Difference between revisions of "Locker Room Baths"
(table) |
|||
| Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
Bathhouses were once a mainstay of urban life in America, as private bathrooms were a luxury only the wealthiest could enjoy in the early 20th century. Citizens used bathhouses for hygienic purposes, though sexual activity assumedly took place even during these “reputable” times. 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. | Bathhouses were once a mainstay of urban life in America, as private bathrooms were a luxury only the wealthiest could enjoy in the early 20th century. Citizens used bathhouses for hygienic purposes, though sexual activity assumedly took place even during these “reputable” times. 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. | ||
| − | |||
| Line 21: | Line 20: | ||
| − | | [[Image:SVC_locker_room_ad_1971.jpg]] Locker Room Ad, 1977. Courtesy of the [[Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection]]. | + | | <div style="text-align: center;"> |
| + | [[Image:SVC_locker_room_ad_1971.jpg]] | ||
| + | </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> | ||
| + | <small>'''Locker Room Ad, 1977. Courtesy of the [[Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection]].'''</small> | ||
| + | </div> | ||
|} | |} | ||
| Line 28: | Line 31: | ||
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 violent. Eventually, with a dwindling customer base and inhospitable business conditions, the Locker Room Baths closed in the late-1980s. Its location, within the now-trendy Warehouse District, is now home to Club Karma. | 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 violent. Eventually, with a dwindling customer base and inhospitable business conditions, the Locker Room Baths closed in the late-1980s. Its location, within the now-trendy Warehouse District, is now home to Club Karma. | ||
| + | |||
---- | ---- | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
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 10:40, 15 March 2010
315 1st Avenue North, Minneapolis
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. It was considered a place for young men, while the Hennepin Avenue Baths [in the lumber Exchange] and Big Daddy’s [in the Patages Theater’s basement] catered to an older crowd.
Bathhouses were once a mainstay of urban life in America, as private bathrooms were a luxury only the wealthiest could enjoy in the early 20th century. Citizens used bathhouses for hygienic purposes, though sexual activity assumedly took place even during these “reputable” times. 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.
|
Locker Room Ad, 1977. Courtesy of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection. |
The City of Minneapolis did not get te 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. 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.
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 violent. Eventually, with a dwindling customer base and inhospitable business conditions, the Locker Room Baths closed in the late-1980s. Its location, within the now-trendy Warehouse District, is now home to Club Karma.
This page is still under construction. -SVC
Part of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: 100 Queer Places in Minnesota History, (1860-1969), (1969-2010)
