{"product_id":"the-roman-sauna-rochester-ny-gay-bathhouse-60s-to-80s","title":"The Roman Sauna (Rochester, NY Gay Bathhouse\/60's to 80's)","description":"\u003ch1 data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\"\u003eThe Roman Sauna — Rochester, New York Vintage 1960s–1980s Gay Bathhouse Tee\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocated at \u003cstrong\u003e109 North Street\u003c\/strong\u003e, later renamed Liberty Pole Way, in downtown Rochester, \u003cstrong\u003eThe Roman Sauna\u003c\/strong\u003e was one of western New York's legendary gay bathhouses, offering gentlemen a place to relax, socialize, and occasionally work up a sweat without ever setting foot in a gym.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd apparently, business was booming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOperating by the late 1960s, The Roman Sauna became a fixture of Rochester's underground gay scene during an era when homosexuality was still criminalized in New York and finding other gay men wasn't quite as simple as opening an app.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou actually had to leave the house.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd sometimes take your clothes off.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy \u003cstrong\u003e1982\u003c\/strong\u003e, The Roman Sauna was advertising an impressive collection of amenities, including \u003cstrong\u003e65 private rooms spread across two floors, a dry sauna, fantasy rooms, an outdoor sundeck, a reading lounge, and complimentary X-rated movies\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe establishment was open \u003cstrong\u003e24 hours a day, seven days a week\u003c\/strong\u003e, because apparently sexual liberation didn't believe in business hours.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd the prices!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA locker cost just \u003cstrong\u003e$5\u003c\/strong\u003e, a private room started at \u003cstrong\u003e$6\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the particularly adventurous gentleman could upgrade to a VIP suite for the princely sum of \u003cstrong\u003e$15\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was even a special lunchtime discount.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eForget grabbing a sandwich at your desk. Rochester's homosexuals had considerably more interesting plans for their lunch breaks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Roman Sauna was part of a larger network of gay bars, bookstores, and bathhouses that flourished in Rochester during the 1970s and early 1980s, providing important gathering places for men who often had few opportunities to be openly gay in their everyday lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd here's a particularly wonderful little detail: \u003cstrong\u003ethe bathhouse was located right next to a police station\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTalk about hiding in plain sight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the late 1980s, The Roman Sauna had been renamed the \u003cstrong\u003eRochester Spa and Body Club\u003c\/strong\u003e, with renovated facilities and a somewhat more respectable-sounding identity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe establishment continued operating at the same address, carrying on a remarkable piece of Rochester's gay nightlife 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