Continental Baths
| Continental Baths | |
|---|---|
| Alternative names | Plato's Retreat |
| General information | |
| Type | Gay bathhouse |
| Address | Ansonia Hotel, New York City |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 40°47′11″N 73°58′55″W / 40.78652°N 73.981934°W |
| Opened | 1968 |
| Closed | 1975 |
| 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 opened in 1968 by Steve Ostrow. It was advertised as reminiscent of "the glory of ancient Rome". The documentary film Continental, by Malcolm Ingram, covers the height of the club's popularity through the early 1970s.
The features of this bathhouse included a disco dance floor, a cabaret lounge, sauna rooms, a narrow "Olympia blue" swimming pool, 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.
One gay guide from the 1970s described the Continental Baths as a place that "revolutionized the bath scene in New York City."
Some features of the Continental Bathhouse included a warning system that tipped off patrons when police arrived. There was also an 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.
An added attraction at the club was the first class entertainment provided by performers such as:
Due to her performances at the baths, Bette Midler earned the nickname Bathhouse Betty. It was at the Continental, accompanied by pianist Barry Manilow (who, like the bathhouse patrons, sometimes wore only a white towel) 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.
Despite Midler's constant complaints about "that goddamn waterfall," her poolside performances were so successful that she soon gained national attention, beginning with repeat performances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
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