Banya new york gay party
Debauchery (and a short-lived detox) at an underground Brooklyn bathhouse rave
By Arielle Domb
It’s 1 a.m., and everyone is incredibly hot and nearly naked. The bathhouse has a faded majestic feel: tiled walls painted with an Edenic landscape, an assortment of erotic chiseled sculptures, an opal jacuzzi and an emerald plunge pool.
Glinting soggy bodies are everywhere. Getting off on the red-light move floor. Getting it on in the water. Leaving steam rooms immersed in clouds of pearly vapor.
Guests begin their night in the Jacuzzi (Photo by Arielle Domb)
It could be a scene from a shiny ‘80s porno flick — gleaming torsos, G-strings, crotchless pants and a supercharged beat. It’s a sensorium of sweaty, sultry pleasure, somewhere between Berlin’s infamous nightclub Berghain and Ancient Greece.
This is Steamroom — a new Brooklyn bathhouse rave launched by Sam Liebling (who DJs as SEXAPPEAL) — and the latest sauna party to join Recent York’s underground scene, harking back to the city’s horny bathhouse heyday of the 1970s.
Following several (literally) steamy techno parties in Brooklyn locations — in a four story Bushwick warehouse and a Bed-Stuy lock equipped with a hand-built sauna
Continental Baths at the Ansonia Hotel
History
In the late 1960s, Steve Ostrow, an entrepreneur and former opera singer, wanted to elevate the gay bathhouse experience from what were then seedy spaces to an enhanced destination as a health club and spa. At the second, homosexuality was illegal and most New York Metropolis LGBT bars were operated by the Mafia.
In 1968, he leased the vacant 40,000-square-foot, multi-level basement vacuum of the once lavish Ansonia Hotel (then rental apartments), which previously housed its Turkish Baths and swimming pool area. Ostrow predicted that his recent venture would draw patrons away from other locations such as the well-established Everard Baths.
Ostrow initially created a space that he advertised as the recreation of the “glory of Ancient Rome.” It featured a disco dance floor, pool with cascading waterfall, sauna rooms, bunk beds in public areas, and petty private rooms. When it first opened on September 12, 1968, it contained 50 rooms and 200 lockers and operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Over second, Ostrow added a cabaret and stage, restaurant, gym, licensed bar, STD clinic, clothing boutique, travel desk, an
Ongoing: Russian Banya Parties
Brooklyn Banya, 602 Coney Island Ave bet Beverley Rd & Ave C, Kensington, BK (map)
Q to Beverley Rd (30 min from midtown--NOT in Coney Island)
Cross Marlborough/15th St & walk 5 blocks, left on Coney Island Ave
"Best (and Only) Russian-bathhouse Dance Party" - Village Voice "Best of 2006"
"A night of steamy fun" - TimeOut Modern York "Your Perfect Weekend" pick
"Epic"..."One of the coolest cheap activities posted to our recession-proof list" - Brooklyn Based
Break out your bikini or dive trunks, and join our hand-picked crowd of artsy, funky (and nearly naked) New Yorkers for the glorious return of Gemini & Scorpio's legendary Russian Banya party. Whether solo or coupled, straight or gay, you can hold the steamiest bikini-clad sway party night of your life:
- Sweat in the saunas!
- Soak in the jacuzzi!
- Dance to dwell gypsy music!
- Drink free vodka!
- Smoke free hookahs!
- Eat yummy pierogies & other delicious ethnic foods!
- Get massages and platza treatments!
We have the baths to ourselves, with a few hand-picked professionals on hand for the optional platzas and massages. Enjoy: Russian, Turkish and Swedish steam rooms,
Sam Liebling Is Bringing the Rave to the Bathhouse. Clothing Is Optional.
Sam Liebling, photographed by Alessandra Schade.
On a quiet industrial road in Flatbush, Brooklyn, a pack of twenty-somethings in layered sportswear huddle outside an auto body shop to smoke a cigarette before entering the local Russian bathhouse. What was once the go-to society headquarters for New Yorkers—where mafiosos, Rabbis, artists, cab drivers, and A-listers would congregate to schvitz under the same roof—is now the newest backdrop for the underground electronic tune scene. The man behind it is Sam Liebling, founder of the techno party series Steamroom, which is building on the queer, sudsy history of bathhouses and reinvigorating the space with a contemporary, raving twist.
Bathhouse lore runs deep in New York City; it’s said that gangsters hired deaf masseurs so that their secrets would stay shrouded in the steam. Last weekend, at Steamroom, $20 (not including the price of admission) got you a key and a towel at Prospect South’s Brooklyn Banya, where patrons were met at the door by a pulsing thrash and the musky perceive of chlorine. Upstairs, the locker room buzzed with anticipation and curiosity
about us
The banya is said to hold many health benefits. Excessive heat stimulates sweating, thus removing unwanted materials from the blood and improving the function of the kidneys. Sweating releases excess water and salt from the body and opens the skin pores, cleaning it and making it softer and fresher. The process helps rid the muscles of excess lactic acid which reliefs muscle fatigue and soreness. Reach to our Russian Bath House located in Brooklyn NY and see how great you can feel once you experience the Banya.
Our wet spa is a geographic and cultural trip. The glassed-in entryway acts as a smoking atrium for jolly shirtless men, and leads into a covered beer garden and hockey-themed cafe. Inside, the main, fluorescent-lit pool room fills with sounds of splashing and socializing from crowds of Eastern European families. Saunas and steam rooms are also coed, and massages and platza (a traditional Russian sauna treatment) can be tacked onto the experience.