s helpful staff printed escape pamphlets in the event of the arrests and, for a short time, the police and gay bathhouses achieved an unsteady truce.
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(1) Ritter, John. "New Ordinance may Close Bathhouse." Equal Time issue 152, 2/3/1988. Page 7.
This page is still under construction. -SVC
Part of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: 100 Queer Places in Minnesota History, (1860-1969), (1969-2010)