Man's Country, Chicago's oldest gay bathhouse, closing after 44 year

RUB-A-DUB-DUB. Four hundred men in a tub, [BRUCE] Vilanch quipped, describing the bathhouse as the most exotic nightspot for blocks and blocks if not years and years Mans Country boasts hot and cold running showers and patrons, bedrooms, lockers, a sauna, a glass-walled steam room, a mirrored shower that looks like something that

“RUB-A-DUB-DUB. Four hundred men in a tub,” [BRUCE] Vilanch quipped, describing the bathhouse as “the most exotic nightspot for blocks and blocks — if not years and years — Man’s Country boasts hot and cold running showers and patrons, bedrooms, lockers, a sauna, a glass-walled steam room, a mirrored shower that looks like something that got loose from a Stanley Kubrick set, a Jacuzzi, a multicolored parrot that views the proceedings with serene disinterest, and a gigantic disco-music hall with much of the ambiance of the Oriental Theater lobby, which it distinctly resembles on a muggy night.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 23January 2, 2018 6:49 PM

Who's going to console John Travolta?

by Anonymousreply 1January 2, 2018 1:01 AM

The alphabet soup-speak is embarrassing and anachronistic.

by Anonymousreply 2January 2, 2018 1:02 AM

r2, how is it anachronistic? The bathhouse was open until recently. You are just looking for something to complain about.

by Anonymousreply 3January 2, 2018 1:08 AM

pretty soon the fun loving freedom of being a gay man without trying to equal a straight family will be a thing of the past. we fought so hard for our right to be who we were, we lost a lot of the really important stuff along the way.

by Anonymousreply 4January 2, 2018 1:16 AM

When was going to the baths considered important stuff? The halls of those places usually smelled on shit. Give me Grindr any day.

by Anonymousreply 6January 2, 2018 1:32 AM

[quote] Give me Grindr any day.

The video from the OP's article discusses how gays communicated before Grindr.

by Anonymousreply 7January 2, 2018 1:41 AM

"we fought so hard for our right to be who we were"

Now we need to fight for who we are. Not clones.

by Anonymousreply 8January 2, 2018 2:19 AM

Renslow must be about 100. I can't imagine living in a condo building named for him.

by Anonymousreply 9January 2, 2018 2:51 AM

There was even a pron movie that was filmed there.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 11January 2, 2018 3:32 AM

Chuck was a difficult man, but well-connected in the Chicago political machine

by Anonymousreply 12January 2, 2018 5:15 AM

They were the ones with Obama and Rahm's personal accounts, that were hushed up.

by Anonymousreply 13January 2, 2018 7:50 AM

r13, that only happened in your imagination

by Anonymousreply 14January 2, 2018 4:02 PM

Steamworks in Chicago is the best bathhouse in the U.S.

by Anonymousreply 15January 2, 2018 4:05 PM

It may have had its day, but it's been a vile pit for years. I was inside once for a party about 15 years ago and it smelled like rotting corpses even then. You could actually smell it from the street.

The clientele was the nastiest of nasty people.

Steamworks is more modern and I expect it will stay open, but Man's Country closing is about 20 years overdue.

by Anonymousreply 16January 2, 2018 4:10 PM

[quote] They were the ones with Obama and Rahm's personal accounts, that were hushed up.

That's Miss Kevin Whatshersnatch spreading those rumors again. Total bullshit.

by Anonymousreply 17January 2, 2018 4:11 PM

I watched a man nair his entire body in the showers once there

by Anonymousreply 18January 2, 2018 4:30 PM

I'm sure most bath houses will close within a generation. It's just not where the young gays are going, particularly with phone apps.

Plus, many of these are large spaces in very expensive cities. The owners would make a killing selling the spaces.

by Anonymousreply 19January 2, 2018 4:47 PM

I hope they demolish the building and do a ritual cleansing of the space.

I'm only half joking, for real.

by Anonymousreply 20January 2, 2018 5:35 PM

What is that at R11 with the purses tumbling out of its mouth?

by Anonymousreply 21January 2, 2018 5:37 PM

R19 I think younger gays would go if it they weren't mostly filled with grandpas cause why pay to go somewhere where it's all men you aren't into..

by Anonymousreply 22January 2, 2018 5:45 PM

R22, young guys love going to bathhouses

by Anonymousreply 23January 2, 2018 6:49 PM

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3TmqOorZ6csm%2BvzqZmraCimq6le5FpampsaWt9brnAp2SsZZOkwq%2FA0bJknKCZmK6ou4ysZKiklJrAtXnGmrBmmpGptam71KycZpucpMCqusZmmJ%2Bslad6dYCMspyaqg%3D%3D

 Share!