Owner Peter D Sykes said fewer customers and rising rent put an end to four decades in business.
“Bathhouses were like dirty bookstores and parks: a venue to meet people,” said Sykes, who still owns the smaller North Hollywood Spa. “Today, you can go to the supermarket.”īathhouses date to the Roman Empire. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, American bathhouses were built in many cities to maintain public hygiene among poor and immigrant communities. Chicago and Manhattan each had about 20 public bathhouses. But the need for public places to wash up declined and by the 1950s and 60s, bathhouses largely had become rendezvous spots for gay men prompting occasional raids because sodomy was still criminalized.
