Club South — Charlotte, North Carolina (1976 – 2019)
For more than four decades, Club South stood as one of the most important queer spaces in the Carolinas — a rare gay bathhouse in the Southeast that offered privacy, connection, and community in a region where such spaces were often contested or quietly erased.
Operating from the 1970s through its closure in 2019, Club South was more than a bathhouse. It was a social refuge — a place where gay and bisexual men could gather safely, meet others, and exist openly away from the pressures of public scrutiny. With its maze of rooms, steam, and late-night energy, it became a destination not just for Charlotte locals, but for visitors traveling throughout the South who knew how rare and meaningful a place like it truly was.
